The idea that the earth is flat should have died a long time ago and most people will rightfully scoff at those who would still believe such an idea. We are confident in our knowledge that the earth is round and with confidence comes the arrogance that prevents us from asking important questions about this phenomenon. If people can be programmed to believe the earth is flat using social media, what else might they be programmed to do? Since humans develop psychological/neurochemical mechanisms which keep them from realizing they are even programmed to begin with, we have to wonder, at what level are we ourselves programmed? Might there be things we hold to be true, which others in the future will scoff at just like we do the flat earthers?
The flat earth cult proves that humans are susceptible to being mentally programmed by social media, some have referred to this process as brainwashing or like catching a mind virus."Viruses of the Mind" is an essay by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, first published in the book Dennett and His Critics: Demystifying Mind (1993). When Dawkins published this, he didn't have internet data or analytics to work from like we do, and so he was focusing on the most widely replicated memes available, which were/are ancient religious texts.
Since then we have learned that any idea or meme that humans create can be replicated and integrated into a belief system and take on the form of a mind virus, not just religious memes. tThe resurgence of the flat earth culture proves this and it is evidence that we need to become far more aware of the potential dangers of weaponized information. We also need to call it weaponized information at all times whether it is used by Obama/Dems, Trump/Gop. or anyone else.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/CT473.html
http://logicalmeme.com/?p=9803
(Photo from 2012 internet user density census http://census2012.sourceforge.net/images.html)
At the core of weaponized information is memetics and memetic warfare, to understand memetics you do not need to learn complex new sciences but a basic understanding of what a meme is and why humans create them will go a long way towards providing some mental defenses against these new weaponized tactics.
A Meme is defined as:
an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation.
By all appearances, humans either evolved or were put here to be the master meme makers of the planet. Humans are constantly creating and sharing memes and the internet has provided the means for just about anyone to socially engineer their own culture. The term memetic engineering has not hit the mainstream even though it is now entirely possible for individuals and corporations to create new sub-cultures of followers and program certain values and belief sets into those sub-cultures.
Memetic engineering is a civilized phrase to describe brainwashing. Memetic engineering could be structured in a way where humanity would greatly benefit from it if compassionate protocols and integrity are applied to its many scientific and technological applications. Brainwashing is commonly associated with cult leaders and sinister behavior because we have plenty of evidence to suggest that such assaults on the mind can have detrimental effects on the individual and our society as a whole. It would be prudent to bring the basic concepts of memetic engineering to the general public as a mental vaccine to immunize itself from the worst effects of mind control, while priming the public to embrace the idea of self-programming the mind using a self-selected memetics program, or what The OMWC has termed as a SSMP.
If we embrace the evidence that the human mind can be programmed faster because of the internet and memetics, then we should do more than scoff at flat earthers, we should be asking how we can use this information to enhance the human mind. The biggest ideas that humans can dream up are only made impossible by the laws of physics or lack of knowledge. Since the human mind is responsible for producing knowledge via meme production, should we not pursue cognitive enhancement technology and cultural science development with great intent?
Written by Jacob Clark CEO of The OMWC