A First Foray Into the Ill Defined Field of Memetics
In 1979 Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" to mean an idea that would spread and mutate from mental substrate to mental substrate much the same way that genes mutate and spread from genetic substrate to genetic substrate, borrowing the ancient Greek word for "mimoses", meaning "mind". 50 years later "memetics" is a horribly abused term used only by people who take themselves way too seriously and is not a formal academic discipline. Yet doing an intial foray into "memetics" would be worth it in its many potential future applications, especially in dealing with large populations, and could pave the way for it to become an academic disciplene. So, I will be writing about "memetics" as the study of how ideas spread, and I will start exploring the field of memetics by analysis/synthesis: first listing many topics that could be a core tenant or could touch tangentially to the field, then distilling it to a few principles. Analysis - List of Topics This will be a list of topics or potential research questions at least indirectly related to "memetics" How social pressure reaches a "tipping point" in mass adoption of behavior or in-group signifiers How reaching a "tipping point" differs from nation to nation How genetic compositions determine how a "tipping point" is reached in a group (see) How genetic composition determine which behaviors a people is predisposed to spreading Lifespan of certain beh...
Gatsby
Fiction, my mission neglected for weeks In a pool of my own, so I backstroke in bleach While the many may doubt Mr. Gatsby is me I’m delusional now and believe I am he Fog on my frames, turn saliva to steam As I set my eyes free at the end of my beach And they settle down softly collecting the gleam Of a kind that in night, only darkness can bring Gatsby was classy, no Gatsby was not He championed an art all but I have forgot In a room with a view, filled with absolute mobs Only two ever glimpsed his ascent to the gods Howling and spinning, to you he must seem But a libertine hedonist shackled to dream Haven’t nicks on my wrist, nor a ball at my feet Just an image so clear it makes history freeze Wishes, commitment, and books never touched If it weren’t almost easy to give it all up With the moon a deterrent, I hoist a red cup At the ceiling, return to the way that it was Defunct at the function, alive in my seat At my desk among pens and the friends I don’t need From the stack an old paperback begs me to read Oh, I know him too well, so I’d rather not meet
Barry Lyndon and the Sins of the Father
A God compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger, Abounding in loyal love and faithfulness. He maintains loyal love for thousands, Forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sins. But he won’t declare innocent the guilty. He will bring the iniquities of the fathers upon the third and the fourth. Exodus 34:6-7 By what means Redmond Barry acquired the style and title of Barry Lyndon Opening Title Card of Barry Lyndon It was in the reign of George III that the aforementioned personages lived and quarreled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor they are all equal now Closing Title Card of Barry Lyndon MINOR SPOILERS The sins of the father live on with the son. Recently I watched Barry Lyndon written by Stanley Kubrick. It came up on my recommended, I didn't realize it was a Kubrick film immediately, and I decided to watch it because I have always been intrigued by the ways of life of Old Europe. There seem to be some "unwritten rules" of what to do in life. Things that I do not know whether they are taught and handed down through the generations, or are instinctively encoded in the genomes of each person. I suspect these things are not things that are easily "called forth" or spoken directly, and to do so requires much study and self reflection. I am not going to try and mention them here in hopes that the reader can read the subtext of what I could be talking about. But Stanley Kubrick, if any director, was one who could "call f...
Mechanical Terminal Update 2
If you haven't listened to their discography yet, I highly recommend checking out Crystal Castles, specifically their songs Vietnam and Empathy. This post is a high-level overview touching on mechanical and product design facets for the mechanical pixel/terminal. All technical specifications and calculations will be included in a TDS which will take a couple weeks to write. Motors Previously the last couple days I have been designing a motor for a pixel. Last Design I made a previous prototype which did not completely work but convinced me that a working mechanical pixel was possible. It used electromagnets to spin magnets around on a track, pulling the faces in with an oval-shaped cam track and flipping them. Next Design This design will have magnets on the pixel faces pulled inwards and spun around on bearings by a single electromagnet that alternates current. Cost Limitations CNC machine time Different gauges of wires Bearings Different springs according to different specifications Cam Mechanism No matter how thin you pull in the pixel faces, there will still be some lateral protrusion when spinning. The spinning profile needs to be as small as possible so all the pixels can spin in sync without colliding into eachother. The abov...