Dangerous Memes: The Course of Culture and the Emergent Future

The following is taken from a Facebook discussion about patriarchy and women’s oppression in class society – alas, the original conversation has gone missing, but I DO have my response, which at least makes some sense out of context:

I have been reading some really fascinating stuff (based on Dawkin’s Selfish Gene work) about cultural memes and how they work like individual genes with natural selection. There are ‘good’ memes and ‘bad’ memes – think of them as the genes of a society. Some will further the likelihood of survival for a society (human or non-human), some can lead it into ruin. In any given society, there can be a mixture of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ memes that will select themselves out over time, resulting in a thriving population or, as is our case in Western Civilization, one that is heading toward extinction.

Class society is not the only one where women’s oppression has occurred. Some Native American societies (whom we tend to idealize unthinkingly, not to say that there is not a lot to be learned from Native tradition) had what we would consider a fairly oppressive influence on women, at least for a time; however, this may not have lasted indefinitely, at least it would not have if it didn’t promote the survival of the tribe in the long term. There are current examples of this in the relatively few surviving indigenous populations around the world. One that comes to mind are the Angu people of Papua New Guinea (called the Kukukuku by other tribes), warriors who not only prey upon their neighboring tribes but have a custom where preadolescent boys are raped and used as courtesans to older male members of the tribe. Whether this custom would eventually select itself out (rebellion within, neighbors becoming fed up with constant aggression, things falling apart due to psychological trauma of every male being sexually molested throughout their pre-adulthood) is impossible to see now that they have had contact with Western Civilization; these practices may end, but if they do it will have at least partial influence by Dominator Culture.

The major difference between our culture and tribal societies (aka every single other culture than ours – assuming East vs West is a false distinction of cultural difference, as the underlying principles of our culture are the same and originated in the same place 10,000 years ago) is that when certain elements in the society begin making the members miserable – and this could be anything, but let’s use our hierarchical system and the nature of agriculture – they stop doing it and figure something else out, or else they cease to exist as a tribe; they either die off, become another entity, or end up providing genetic diversity to neighboring tribe (also ensuring individual’s genetic health down the line!)

In our culture, we keep doing the same things don’t work for the majority of the society and wonder why everyone is miserable and why we have invented all of these wonderful things, like crime and depression and famine (and no, except under extreme conditions, famine does not exist in the “natural” world.)

To address another point you made, and one I agree with, there is no need to ‘go back’ – it’s not really an option, anyway. There are too many people, and there are cross-cultural connections and environmental devastation that make this impossible (besides, nature NEVER goes back - it always finds new ways forward, sometimes combining what worked in the past with what is working in the present). What is necessary to do is change the cultural memes that keep us in this prison-based society: one of which is OUR WAY OF LIFE IS THE ONLY -RIGHT- WAY OF LIFE, AND IT IS OUR SACRED DUTY TO CONVERT ALL LIFE TO OURS. (capitals emphasizing meme) If we can discard this, then we are one step closer to the tribal mentality. We could replace that with LIVE IN THE WAY THAT BEST SERVES THE COMMUNITY, WHATEVER WAY THAT MAY BE. That is fundamental to the tribal society’s success – and it is very successful, before the advent of conquest-based warfare and totalitarian agriculture at least. It is only incidental that most tribes were hunter-gatherers (though not all – some were almost full time agriculturalists, others were part time agricultures, there are pastoralists, etc., etc.) Another meme in civilization (building off the one previously mentioned) is that THERE IS NO BETTER WAY TO LIVE THAN THIS. You can see a lot of this in patriotism and nationalism, especially when it deals with sentiments that make no goddamn sense.

Interesting sidenote – most tribally minded societies that dabbled in becoming fully agriculturalists – the Maya, Olmec and the Anasazi in the New World come to mind – stopped doing this. As far as history goes, these civilizations simply disappeared. Of course, they didn’t – they just realized that farming (whether consciously or being forced to by environmental destruction and pressures of class division) – which on average gives 2 calories of food back for every 1 calorie spent – sucks compared to hunting and foraging with or without some added gardening (5 calories for every 1 calorie spent). It is telling of the ‘NO BETTER WAY’ meme that our historians are completely baffled by this – they can’t imagine why anyone would give up farming and city building and class slavery!

(Note: I would like to add that permaculture is a first step in moving toward a more efficient – as in calorie in vs. calorie out – method of feeding of ourselves – there is no possibility in our near future to adapt a ‘hunting and gathering’ lifestyle, nor is it necessarily the ‘best’ thing we could do – I am merely illustrating that power of memes to guide us into situations that are not in our best interests.)

The unfortunate thing is that there does not really exist an option for this for those who do wish to go back to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Or any lifestyle other than the current status quo. Any attempt to do so will most likely be seen as a resistance effort (and it is), and must be careful of being removed as a threat.

We must, then, be brave and trust in the amazing complexity of the Universe. I am confident that as long as we continue to create space for our future to emerge – through struggle, innovation, love and, perhaps above all, humility – we will find a way. The only thing that is certain is that ‘the way’ will look like nothing that has existed previously, and will most certainly show our expectations as well-intended but short-sighted, as they will probably always be when dealing with the cosmos and all of the co-emerging systems contained within.

From my blog: http://operationinscape.wordpress.com