A war for mind share is going on around us. Ideas struggle for territory in our
brains. In Part 3 of Meme Wars we
continue our journey considering the war of memes that occurred when printing
technology became common.
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| Libraries held memes |
Minds Begin to Specialize
The secular world began to form as old minds were
rediscovered. A fight for control of
minds was waged in books. Facts and
myths memes struggled for control of the human mind.
For many centuries it was possible to read all the
books. The total sum of human knowledge
could be, and often was, put into individual brains. With the advent of printing, knowledge
accumulated. Past voices piled up and
libraries spread.
With this revolution specialization in knowledge began to
occur. There was more information
available than a single person could know.
The concept of knowledge experts was born. The number of professors,
physicians, philosophers, and lawyers grew exponentially.
People of wealth and power had greater access to new,
growing piles of knowledge.
Those with freedom and time to read could explore others
ideas, while most occasionally continued their lives as they were and read newly translated
Bibles.
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| Catholic and Protestant meme's competed for minds |
Past Fights Future
Fictional ideas competed with factual ideas for access to
people minds. Old power bases created
ideas that kept their power intact. New
discoveries by inquiring minds demonstrated that the old power bases were
wrong.
Memes about
King’s power struggled with thoughts about individual freedom. Memes about human rights struggled with beliefs
about Church dogma. New art forms
emerged that threatened traditional moral values. Old taboos on corpses struggled with
dissection and forensics.
To traditionalist and conservatives of the Renaissance era
the world seemed to shift from under their feet. Old, assumed values, the very nature of what
was right and good and proper came into question. Books were burned
that had profane, secular knowledge. Inquisitions from the
Church tried to stop new and threatening ideas. A violent reaction from the
status quo, threatened to unseat new ideas and discovery.
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| Erasmus created a humanist meme leading humans to seek new learning |
Martin Luther advocated abolishing Church control of
marriage. Descartes said that
wisdom could come from discoveries outside Church teaching. Galileo pointed out
that the earth went around the sun. The
first stock companies and international
banks formed allowing money and power to be accumulated without church or
king.
The progressives and liberals of this time saw new hope for
the future. They advocated changes to
society that were shocking and disturbing.
New ideas led to understandings that transformed views of what a human
life could be. Seeing the old order as a
threat to new possibilities, a war of new ideas was waged upon the old
thoughts.
The concept that each person must perfect their mind and
body while on earth in order to achieve salvation became popular. This humanism drove individuals to
seek excellence by learning all they could.
New learning threatened the established order.
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| Copernicus challenged conservative thought showing earth wasn't the center |
Meanwhile established order and power saw each advance of
ideas as a threat. Many thought the
world would end or society crumble as it changed in front of them.
These struggles often led to violence and strife wars
between new and old lasted for generations.
Mankind resorted to terrible actions to enforce their world views upon
the other. Religious wars between
Catholics (old bible conservatives) and Protestants (new bible liberals) killed
huge numbers of people and ruined many more lives.
Eventually a truce between conservatives and liberals
evolved, allowing localities to identify with their own ideologies. Parts of Europe
remained largely traditional, adapting some new ideas where it did not threaten
church or king. North-western Europe adapted the new ideas and prospered until its
culture spread around the world.
However, spasms of violence continued until the French Revolution
finally over threw the conservative powers continent wide and the modern age
brought a new kind of nation states into existence.
Meme’s Meet Reality
Some new ideas were not factual and failed or brought great disaster
upon societies.
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| Combining memes of progress and king Conquistadors brought down civilizations |
Conquistadors thought to grab wealth for personal gain and
destroyed civilizations, ruining centuries of development and diversity. Slavery, almost unknown in medieval times,
restarted allowing people to become property.
Frequent, violent political upheaval in emergent city states caused
populations to live in terror for decades.
Many new ideas were factual and changed the world for the
better.
The seeds of the scientific revolution where planted and
fertilized by wide spread transfer of thoughts between minds. Our sharing of knowledge about anatomy
allowed more people to survive. Improved
farming techniques disseminated holding back famine. Novels and plays could be performed and
enjoyed far from their authors, by printing the words and actions into books.
Those ideas that aligned with the factual reality that
existed did well. Other memes that did
not, slowly or rapidly failed. The
competition between ideas was fought on a battleground of reality and
myth. Ideas that succeeded tended to be
based on facts. Ideas that failed were
often believed fictions.
In part 4 of Meme Wars we begin our journey into our current
information revolution.
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