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| Seeding a Tree of Knowledge |
Where once there was a void,
Now at least there are
Seeds of splendor,
Becalmed belief for another time.
by Scott Hastie
Tweeting
the Future: Thoughts toward Launching a Meme
Okay. So
let's assume it's going down hard with a long, dark age ahead, on the
order of centuries to millennia. Let's say we want to send a message
to our descendants, if any. How might we send it, and what might we
say?
Given
that high tech media are not likely to survive, we're stuck with
lower tech options:
Social
trasmission (institutional, hermetic, tribal, ???)
Focused
oral tradition (memorized) -- (songs, poems, stories, ???)
The
written word (engravings, impressions, durable books, ???)
All
of the above
In all
cases, I consider it useful to think in terms of memes, ideas
which are 'copied' in one or more media (including human mind and
society). I'll speak of our message as a single meme, but it is more
likely to be a set of memes.
A meme's
success, per se, is determined by:
Fecundity
(high rate of copies) – Tell all your friends! Tell them now! Get
them to do the same!
Fidelity
(accuracy with which it is copied) – Hi fidelity gets a message
across, while low fidelity soon drifts from its intent (think the
game of Rumor aka Telephone).
Longevity
(how long the meme is able to generate copies) – We're still
reading the Epic of Gilgamesh
and the Code of Hammurabi.
So how
might we maximize the odds? Do we send out the naked meme as a
podcast and hope it takes? Do we manipulate the message for better
transmission? Or even 'encapsulate' it in a vessel (a book, say),
that itself contributes to transmission? Or hitch-hike on an already
successful tradition? Do we establish a medium, such as a hermetic
sect?
My
thoughts are evolving along these lines:
The
message should be fashioned concisely in 'scriptural', poetic
language using simple, non-technical language. Prose? A poem? A song
(the tune of Greensleeves is an ancient, musical meme)?
It
should be inspirational, and at best, useful (possibly as a teaching
tool or mnemonic) during transition, both currently and in the midst
of a dark age.
It
should be written in durable, portable book form, and also inscribed
in stone and/or impressed in fired clay (or equivalent).
Publication,
distribution, memorization, transmission and discussion should be
encouraged from the outset.
Scriptures
are a tried-and-true method for bringing a body of information
through difficult times with good fidelity. They replicate through
both written and focused oral traditions, and are abetted by diffuse
oral traditions (e.g., schools of propagation, discussion and
debate). The feeling of higher purpose associated with scripture
improves fecundity and fidelity.
If it is
beautifully and compellingly written, it is more likely to have high
fecundity. Especially so if it is inspirational and/or useful to
persons immersed in a dark age. These should be goals at the
composition stage.
Concision
is a virtue on all fronts... being shorter, it requires less mental
and physical resources for copying (improved fecundity), and is less
likely to incur copy errors (fidelity). If it is more often copied
into smaller, relatively portable physical media, longevity is
enhanced.
Physical
media which are both durable and beautifully crafted increase
longevity. Holy books which are beautifully bound and illuminated are
valuable property simply as objects, protected and treasured
regardless of belief in their contents. Many have survived for
centuries.
So let's
look at some content/format possibilities...
Richard
Feynman proposed this single, ingenious sentence, which 'unfolds',
under careful inquiry, to yield all of physics (with all other hard
sciences implied):
“...All
things are made of atoms – little particles that move around in
perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little apart,
but repelling on being squeezed into one another.”
This
sentence is deliberately NOT fashioned in compliance with current,
scientific consensus in which 'Quantum fields' have supplanted
'Atomic particles'. But not-yet scientists starting from this
sentence, have a good shot at figuring out quantum fields on their
own, in time. The goal is not up-to-the-minute accuracy, but to
provide an accessible starting point to an inquiring mind.
James
Lovelock proposed a compendium in clear, unambiguous language,
preserving all our knowledge, A Book for All Seasons.
Obviously, this would be a BIG book.
Each
has transmission liabilities.
Clearly,
a tome is not concise, and loses all the advantages of concision. If
we wished to transmit our modern knowledge base, memorization – or
even understanding the whole – would be out of the question. Few of
today's specialists can fully master more than even two fields of
knowledge. What's more, the effort of composition and subsequent
production would be immense, far beyond the reach of small fry.
A
single sentence is more attractive, to me. It is ultra
in most of the virtues; ultra-portable, transcribable, easily
memorized even by the young. It's a little clunky, however. I suppose
it could be written as a limerick?
All
things are made out of bits
That
whiz non-stop in a blitz.
Apart by a fraction,
They feel an attraction.
But
push 'em together, they splits.
Surely
you're joking, Mr. Feynman!
Here's
a an attempt to mimic successful, albeit less mnemonic forms...
Thus
spake St. Feynman
in
the Age of Legend:
“All
things compose of tiny bits;
atoms
dancing without cease
Faster
when warmed
Slower
when cooled
Heat
is tempo
Near,
they attract
thrust
close, repel
To
observe the dance
is
to change the dance”
Hear
ye the seed of all knowledge!
Sow,
and ye shall reap.
There...
some poetic license and a hint of quantum physics. An improvement on
St. Liebowitz, but still not exactly catchy.
Is there a poet in the house?
Wisdom
is tougher nut to crack. Its more vague and koan-ish, so is harder to
unfold?. Subject to contention, too. But even among religions,
Feynman's approach applies. Here's Jesus of Nazareth's summary of
Judaism (arranged from KJV)...
This
is the first and great commandment:
Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God
with
all thy heart,
and
with all thy soul,
and
with all thy mind.
And
the second is like unto it;
Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
On
these two commandments
hang
all the law and the prophets.
Guatama
Bhudda may win the brevity prize, summing his teachings with “Release
all attachment.”
Point is, the concept isn't new, and we have some authorities to consult.
The
problem with too much brevity is that, as a vehicle, it has low
inertia.
Why would a slave in the seventh year of the Warlord Vog pass this
on? For that matter, would Vog or his flunkies - who might wish at
least to appear
wise - pass it on?
It
seems to me that, for all its genius, Feynman's sentence or its
variants, would have near zero fecundity. The Bhudda's may make it as one meme within an already successful meme set, but that hardly needs our help.
Even
among my fellow geek friends, it gains no traction. If they've heard
of it they love the idea,
but none have managed to learn it by heart. They're hard pressed to
remember its important features, despite that they're conversant with
the principles. To someone marooned in a dark age, it would be
useless and inscrutable blither. If printed on a waterproof card, it
would be of better use to patch the roof.
But
I think the approach
is
a good one.
Every
line, verse or stanza – each the seed of a whole line of inquiry –
would ease the task of those who follow. Each would confer useful
knowledge from the very first steps along the path. And with a longer
poem or shorter book, there's room to improve the hints, and build
one upon the next.
I
believe there is a threshold of critical mass, where mere weight of
words gain enough gravitas
to capture imagination, appealling at any stage of knowledge. They
could gain the allure of a gnostinomikon;
a
book of knowledge, backed by actual science, to shame the grimoires
of the past. Every mage who approached would be started on a true
path.
Think
what a smattering of infection theory might have done for those in a
time of cholera? A few, trustworthy and select words to the wise
would be invaluable. Only to read that there
are miniscule, living creatures which can
carry disease by contact, inhalation or ingestion...
it doesn't take a medical genius to get from there to patient
isolation, or to check the water supply, or to wash hands and
dressings.
The
scientific method itself -- our greatest invention -- can be drawn in
a few words, and guide through the worlds of knowledge. (“Our
greatest invention” from Lewis Dartnell). Scientific
method, math and logic, physics, mechanics, chemistry, evolution,
ecosystemics, economics, politics. All these in seed form.
With
such a book in their hands, the great minds which inhabit all times
would be put onto the scent, passing at a run the cold, blind trails
of ignorance...
...on
their way to Renaissance.
***
PS.
There's a dark possibility to such a project. It may be that we'd be
passing them a poison pill. The jury is still out on whether ours is
the best of times or the worst of times. Without hard won wisdom to
accompany the power this meme would carry, it might be like passing a
live grenade to a baby.
