do you know this guy?
nostr:nprofile1qqs9tatnkeg7lu63mdtmqcqayvpzmrzn97vztkcs54ena0eehe92yxcprfmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuum0wejhyetfvahzuctswqhsxym3cx introduced me to the word egregore: a non-physical entity or thoughtform that arises from the collective thoughts and emotions of a distinct group of individuals.
Government is a egregore. It only exists and has power because of the collective beliefs of individual humans. How do we shrink and kill it? By reducing the number of believers it has.
Discussion
Dude, I have shit I need to do today.
hahahaha then definitely don't click that link
Too late.
So this concept closes the loop on memes being part of a greater organism which is evolving like we've already done on genes.
A modern gene replicates more or less frequently based on it's conferred benefit to the larger organism replicating itself in the context of other genes the organism also has.
Dawkins original coining, and everything else I read on the matter before, described memes like the simplest early replicators copying only themselves.
Egregors are collections of memes flying in formation like the genes of a complex species. The egregor is the higher order multi meme replicator.
Maybe bacteria is a better model for mapping meme to gene expression. A human must reproduce then die for a genetic advantage to accrue. Bacteria are able to pick up bits of genetic code from other bacteria living or dead and add them to their own genetic code directly with immediate benefit without dying or heritance to offspring.
Egregors are definitely able to add and drop individual memes adapting immediately inside their lifespan.
I love when a bunch of fuzzy concepts in the back of my head suddenly come together in language as a formalized idea. Thank you both.