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<p>It feels like (on the surface) that we are living in a time where
a new level of evolution is occurring... if there is
(metaphorically) anything such as a "Socionome", it feels like we
are watching it being hacked right before our eyes. <br>
</p>
<p>In my childhood, it seems like occasionally a "chain letter"
would come around, threatening/admonishing/promising the
recipient if THEY didn't make 10 copies and send it forward to 10
new people (threats/promises intact). Some even were Ponzi
schemes promising that if you sent $1 to the person at the top of
a list, strike them off the list, and add your own to the bottom,
and outlining the arithmetic that would turn your $1 into $1X10^10
in only 10 remailings. Of course nobody I knew ever actually
received even $1 much less 10 trillion envelopes with $1 in them
(imagine what that would do to your mailman/PO?).</p>
<p>I can't find the attribution of the phrase: "the best mark is a
con man" in the spirit of Barnum's "there is a sucker born every
minute". This suggests that the mark is in some fundamentally
way "complicit" by being greedy (or paranoid?). This observation
would seem to spill over into the "mobocracy" that our presumed
"democracy" seems to have devolved to. Traditionally Liberals
play to variations on greed (variations on free lunch programs)
while Conservatives play on fear (lawNorder, Xenophobia, etc.).
The Internet has changed scales in time, space, and network
distance. A "meme" travels at the speed of twitter now... even a
few years ago it was more at the speed of e-mail (mean time to
reading from hours or even days to seconds?) and can therefore
mutate and spread MUCH faster. <br>
</p>
<p>The focus on overt engineering by forces such as the presumed
"Russians" is often hackneyed and malconcieved but nevertheless
probably accurate in general form. But this just makes me
painfully aware of the role of Propoganda (political or
commercial) going WAAAYYY back. While it feels that there is no
more than a "scale change" here, when quantitative (space, time)
scales pass certain thresholds, then there are qualitative
shifts. <br>
</p>
<p>With the youth (say "millenials" for example) being entirely
steeped in these new scales and assumptions, they very likely
think quite a bit differently than X,Y,Boom,Greatest do... at
perhaps a *deep level*. Their assumptions about how big their
social circles are (number of friends, geographic and ethnographic
distribution, etc).<br>
</p>
<p>I feel like the current paradigm is roughly that of Epidemiology
(i.e. memes) and "hacking" (the Socionome)... with Trumpianism,
for example, recently *raging* through the susceptible
population. Some of the more charismatic characters on the left
have started somewhat *smaller* but hopefully more deeply
motivated "infections". AOC & Green New Deal, Bernie and
Democratic Socialism, etc. are prominent examples.</p>
<p>- Steve<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAEmKtryLbN+vZwv9uhhizA-dm5TB0ZyaXet_viZZcwccT5-axQ@mail.gmail.com">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Aug 19, 2019 at 12:46
PM Frank Wimberly <<a href="mailto:wimberly3@gmail.com"
moz-do-not-send="true">wimberly3@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="auto"><span
style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">... like
empathy is a muscle that atrophies if not exercised</span><br>
<br>
And which is made possible by universal suffering according
to Colbert and Cooper. Has anyone seen that video I linked?
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Frank<br>
<div dir="auto">-----------------------------------<br>
Frank Wimberly<br>
<br>
My memoir:<br>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.amazon.com/author/frankwimberly</a><br>
<br>
My scientific publications:<br>
<a
href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Frank_Wimberly2</a><br>
<br>
Phone (505) 670-9918</div>
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<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Aug 19, 2019,
11:56 AM uǝlƃ ☣ <<a href="mailto:gepropella@gmail.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gepropella@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Yes,
I think this "savior" narrative was why this particular
one was interesting. There are a spate of articles talking
about how our modern tech isolates us more than it
connects us, or how outrage clickbait gives a dopamine
rush and such, or how the incels and the alt-right bois
are disaffected and radicalized through their isolation.
In such a cultural context, it seems reasonable that
messages like this (including newage BS like "the law of
attraction") might hit a vulnerable spot similar to what
Nick mentions.<br>
<br>
The mechanisms/exploits Marcus mentions in PDF files
parsed by Acrobat Reader, macro-laden Office or obfuscated
JavaScript, including the tracking pixels mentioned by
Eric and Steve are much less interesting to me ... maybe
because I understand those tools. I definitely do NOT
understand the position someone would have to be in to
click something thinking there's any kind of hopeful,
life-changing, message or secret at the other end of the
link. It's that psychological "exploit" that's most
interesting to me. It's just like the Nigerian scam, only
instead of targeting lazy, greedy, get-rich-quick suckers,
they target lazy, lonely, get-relationships-easy suckers.<br>
<br>
My intuition hints at some loss of empathy, some kind of
objectification of others ... e.g. that one might see all
the pretty people on instagram always having fun, never
slumped in fits of depression, and thinking how cool the
lives of those objectified non-people must be. I caught a
snippet of a conversation on NPR where the person
suggested that empathizing enough with animals so that
*eating* them might feel a bit like cannibalism may
*foster* empathy with other humans, over and above that
with animals. ... like empathy is a muscle that atrophies
if not exercised.<br>
<br>
My guess is that the person who might click on the
Archangel Michael links is just such an isolated Gollum,
who feels like their life is hopeless and the world is
cruel ... always hunting for that get-happy-quick Precious
that must be out there somewhere, if only they could find
it.<br>
<br>
On 8/17/19 9:30 AM, Pietro Terna wrote:<br>
> What is very interesting for me is that the
"Archangel Michael's Message For You"<br>
> text reproduces a quite archaic format used in Italy,
but I guess not only, for<br>
> handwritten messages diffused by old mail.<br>
> E.g. <a
href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catena_di_sant%27Antonio"
rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catena_di_sant%27Antonio</a><br>
> <br>
> The format always quotes one or more relatives or
fiends by name etc. having received<br>
> benefits and requires prayers etc.<br>
> <br>
> Very interesting this form of modern survival.<br>
<br>
-- <br>
☣ uǝlƃ<br>
<br>
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<div>Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D.<br>
President, Center for Emergent Diplomacy<br>
<a href="http://emergentdiplomacy.org"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">emergentdiplomacy.org</a></div>
<div>Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA</div>
<div><a href="mailto:merlelefoff@gmail.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">merlelefkoff@gmail.com</a><br>
mobile: (303) 859-5609<br>
skype: merle.lelfkoff2<br>
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<div>twitter: @Merle_Lefkoff<br>
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