4 ms·

Wasn't this an episode of Black Mirror?

anonporridge 4y ago
My read of that episode is more about the non human nature of public figures. Media personalities, politicians, high level executives, and leaders of any kind generally aren't real people. They're figureheads. They're simulations of human beings occupied by a real human playing the character. And when the human behind the scene starts deviating from the character they're supposed to play in service of the institution or the meme it leads, they get replaced and a new pilot takes over running the simulation. We individual humans aren't in charge. We are all just hosts for memes. https://wearehostsformemes.com/ https://wearehostsformemes.com/
- guerrilla 4y ago
  > Media personalities, politicians, high level executives, and leaders of any kind generally aren't real people. They're figureheads. They're simulations of human beings occupied by a real human playing the character. And when the human behind the scene starts deviating from the character they're supposed to play in service of the institution or the meme it leads, they get replaced and a new pilot takes over running the simulation. There's a word for that: actors.
  - _carbyau_ 4y ago
    <s> And we all know there's no way actors could get that top job.... </s>
- akindofathrow 4y ago
  The problem of the implication of pop memetics is that it discounts agency. Consider a community of mathematicians, all trying to discover some high-hanging proof (e.g. Goldbach). It's true that the mathematicians come up with strategies that then spread to the rest of the community if they're useful. But the mathematicians aren't mere vessels for these ideas. They decide which strategies to pursue, and whether the strategies they receive from others seem (to their mind) useful in pursuing the ultimate goal. From a strictly formal perspective, memetics is true in that the mathematical community may behave like a peer-to-peer system using a gossip protocol. But I don't think anyone would say that the individuals aren't "in charge" but are "just hosts for proof strategies". Granted, media personalities may not be that contemplative: a scientific community is kind of one extreme. But the example shows that it's not possible to determine whether the tail is wagging the dog or vice versa, just by appealing to the concept of memetics.
soared 4y ago
Raised by wolves season 2 also has a government led by an AI.
totetsu 4y ago
I think it was an episode of South Park

My read of that episode is more about the non human nature of public figures. Media personalities, politicians, high level executives, and leaders of any kind generally aren't real people. They're figureheads. They're simulations of human beings occupied by a real human playing the character. And when the human behind the scene starts deviating from the character they're supposed to play in service of the institution or the meme it leads, they get replaced and a new pilot takes over running the simulation. We individual humans aren't in charge. We are all just hosts for memes. https://wearehostsformemes.com/ https://wearehostsformemes.com/

guerrilla 4y ago
> Media personalities, politicians, high level executives, and leaders of any kind generally aren't real people. They're figureheads. They're simulations of human beings occupied by a real human playing the character. And when the human behind the scene starts deviating from the character they're supposed to play in service of the institution or the meme it leads, they get replaced and a new pilot takes over running the simulation. There's a word for that: actors.
- _carbyau_ 4y ago
  <s> And we all know there's no way actors could get that top job.... </s>
akindofathrow 4y ago
The problem of the implication of pop memetics is that it discounts agency. Consider a community of mathematicians, all trying to discover some high-hanging proof (e.g. Goldbach). It's true that the mathematicians come up with strategies that then spread to the rest of the community if they're useful. But the mathematicians aren't mere vessels for these ideas. They decide which strategies to pursue, and whether the strategies they receive from others seem (to their mind) useful in pursuing the ultimate goal. From a strictly formal perspective, memetics is true in that the mathematical community may behave like a peer-to-peer system using a gossip protocol. But I don't think anyone would say that the individuals aren't "in charge" but are "just hosts for proof strategies". Granted, media personalities may not be that contemplative: a scientific community is kind of one extreme. But the example shows that it's not possible to determine whether the tail is wagging the dog or vice versa, just by appealing to the concept of memetics.

soared 4y ago

Raised by wolves season 2 also has a government led by an AI.

totetsu 4y ago

I think it was an episode of South Park