edit: I didn't mean to make steemit the primary category for this post o_o, but it does relate to the topic so hopefully that's ok. Richard Brodie’s “Virus Of The Mind”, published in 1996, is a book on the study of memetics. What really blows me away about this book is that it feels like it was written yesterday, to be totally honest I had no idea it came out in the 90’s until I was a few chapters in. http://ift.tt/2hWW2VH Memetics is the study of how ideas spread. Brodie breaks it down into five original memes: Crisis, Mission, Problem, Danger, and Opportunity. Our modern memes can be seen as extensions of these basic meme concepts. We can use Steemit itself as an example. The problem is that the world’s major financial systems are not adequately serving the needs of the people, the dangeris that we won’t be able to earn enough money due to these financial systems, the opportunity and mission both relate to the creation and growth of an amazing new social media ecosystem that pays the content creators directly. I’m not sure about crisis, but four out of five makes for a pretty strong meme. Another example would be a Corona commercial with a bunch of very attractive people drinking beer, suggesting that there’s an opportunity to be cool by drinking the beer - or a danger of being left out if you don’t. http://ift.tt/2iHpLGe In contrast, an idea that does not touch those categories will not spread. An idea such as “You cannot drive above the speed limit” does not get any traction, because there’s no real crisis or problem or opportunity presented. Everybody knows they can drive a bit faster than the limit without getting in any trouble, and that’s a great opportunity - so the “you can drive about 5 mph over the limit without any danger” meme spreads much further. Or, more honestly for some people, “you can drive 10-15 over and you’ll probably be fine!” This framework for considering which ideas do and don’t spread is simple, but remarkably effective for my life. It’s really helpful to understand how other people are attempting to influence you with their memes. I’m 80 pages into this book and loving the content as well as the irreverent style, I’ll post another update at 160 pages, which will be two-thirds through the book. (images from pixabay.com)
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