'As people talk about a mind-body connection, especially because these two are not separate to begin with, one may also look to the connection between “memes” and materials, or the memetic and tangible goods – also because neither are these two separate to begin with.
 
One handle on all this is to begin to see the two “worlds” of the “mind” and “body” (or other comparable divisions such as “spirit” and “nature” or “culture”/”nature”) as being varying aspects of one “world.”'

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 31  [20210112]

'What are, historically, the material-semiotic “currencies” that had high value?  Those that would be sought from far and wide and transported to lands far and wide?
 
e.g. gold, silver, cochineal, cinnamon, tea, etc., etc., etc.
 
Insert a History of Goods here.
 
And some “goods” are ideas/images: this god or that god; a local spirit who becomes regional; a regional spirit who becomes trans-regional – and so on.'

Fragments of Memetica, No.  30  [20210112]

"'Value added' has come to be applied to every area of attention, not simply economics.  What’s the 'difference that makes a difference' (Bateson)? – the element that carries significance, meaning, or some version of effectual change so that it’s not only 'more of the same.'

Except that 'more' can also be 'better'  (And 'less' can be 'better'.)  That is, quantities have qualities.  Quantifications have qualitative aspects.  They aren’t just numbers or mere 'stuff' – there’s also the experience of those numbers or that stuff.
 
100 is a number.  What’s your experience of it?
 
How about 100 trillion?
 
How about 0.0000001?
 
QUAN & QUAL is a main axis to lay across or in front of the phenomenon or phenomena of memetica."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 29.  [20210111]

'A 100% realistic map of the Mississippi, the Amazon, or the Nile would be 100% as long as the Mississippi, Amazon, or Nile!
 
Mapping like this has me thinking of the large wrapping projects of Christo & Jeanne Claude such as the wrapping of the Reichstag or the islands off the Florida coast.

[https://christojeanneclaude.net/artworks/surrounded-islands/]
 
Then I think how one dot can represent a city of 10 million or 30 million people:  here’s Lima:  ·  .  Here’s Mexico City:  ·  .  Impossible and yet so easy.  We all get it.
 
Here on this poster of the Milky Way Galaxy, this dot is where you and I are – the entire universe represented by one dot:  you are here:  ·  '

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 27, pt. 2  [20210109]

'To talk about memetica is already to simplify and, one could even say, skew reality in a certain sense.  But it is also to clarify reality.  If you glance at a map, you are definitely not looking at reality, but you likely are gaining a more useful vantage point on reality.
 
As it often has been said (e.g. Borges), a map that 100% matches reality would be absolutely ridiculous: it would be as big as the land it was mapping.  It would be a 1 for 1 correspondence to the actual geography.  So a map like this of South Dakota or New Brunswick would be the same size as South Dakota or New Brunswick!'

Fragments of Memetica, No. ​27, pt. 1  [20210109]

"I’ll sort of come in and out of immersion with this ‘ecology’.  How do you describe something you are within?  Meanwhile I – I think all of us – also are ‘outside’ it.  Call it a paradox if you want to, but I may think of it as a ‘dialectic’.
 
A dialectical approach to memetica in some senses of being is ‘in it, but not of it’, except that we are ‘of it’, too, but somehow we can be ‘out of it’, i.e., outside it.
 
Both mystical and practical.
 
A ‘cloud of unknowing’ with some knowing in the cloud."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 26  [20201230]

"Begin, for example, at a most basic level by asking
 
What if we looked at religion in terms of ‘information’?
What if we looked at economics in terms of ‘information’?
What if we looked at politics in terms of ‘information’?
 
But what does ‘information’ mean?
 
Briefly, it is ‘the difference which makes a difference’ (Bateson).
 
Anything that ‘adds value’ to a given situation.
 
              a gene – adds value
              a word – adds value (possibly, to silence)
              silence – ‘adds value’ in a context of words."

Fragments of Memetica, No. 25  [20201230]

"To talk about memetica is a shorthand way to talk about rhetorics of ‘information’ as they operate across studies of nature and humanity.
 
Does using this lingo of memetica get us anywhere?
 
It could bring to light many areas of existence that would be misunderstood or just missed otherwise.  For example, it could shed light on religion, economics, and politics, just to name a few areas."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. ​24  [20201230]

"What is memetica? 
 
Memetica ecologica is a way of describing what’s going on out there in a most complete sense in this day and age:  early 21st century on Earth.
 
‘Memetica' means an ecology of memetics, or a complex system of systems of memes.
 
Among other things, memes are units of information or ways of behaving."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 23, adapted  [20201230]

"Just as no map can match the complexity of real geography, no ideal/theory can match the complexity of real phenomena.  Degrees of usefulness in connection to reality will vary widely depending upon the methods, interests, and purposes of the users of maps or ideas/theories."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 22, pt. 2.  [20201230 | 20200322]

"Memetica can be viewed as a type of model for what’s ‘going on out there’ (and ‘in here’).  As Axelrod (1997) suggests, a principle of simplicity, e.g., ‘the KISS principle is vital’ (5) – and that ‘…models that aim to explore fundamental processes should be judged by their fruitfulness, not by their accuracy’ (6).  I hope for some accuracy and some fruitfulness.  I think memetica ecologica describes in a couple words some of what’s really going on – and also that it can get people thinking in useful ways."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 22, pt. 1.  [20201230 | 20200322]

"Memetica encompasses large domains of the human world, including human knowledge, experience, and existence.  All of these include religions, cultures, sciences, economics, and governments.
 
              & the non-human living world
 
              & the non-living world."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 21  [20201230]

"As a philosophy (of ‘it all’), memetica ecologica is a rhetoric, concept, and practice of ‘everything’ (right now).  Is it a dream?  Yes.  Is it a nightmare?  Possibly, at least in part.  Is it desirable?  Depends.  Is it too late (inevitable)?  That’s hard to say.  What else is there?  That’s also hard to say."

-Fragments of Memetica, No. 20  [20201230]

"...You have to go / into the little green glade to hear / the smooth jazz.  Totem poles / & radio towers.  The exact / not-knowing."  -Eliot Cardinaux in Cruel Garters No. 14

"Prepared For You"
​
in First Literary Review - East (November 2023)

http://www.rulrul.4mg.com/