Thread by @simpolism

1/ Please bear with me as I summarize a book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (MC), author of "Flow", called "The Evolving Self" (1993). I'll do so mostly through quotes, please excuse any gaps. Idea-space coordinates: memes, Modernism, psychology, liberalism.

First, definitions:

2/ A "system" is a set of parts forming a whole. Each system has an "order" ("negentropy"), which is opposed by "chaos" ("entropy").

A system is "complex" if it is "differentiated" & "integrated". This is typically good.

3/ "Differentiation" = "the degree to which a system is composed of parts that differ in structure or function from one another".

"Integration" = "the extent to which the different parts communicate and enhance one another's goals".

4/ An "organism" is "any system of interrelated parts that needs inputs of energy to keep existing." This is not necessarily biological.

Organisms exist within broader systems called "environments", which are often themselves organisms.

5/ An organism is in "harmony" with its environment when it can "obtain energy thru cooperation, & thru the utilization of unused or wasted energy".

Otherwise, it is "parasitic", exploiting other organisms (adding entropy to environment) to obtain energy for its own purposes.

6/ "Evolution" is "the development of ever more efficient, more improbable systems".

It is "forced on [organisms] by the fact that [they] fall apart with time unless they become more efficient."

7/ Evolution has 7 principles:
1. Organisms tend to keep shape & reproduce
2. Organisms require inputs of external energy for survival & reproduction
3. Organisms take as much energy out of the environment as they can, limited only by threats to their integrity.
...

8/ (Evolutionary principles)
4. Organisms more successful in extracting energy from their environment tend to live longer and reproduce more.
5. When organisms extract energy too successfully, they destroy their environment, and themselves in the process.
...

9/ (Evolutionary principles)
6. There are two opposite tendencies in evolution: changes that lead toward harmony & those that lead toward entropy.
7. Harmony is usually achieved by evolutionary changes that increase an organism's complexity.

Harmony is good.

10/ MC applies these concepts to "memes": "any permanent pattern of matter or information produced by an act of human intentionality."

Memes are organisms that "control our psychic energy" (cf. Freud's model of the mind). They "instruct us to act, just as genes do."

11/ "Eunemics" is a practice thru which we "[limit] the reproduction of memes."

MC believes we should practice eunemics to increase complexity within our selves & society: "the evolution of memes is now much more critical than genetic evolution in determining our future."

12/ "Each person creates the world they live in by investing their attention... according to certain patterns. The world constructed on the blueprints provided by genes is one in which all of a person's attention is invested in furthering the agenda of 'reproductive fitness.'"

13/ "Once a meme is well established, it tends to generate inertia in the mind, and forces us to pursue its logical consequences to the bitter end... memes evolve independently of the humans who make their existence possible..."

14/ Memes fight thru dialectics: "each new [mimetic] advance... begets either its own negation or an even more powerful version of itself... [we're forced] to perfect an even better new generation of [psychic] armaments, thus assuring [mimetic] replication and survival."

15/ Moving from "evolutionary epistemology" into ethics. In this area, MC's ideas are more haphazard.

Premise: society is a system (cf. Parsons') that develops "structures" to take care of "functions" such as "adaptation", "i.e. of extracting calories from the environment."

16/ "Every social system must develop memes to keep the intergroup harmony that genes no longer can provide. These memes constitute the moral system, and generally they have been the most successful attempts humans have developed to give a desirable direction to evolution."

17/ "It is through memes transmitted by social systems that we contribute to evolution." So: via our intentionality via memes, we "direct" changes in society toward good.

To show concretely, MC notes Confucianism and Huizinga's work on social institutions' origins as games.

18/ "What we call civilization consists of attempts at rationalizing life, so that actions are predictable & reasonable... If we want more rational behavior, we cannot expect it to happen by itself; we must invest psychic energy in creating & preserving ordered systems of rules."

19/ Politics: "oppression is a condition in which the psychic energy of one person is controlled by another against his or her will."

"Exploiters alternate more rapidly than Marx would have thought possible... oppressors often start as protectors & later turn into exploiters."

20/ "Freedom is the refusal to [let one's psychical resources be] exploited", but "freedom without responsibility is destructive, unity without individual initiative stifling, and equality that does no recognize differences is demoralizing."

21/ Three types of mimetic exploitation:
- oppression (taking away freedom/agency)
- parasitism (draining energy)
- mimicry (appealing under false pretenses, then defrauding; "taking on the coloration of the positive image of a more complex identity", cf. TLP on Narcissism)

22/ Humanism: Earth is a system: "the only value all human beings can readily share is the continuation of life on earth."

"The values, rules, habits, and attitudes we inherit are useful & necessary, but not absolute." Fears of "racial dilution" = loss of trad. memes, not genes.

23/ Psychology: the self is an organism. "The best way to live is by learning to control consciousness."

"Boredom directs us to seek new challenges, anxiety urges us to develop new skills; the result is that, to avoid negative feelings, a person must grow in complexity."

24/ We have a "preference for complexity" called "Flow": a "merging of action and awareness" resulting from clear goals, unambiguous feedback, balance between opportunities for action and ability to act resulting in sense of control. This feels like a "sense of discovery."

25/ "A goal is a channel into which psychic energy flows... the self can be considered a hierarchy of goals... [the self experiences] dialectical motion between differentiation and integration... between valuing the self and then the larger community."

https://twitter.com/simpolism/status/1052247923315142657

26/ Meme Magic: "Spiritual skills are the ability to control experience directly, by manipulating memes that increase harmony among people's thoughts, emotions, and wills."... "the essence of spirituality = an effort to free consciousness from the thrall of genetic instructions."

27/ Cycles of collapsing authority: "memes that validate spiritual order tend to lose their credibility with time, and need to be recast in new forms again and again."

28/ MC concludes with the idea of "cells", small groups of volunteers who produce and disseminate information about their local communities, intending to "direct evolution" together. Once they gain public trust, they can make concrete change by e.g. endorsing politicians.

29/ In "The Evolving Self", MC presents a structured framework but struggles to synthesize it with preexisting beliefs in "boomer liberalism".

In pop-intellectual fashion, the book uses many examples, which obfuscate the big picture. Its conclusions are often unsatisfying.

end/ But, it remains an interesting work on "theory of memes." If only it dove more into "egregores"...

"To say that artists cause the evolution of art reveals an anthropocentric bias; it would be more accurate to say that artists are the medium through which art works evolve."