Side Effects

Fans of beards, being alive,  the Republican Party, and short posts will enjoy this.  And it's only three minutes long.  

Lucky

In one of David Attenborough's many nature documentaries, he showed a fungus which entered the brain of an ant, took control of its motor functions, forced it to climb to the top of a plant, paralysed it, consumed its body, and then exploded out of the back of its head to scatter spores onwards to reproduction of the fungus, and presumably the demise of more ants.  It was utterly terrifying - a zombie creature struggling against the thing controlling it, aware that it is no longer in charge of matters.  I felt real sympathy for the poor ant, which was surprising given the number of both old fashioned and chemically advanced ways I have successfully murdered ants and their offspring in the past.  

The Lancet Fluke described by Daniel Dennett in this talk is a different creature, but has a similar M.O.  Control the ant in order to reproduce.  Dennett's talk is fascinating, although a bit rushed as he realises he's running out of time, but let's be kind and say that this is the mark of an expansive and wide-ranging intelligence. 

Dennett makes an interesting comparison between the Lancet Fluke and memes.  On this account, like flukes, memes get into our heads and control what we think and do.  If this is right, then it's reassuring that we don't notice it happening and don't feel like we're being controlled by something 'other' than ourselves (assuming that there is a self to be controlled).  I particularly like the idea of unawareness, as it makes me feel less sorry for the ant, and therefore allows me to carry on pouring kettlesful of boiling water into their nests.  

Dennett has I think explored this theme to a certain extent in his books (memes and their effect on us, rather than pest control), but it's where he takes the idea of memes next that's the most interesting, and the most frustrating because it's so rushed.   Noting that it was germs, not bullets, that truly conquered the new world and destroyed indigenous cultures, he compares memes to germs.  Our memes (freedom of speech, equality of sex and sexuality, all the things we associate with western civilisation*) are fantastic replicators and are successfully taking the place of other memes in other cultures.  This is destroying other cultures, and, he hints, reducing the cultural biodiversity of the world.  Like blankets infected with smallpox, television, the internet, movies, all our cultural products, are spreading our ideas into the minds of others.  

Is this a good or bad thing?  Dennett offers no view, other than we need to be aware of this happening, and be less surprised when cultures react against ours and our memes, sometimes violently.  

On the one hand, we must believe that our memes are the right ones.  Liberty, tolerance, respect - these are good things.  We should try and spread these ideas around the world, we should consider them better than the alternatives, especially as we at least try to base them on reason rather than superstition.  Yes we should exercise care, think about the ways that people react to fundamental change in their culture, and not try and drop democracy out of  plane, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to shed light on the world.  

On the other hand, as Dennett hints at, this could just be our memes talking (or causing us to talk), and maybe we're not so different from the ant after all.    So we need to be vigilant, rigorous, and (to steal Dennett's joke) try to ensure that what we think is not just a fluke.