Re: virus: ...said the spider to the fly...

MemeLab@aol.com
Fri, 5 Mar 1999 10:21:38 EST

Brodie chastizes me for what he believes is my naivety (sp?).

In a message dated 3/5/99 1:36:25 AM Central Standard Time, richard@brodietech.com writes:

<< <<If religion wishes to survive, it should stick to ritual and customs, and steer clear of ideology.>>

Why? Because you think logic will automatically kill all the irrational religions with their irrational ideologies?

Read a book on memetics.>>

I am well aware, Brodie, of the evolved strategies of Religious memetics. I have read several books dealing with memetics in one form or another. In a time when cultural change was mostly caused by the rapid deaths of preceding generations and illiteracy was widespread, I think faith strategies had a distinct advantage. I don't think their strategies are adapted to current cultural realities, though they can still will dominate the cultural arena for a while.

I think that advantage is slowly disappearing. I think the internet also operates ultimately to the disadvantage of faith strategies. I agree that faith strategies will be a long time dying, but I think that if the current cultural climate persists they are ultimately unfit. The only way that I think they will be able to survive in the end would be in closed and very isolated small communities of technophobes.

My shorter term prediction - sometime after the begining of the millenium, I say 2011 or so, people will begin to abandon "non-denominational" start-ups in droves of disillusion, and either return to more traditional and ritualistic denominations like Catholicism and Episcopalianism, drop out of religion altogether to enjoy a more secular lifestyle, or switch to a different tradition, also more ritualistic like Islam or Mormonism.

Incidently, I think the last two groups are probably going to turn into key cultural players where traditional and especially non-denominational Christianity will lose ground. Catholicism may be the exception. And that is your religious forecast for today.

-Jake