Comment Re:What are memes? (Score 1) 161
Dang Enter Key...
anyway, examples:
I. I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.
Obvious. Use this set of memes, no other. Straightforward bet-hedging.
II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Taking the name of the Lord in vain, that is using it in anythig but in a reverential way, decreases the power that word and therefore that concept and its associated concepts have over you, and thus the likelyhood of your spreading the memes for the 10 commandments to children etc...
III. Remember thou keep holy the Lord's day.
This one I can only guess at. First, it inspires a sense of power in the 10 commandments meme, just as above. Second, it gives people a day of chillin, which might have increased survival.
IV. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Facilitates the passage of the 10 commandments meme. If you honor them, you are more likely to have their beliefs.
V. Thou shalt not kill.
In the tribal society out of which these grew, to kill the other believers in the 10 commandments meme would be do decrease believership AND increase the likelyhood of the rest of the society dying off.
VI. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Adultery leads to children of mixed heritages, possibly mixed belief systems, and the resentment of the bastard. The child of such a union is less likely to grow up at all, let alone grow up sharing its father's (whichever one) beliefs. In times when medicine was not as developed as today, and even today, having a child puts a serious physical tax on the mother. Thus, those who do not commit adultery have less resented kids more likely to pass on the 10 commandments meme.
VII. Thou shalt not steal.
Creates strife in afformentioned tribal system. Internal strife leads to doubting on the legal system, killing of believers, and a generally less likely to survive group of people.
VIII. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Against thy neighbor. That means its fine and dandy to bear false wintess against others, i.e. those who do not ascribe to this set of laws. Lying about your neighbor is sure to decrease likelyhood of the 10 commandments meme's surviving by quite possibly ending in the death of one or both parties.
IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Goes back to the adultery, again, notice the neighbor bit. Originally this was inter-tribal. Covet other women as much as you want, spread your seed to the wind, just don't knock up your neighbor's wife or the kid's going to have some issues, and not pass on the meme.
X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Same deal. Covet the goods of Baal's worshippers all you want. More stuff is good. Just dont let it sow discord within the society.
I could do kosher laws too... Pork poisoning, bacteria, its all fairly oriented toward the passage of memes.
I will cite one more example: An unsuccessful meme:
The Shakers
FOr those of you who don't know, the Shakers were a sect of christianity that made kickin furniture, and believed that sex was evil. period. wanted nothing to do with it.
THere's like one left now, because they restricted the passage of the shaker meme.
It was a bad mutation.
I need sleep.
anyway, examples:
I. I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.
Obvious. Use this set of memes, no other. Straightforward bet-hedging.
II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Taking the name of the Lord in vain, that is using it in anythig but in a reverential way, decreases the power that word and therefore that concept and its associated concepts have over you, and thus the likelyhood of your spreading the memes for the 10 commandments to children etc...
III. Remember thou keep holy the Lord's day.
This one I can only guess at. First, it inspires a sense of power in the 10 commandments meme, just as above. Second, it gives people a day of chillin, which might have increased survival.
IV. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Facilitates the passage of the 10 commandments meme. If you honor them, you are more likely to have their beliefs.
V. Thou shalt not kill.
In the tribal society out of which these grew, to kill the other believers in the 10 commandments meme would be do decrease believership AND increase the likelyhood of the rest of the society dying off.
VI. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Adultery leads to children of mixed heritages, possibly mixed belief systems, and the resentment of the bastard. The child of such a union is less likely to grow up at all, let alone grow up sharing its father's (whichever one) beliefs. In times when medicine was not as developed as today, and even today, having a child puts a serious physical tax on the mother. Thus, those who do not commit adultery have less resented kids more likely to pass on the 10 commandments meme.
VII. Thou shalt not steal.
Creates strife in afformentioned tribal system. Internal strife leads to doubting on the legal system, killing of believers, and a generally less likely to survive group of people.
VIII. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Against thy neighbor. That means its fine and dandy to bear false wintess against others, i.e. those who do not ascribe to this set of laws. Lying about your neighbor is sure to decrease likelyhood of the 10 commandments meme's surviving by quite possibly ending in the death of one or both parties.
IX. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Goes back to the adultery, again, notice the neighbor bit. Originally this was inter-tribal. Covet other women as much as you want, spread your seed to the wind, just don't knock up your neighbor's wife or the kid's going to have some issues, and not pass on the meme.
X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Same deal. Covet the goods of Baal's worshippers all you want. More stuff is good. Just dont let it sow discord within the society.
I could do kosher laws too... Pork poisoning, bacteria, its all fairly oriented toward the passage of memes.
I will cite one more example: An unsuccessful meme:
The Shakers
FOr those of you who don't know, the Shakers were a sect of christianity that made kickin furniture, and believed that sex was evil. period. wanted nothing to do with it.
THere's like one left now, because they restricted the passage of the shaker meme.
It was a bad mutation.
I need sleep.
