[science] MEME - Are we human machines or living in a great lie ?

["Thai Doan Hoang Cau" <c.thai@ee.unsw.edu.au>]

Hi ca'c Ba'c,

Cac Ba'c co bao gio tu+. ho?i : tai sao chung ta xung ho voi nhau la "Ba'c"
(tu thuong dung de chi nhung nguoi cao tuoi hon hoac chua quen), hoac dung
tu "ho+i bi." (tu+` HN de chi "ra^'t") ? Tai sao khi chung ta nghe nguoi
khac ke nhung mau truyen vui, mau tin hay, chung ta be`n ke lai (tham chi'
con ne^m the^m chu't ma('m, gia vi.) cho nhie^`u nguoi khac va cu+' the lan
truyen di xa ? v.v... va v.v...  Chung ta co vo^ va`n nhung cai bat chuoc
(imitation) vo y
thuc va co y thuc nhu the trong cuoc song.
Trong vong 6 thang tro lai day, toi doc duoc mot so bai trong tap chi TIME,
New Scientist ve khai niem MEME, co the giup ly giai nhung van de ve tam ly
neu tren. Ho+n the^', no' con dan den mot so suy nghi dda'ng so+.. Vi moi
gia nhap lang VNSA hon 1 tuan le, toi khong biet cac Bac da ba`n ve van de
nay chua. Thoi thi toi cu ma.nh da.n ne^u ra day vi dau sao trong do cung co
ca y kien rieng cua toi nua.

MEME la gi` ?
Nam 1976, Richard Dawkins, trong quyen "The selfish gene" da dua ra khai
niem MEME (doc la "meem") . Meme duoc dinh nghia la "a unit of cultural
transmission, or a unit of imitation".
"Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways
of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in
the gene pool by leading from body to body via sperm or eggs, so memes
propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a
process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist
hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passes it on to his colleagues and
students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea
catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to
brain." (Dawkins)
Tom lai, meme la nhung gi chung ta hoc duoc bang cach sao chep tu nguoi
khac. Khong chi don thuan la sao chep, diem manh cua meme la su tuong dong
cua no voi thuyet chon lua tu nhien (Darwin) trong do cac meme cung sinh
so^i, tai hop (recombination), dot bien (mutation) va canh tranh de ton tai.
Phan 2 cua "Life cycle of memes" [1] noi kha chi tiet ve co che, dieu kien
truyen dan/lay lan cua cac meme.
Diem kha thu vi cua meme la su+. lay lan va canh tranh cua cac memes o trong
va ngoa`i bo^. na~o la ngoai ta^`m kiem soa't cua con nguoi. Do la mot trong
nhung ly do de Blackmore [2] cho rang cai "to^i" (self) cua con ngu+o+`i
chi? la` a?o gia'c (illusion) va` kho^ng to^`n ta.i. Chung ta dang bi ta^.p
ho+.p ca'c meme y' tuong, ky nang, thoi quen, truye^.n, phat minh, v.v...
lua doi rang cai "to^i" cua chung ta dang ton tai.

Ung dung cua Meme ?
Van chua thay xuat hien nhieu ung dung cua memetics trong cuoc song ngoai
viec dung meme de giai thich mot so hien tuong tam ly: ton giao, mot so
ha`nh vi cua con nguoi (human behaviours) nhu thoi quen lap lai cac tu+`
nhu+ "ba'c", "ho+i bi.", v.v... NewScientist (31/7/99) co bai de cap den cai
goi la  "memetic marketing" trong do marketeer ket hop voi memetician va` co
ca? algorithm dde^? infect cac khach hang cua minh bang he thong cac
marketing meme.

Cac y kien chong lai meme (anti-meme)
Khong co phat kien nao trong khoa hoc la khong gap nhieu thu thach. Cho den
nay Meme van la phi vat chat (nonmaterial existence), nguoi ta van chua hieu
ro rang ve cach sao chep (replicate) meme cung nhu sai so^' (error) cua no'.
Mot so nha khoa hoc (xem Time 19/4/99, p.69) cho rang meme la "silly idea",
"cocktail party science". Mot so pha?n bie^.n kho^i ha`i (NewScientist, cac
so thang 3, 4): bi. ca'o tru+o+'c va`nh mong ngua bao rang khong phai toi
pham toi ma chinh la meme; neu lap luan cua Blackmore [1] la dung, thi ddo'
la do meme cua ba ta; Beethoven bat chuoc ai khi soan Fifth Symphony, v.v...
Tuy nhien, cac hu? memetics nhu+ Blackmore pha?n pha'o rang: " Fine, give us
time, genetics is a science before DNA was identified".

Vai suy nghi:
Chung ta deu biet the ky 20 la the ky cua Va^.t ly' va` the ky to+'i la` cua
Genetic engineering (xem Time, 11/1/99). Con nguoi co the phan nao thay vai
tro cua mother nature: thay the cac bo phan nguoi, baby design; cac no^ng
pha^?m na(ng sua^'t cao, kha'ng sa^u benh, v.v... Nhu vay, con nguoi da co
the dieu khien vao "pha^`n xa'c" cua minh. Neu memetic engineering cung phat
trien ruc ro nhu the, cong voi su tro giup cuc manh cua may tinh, "pha^`n
ho^`n" cua chung ta cung bi dieu khien no^'t. Chung ta dan tro thanh cai may
va co the tro thanh no^ le^. cua chinh minh. Cai paradox "con nguoi tao ra
human machine de no tao ra chinh con nguoi" tro nen possible. Du muc dich
cua khoa hoc khong phai la nhu the, do chi la "side effects", chung ta khong
the phu nhan rang khoa hoc cang phat trien, con nguoi ca`ng ddu+'ng ke^`
vu+.c tha(?m die^.t vong.

Toi thi'ch thu' don nhan khai niem Meme nay. Tuy nhien, toi kho^ng cho la`
kho^ng to^`n ta.i ca'i to^i, ba?n sa('c rie^ng cua mo^~i ngu+o+`i va va^~n
tin la "thoughts are free". Co le cac Bac phai ta.o cho toi mot cai meme
ve^` anti-meme nhanh nhanh len moi duoc !

Tham khao:
Se xuat hien mot troi sites tren Internet khi cac Bac dung keyword "meme".
Duoi day la hai tham khao chinh ma toi dung de viet bai nay. Toi nghi nhu
the la du voi nhung nguoi chi doc voi tinh chat tham khao va khong chuyen
(nhu toi chang han).
1. Bjarneskans, H. et. al. (1997?), "The lifecycle of Memes",
http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Cultural/Memetics/memecycle.html
2. Blackmore, S. (1999), "Meme, myself, I", NewScientist, issue no. 13 March
1999,
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19990313/mememyself.html
3. Others: Time, NewScientist magazines


Lo+`i ba.t:
Right after clicking the button Send for this mail, I'll completely get
infected by meta-meme (meme about the theory of meme). I'll become a new
host of this virus. Sorry, I could not keep from spreading it to you. Be
careful,
this is just one of the co-memes, a hook to infect you with meta-meme. I am
sure that there will be many of you, "the lovers of wisdom" infected.
Anyway, it's not me but my memes do it.

Cheers
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
  Thai Doan Hoang Cau
  Electrical energy systems laboratory, UNSW
  Home addr.: 16/22 Kennedy st, Kingsford,
                       NSW 2032, Sydney, Australia
  Tel: 9399 6653 (home), 9385 4061 (work)
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+