Memetic Herd Immunity

Nobody loves modeling the tactical mechanics of the Meme War more than I do.

One of the critical objectives involved in winning a meme war is achieving Memetic Herd Immunity.

When it comes to the spread of biological viruses, herd immunity occurs when a large enough portion of the population becomes immune to a disease, making it difficult for that disease to spread to those who have not yet been infected.

The same concept can be applied to memetic viruses - otherwise known as “ideas.”

Certain memes known as pathological memes can be destructive to a population if too many people become infected by them. Just pick whatever political ideology you despise most as the working example of a pathological meme.

Winning a meme war means containing and neutralizing pathological memes within a population while simultaneously propagating your own (theoretically) pro-social memes.

Pathological memes are destructive in part because they have a great deal of archetypal allure to them, allowing them to spread rapidly in times of crisis.

Right-wing authoritarianism appeals to people with the prospect of social stability and law and order. This is catalyzed through memetic appeals to the positive archetype of Culture (“the Wise King”).

Left-wing authoritarianism appeals to people with the prospect of revolutionary change. This is catalyzed through memetic appeals to the negative archetype of Culture (“the Tyrant”).

The graphic above is from my “Archetypal Memetics” video

In order for a population to resist the inevitable destruction from either of the twin archetypal dangers, there must be a threshold number of individuals who are sufficiently immunized against these pathological memes, the ideological allures of which can overpower the intellectual immune systems of the more vulnerable.

If a population contains this threshold number of immunized individuals, it will have achieved memetic herd immunity.

How memetic immunization occurs

The two ingredients necessary for immunizing individuals against the dangers of pathological memes are historical education and commitment to principle.

Historical education is the memetic equivalent of getting infected by a disease once and developing a natural resistance to it. Once you learn about the endless destructive capacity of both Right-wing and Left-wing ideological extremism, it becomes much more difficult to be seduced by such memes.

Commitment to principle is equivalent to having a generally strong immune system. An axiomatic commitment to the free exchange of conflicting ideas is a necessary (but likely insufficient) condition for containing the spread of pathological memes, which almost universally tend toward censorship of one kind or another.

Fortifying the feudal hierarchies of influence

Depending on the memetic fitness of the pathological meme in question, the threshold number of immunized individuals that is required to achieve memetic herd immunity against it will vary.

The same is true for biological viruses. The following are the population percentages that need to be immunized in order to achieve herd immunity against different biological viruses.

• Influenza ~ 23%

• Ebola ~ 40%

• Measles ~ 92%

It is much more difficult to assess what percentage of the population needs to be immunized against pathological memes, but it is definitely the case that memetic herd immunity can only be achieved if those at the top of the various feudal hierarchies of influence within a population are sufficiently immunized.

Most people adopt the memes of the people they admire through unconscious imitation. This is the basis of social learning. The set of admirable people within a population can be described as occupying a high position within various feudal hierarchies of influence.

All it takes is one influential individual to adopt an oppositional stance towards a pathological meme for those they have influence over to imitate that stance.

Whether it’s the most politically engaged person in a group of friends, a respected member of the local community, or a far-reaching media influencer, memetic herd immunity is achieved at the level of localized battlefields - your friend groups, your schoolboards, your workplace, or your city hall.

As pathological memes continue to spread throughout the population - most disturbingly in the form of government censorship - it is critical that memetic influencers ensure everyone in their sphere of influence is protected from the dangers of ideological possession.