>Is the world really painted in such dark tones? A lot of really great work
>gets done. It isn't (by a long long shot) a perfect world, but hey, it has it
>bright spots. Most of those bright spots are a result of cooperation and
>consensus...which is manipulation, I guess.
I would say, more than 'bright spots'. It is a great world! The only one
we have. So we better love it. And we only have a few thousand weeks (if
that much). It is up to us to make the best of out it. As Richard writes
(I can't find the exact quote) we need our entire life to learn how to live
it and live it from the very beginning.
Memetics is a big cover-up for the search of rules for a good life. What
are the rules? What is moral or immoral? Good or bad? How can we change
our environment to serve us better? Learning the rules is the key.
Memetics, or the "science of influence", or "paradigm shifting", or "Your
Life's Work", or "raising your self-esteem" -- whatever we call it -- can
stimulate us to look closer at what we do with our lives. It stimulates us
to find the rules so we can live better.
Of course, cooperation and consensus works. This is one of the rules.
Let's find out more of Richard's "$499 video set". What are the
undocumented memes?
Intimidation is an important one. How does it work? You show your power
and your opponent either gets scared or responds with more power. Then you
respond again, and so on. Very simple mechanism. When you throw an FY you
either make the other side shut up or the boomerang comes back at you.
>It's kind of hard, you see, becuase anything I say can be taken as an attempt
>to manipulate you...and in a sense it's true. But that very fact makes it
>recursive upon itself.
There is a difference in your intension. Anything you say can be taken as
manipulation, but YOU know what you mean. We influence each other, but we
do not have to manipulate in a bad sense. A message can be conveyed without
putting your opponent down. If you find an opponent which drives you crazy
it is a sure sign there is a lesson for you to learn. You can ignore the
lesson or learn from it. Wayne Dyer talks about "a little old lady driving
20 miles an hour just in front of you". She is there for a purpose. She is
there to teach you something. I think this is a very useful meme -- and a
very healthy way of living -- to treat everything that happens to you as a
lesson and ask: "What can I learn from it?" What can we learn from Tom's posts?
I suggest Rule #1: Intimidation is a bad, prehistoric meme. We can
consciously eliminate it from our precious life by not using it.
Tad Niwinski
(from TeTa)