Most discussions about magic certainly raise the pragmatist’s eyebrow. However, people who dismiss magic as a whole because of the explanations provided overlook the fact that we only make explanations if there’s something there to explain. In a sense, this is why there is a growing number of magicians and sorcerers delving into obscure and [...]
Originally published in 1978, and republished with the additional text Psychonaut in 1987. Return to Page
Feedback loops can be thought of as self-perpetuating situations, or active tautological events. The study of language evolution provides a way of thinking about the effect of feedback loops over time. Note: We were both unaware of the book I Am A Strange Loop (2007) by Douglas Hofstadler at the time we were writing The [...]
Objects of Persuasion, focusing on the cognitive elements of persuasion, featuring a number of speakers. This video is an hour long, and we suggest some people keep a notebook at hand. Return to Page
Several versions of this type of application are available for experimentation. Semacode ScanLife NeoReader Return to Page
Grof, Stanislav and Bennet Hal Z. (1993) The Holotropic Mind: The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives Return to Page
Phage is a term taken from the study of viruses and applied here as an analogy, along with the term capsid used earlier in the text. Phages are viruses which devour the cellular structure, creating copies of themselves in the process. Return to Page
Today everything starts to change again, as the reverberations of this sink in.
A brief introduction to OSO and this podcast – OSO is a meme, a capsid, that encompasses an orientation, belief, and bias I hold toward SEO, SMO, and ORM as it is applied online. This podcast is my chance to elaborate on these ideas. Join thee RSS feed!
This is the first of a series of micropods blasted out on OSO techniques from PublicIndividual.com Today I welcome you to this new, ongoing format, be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified when the next OSOtip is released!
If marketing is simply the most effective and persuasive possible communication, and can be though of beyond the mere selling of product–in other words take a structural approach to marketing and systematize it then use it as a rubric against which to measure any communication, product-related or not, then all forms of communication will become [...]
On a personal note, when Edward and I were first writing The Art of Memetics, we’d imagined that QR Code would remain the primary basis for any scan technology transfered to cell phones. Now there are two competing applications seeking market share, one with EZ Code at ScanLife, and another at NeoReader. Of the two, [...]
See Chapter Nine, the discussion about the massive multiplayer online worlds and specifically the differences between Second Life and World of Warcraft. Also see Footnote 55, regarding the effect of stress on a group mind. Return to Page
Web 2.0 in just under 5 minutes. The following video was produced by Michael Wesch and is titled The Machine is Us/ing Us from MediatedCultures Return to Page
The following clip of Howard Bloom comes from The Pitch, Poker, and the Public, an interesting documentary on the art of the sales pitch: Howard Bloom’s book The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History succinctly presents some very powerful ideas about the structure of society as organism. Return to Page
We highly recommend the Appendices in Shea, R. and Wilson, R.A. (1975) Leviathan, especially Gimel and Lamed. Sorting out the contradictory statements on magic from a historical perspective is a perplexing, yet enlightening task. However, essentially all magic boils down to the two words, “Reinforce Often.” Return to Page
Lynch, Aaron. (1996) Thought Contagion. In this book, his analysis of Mormonism through the lens of memetics places emphasis on generational transmission, and highlights these factors as evolutionary pressures. Return to Page