Entation Military Memetics Tutorial 13 Dec 11

TUTORIAL: MILITARY MEMETICS
Presented By:
Dr. Robert Finkelstein
President, Robotic Technology Inc.
BobF@RoboticTechnologyInc.com
Phone: 301-983-4194 ; Fax: 301-983-3921
Collegiate Professor
Graduate School Of Management and Technology
University of Maryland University College
Presented At:
Social Media for Defense Summit
Alexandria, Virginia
24- 26 October 2011
This presentation is based on

projects Robotic Technology
Inc. performed for the Defense
Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA), 2006-2009,
and we thank DARPA for their
vision and support
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MOTIVATION

The long war against terrorism and the
ongoing conflicts with asymmetric
adversaries are, fundamentally, wars of ideas
We are losing the war of ideas
We are in an information war, and we're losing
that war. -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
[Our enemy] has said that 50 percent of the
current struggle is taking place in the arena of
public information. That may be an
understatement. -- Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld
Challenge disinformation. Turn our enemies
extremist ideologies, oppressive practices, and
indiscriminate violence against them. -- Gen.
David Petraeus, issuing guidelines for an
aggressive information war in Afghanistan
The other half [of the battle] is the arena of
ideas, and countering the rhetoric and methods
that extremists use to recruit. -- Ali H. Soufan,
FBI Al Qaeda interrogator
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: WHAT IS A MEME?

Our pragmatic definition: a meme is
information which propagates, has
impact, and persists
Memetics is the study and application of
memes
Military Memetics is the application of
memes for national security
It is a subset of Neuro-Cognitive Warfare,
a revolutionary tool in the information war
It can provide a coherent, scientific
approach for information operations,
psychological warfare, and the general
war against terrorists
It can prevent or mitigate irrational
conflict, reduce the probability of war or
defeat, and increase the probability of
peace or victory
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MEME ASPECTS

Example memes: words, ideas, symbols,
icons, logos, tunes, poems, catch-phrases,
fashion, technological processes (e.g.,
making arrowheads or gumbo), fables,
religion, graffiti, images, novels, movies,
narratives, culture (functional or
dysfunctional; national, tribal, or
organizational)
Memes can be described by their external
phenomena (e-memes) and internal
phenomena (i-memes)
E-memes are manifested by their effects on
human behavior and culture
I-memes are manifested by their effects on
an individuals neuronal behavior and brain
E-memes and i-memes are not two types of
memes, but rather two effects or
manifestations of memes
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: E-MEMES

The tools and techniques for studying
both manifestations of memes differ
E-memes can be studied via their
simulated or actual propagation over
social networks (modern social media
are especially efficient and effective for
propagating memes)
Tools and techniques include: Internet
and phone text and voice message
propagation; rumor and gossip
propagation; buzz and viral marketing
Also neuroeconomics behavioral
experiments involving: game theory, risk,
attention and awareness, learning,
valuation, motivation, emotion, behavior,
trust and attachment, and addictive
behavior
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: I-MEMES

I-memes can be studied using tools
and techniques such as:
Functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) or other kinds of neuroimaging; genetic profiling; psychopharmacological manipulations;
psycho-physiology (EMG, ERP, and
EEG); behavioral measures;
psychological testing; blood chemistry;
hormone analysis; and neuro-chemical
reactions; and single neuron recording
The study of both aspects of memes

must be integrated with a synthesis of
the phenomena and the multidisciplinary study of the phenomena
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MEME ORIGIN

The word meme is a neologism coined by
Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene
(1976), (although it may have had earlier
roots)
Dawkins defined it as a self-reproducing and
propagating information structure analogous
to a gene in biology
He focused on the meme as a replicator,
analogous to the gene, able to affect human
evolution through the evolutionary algorithm
of variation, replication, and differential fitness
The meme had evolutionary effects on human
culture and physiology
A memes information structure can have

many forms, including
Words, symbols, images, icons, artifacts
The information content of a meme can be
concise, middling, or lengthy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MILITARY MEMETICS

For national security applications (Military
Memetics), most memes of interest are
concise (e.g., 1-10 words) or middling (e.g.,
10 words 10 pages), for optimum
propagation over social media
The meme definition for Military Memetics is:
information which propagates, has impact,
and persists (Info-PIP)
Where metrics can be defined and evaluated
for the variables of information, propagation,
and persistence
The desired impacts of memes for national

security are immediate, not evolutionary
Memes can change individual and group
values and behavior
Memes can enhance dysfunctional cultures or
sub-cultures
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MEMETICS

RESEARCH
In the decades since 1976, research on memes
has been scattered and unfocused, limited
largely to individual academics
As part of our Military Memetics project, we
prepared a 1680-page Compendium is to provide
a broad overview of memetics based on a variety
of papers by various authors
We also prepared a 37-page Excerpts of the
Compendium containing its highlights
The Defense Advanced Projects Research

Agency (DARPA) has supported a series of
memetics-related projects with multidisciplinary
teams from industry and academia
Epidemiology of Ideas (2006)
Military Memetics (2006-2009)
Social Media in Strategic Communications
(SMISC) (2011-in progress)
Narrative Networks (N2) (2011-in progress)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: DARPA MEMETICS

RELATED RESEARCH
Epidemiology of Ideas (DSO, 2006)
To predict changing culture and examine the
creation, propagation, and impact of ideas
Military Memetics (DSO, 2006-2009)

To determine whether memetics can be established
as a science with the ability to explain and predict
phenomena; to define memes and memetic metrics;
and to use tools and techniques (e.g., fMRI and
social network simulations) to examine Info-PIP
Social Media in Strategic Communications

(SMISC) (I2O, 2011-in progress)
To develop automatic tools and techniques for
detecting, identifying, evaluating, and countering
adversarial memes
Narrative Networks (N2) (DSO, 2011-in progress)

To perform quantitative analysis of narratives,
understanding their effects on human psychology
and neurobiology, and determine their influence on
individuals and culture
PURPOSE OF A MILITARY MEMETICS

PROGRAM
To develop a new approach to
Countering terrorists and insurgents
before and after they become
terrorists and insurgents: influencing
beliefs in a scientific way
Preventing or mitigate irrational
conflict and promoting rational
solutions to national and international
problems
Strengthening the U.S. military in
Peacekeeping missions
Psychological operations
Recruitment
Training
To make new discoveries concerning

the human brain, cognition, and
social networks
MILITARY MEMETICS CONGRUENT WITH

NOTION OF EPIDEMIOLOGY OF IDEAS
The long war against terrorism is,
fundamentally, a war of ideas
Today the centers of gravity of the conflict in Iraq
and the global war on terror are not on the
battlefields overseas. Rather, the center of gravity
of this war are on the centers of public opinion in
the U.S. and in the capitals of free nations. The
gateways to those centers are the international
media hubs and the capitals of the world. Zawahiri
has said that 50 percent of the current struggle is
taking place in the arena of public information.
That may be an understatement. Osama bin Laden,
Zawahari, Zarqawi had media committees that
consistently outpace our ability to respond.
[Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld,
Illustrative New 21st Century Institutions and
Approaches, Secret Memorandum, 1 May 06, as
quoted by Bob Woodward, Washington Post, 8 Oct.
06, P. B5]

DARPA and the Defense Sciences
Research Council (DSRC) held
workshops on the Epidemiology of
Ideas
Goals of Epidemiology of Ideas
Ability to predict changing cultural
values
Identify techniques to assure
propagation of an idea
Identify who is vulnerable to a
propagating idea
Determine characteristics of networks
that facilitate spread of ideas
Predict the consequences of
propagating an idea

DARPA/DSRC Workshop definition
(characterization) of idea similar to
concept of meme
Epidemiology of ideas a function of
biology, culture, and
communications
Biology: knowledge of brain fMRI,
neurochemical reactions (e.g.,
dopamine, oxytocin)
Culture: cultural values, linguistics,
demographic market segmentation
buzz (i.e., viral) marketing
Communications: network models,
cyberspace jihad, smart mobs via
texting
EARLY CONCEPT OF THE MEME

Meme (Dawkinss Concept):
Self-reproducing and propagating
information structures analogous to genes in
biology
Able to replicate using hosts and to influence
behavior to promote replication
Mneme (Pre-Dawkins)
Notion of a unit of social evolution
Transliteration of the Greek word
Introduced (1904) by German evolutionary
biologist Richard Semon in Die Mnemische
Empfindungen in ihren Beziehungen zu den
Originalenempfindungen (English translation
1921)
Analogous to Darwinian natural selection

A unit of cultural inheritance
Alters individual (psychological) and group
(sociological) behavior and ultimately
evolution of the species
Memes and genes may have cooperative or

adversarial relationships
Becoming mainstream: Witness

the explosion of a new hip-hop
meme into white culture, Picking
Up the Lyric but Missing the Beat,
Washington Post, Tuesday, March
7, 2006; P. C01
RELEVANT MEME PROPERTIES

For the purposes of national
defense, the relevant and important
characteristics of the meme are its
ability to:
Propagate
Influence behavior (i.e., have impact)
Persist
Exclude from consideration:

Evolutionary effects
Genetic relationships
The meme will be examined as a type

of culturally transmitted information
Variables of propagation, influence,
and persistence, defined to achieve
military worth
MEMETICS AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE

Since Dawkins revelation
Coterie of proponents, skeptics,
opponents
Few coherent, well-funded,
significant R&D projects of
concept
No refutation
Memetics needs
A general theory a theoretical
foundation for development of a
scientific discipline, not pseudoscience
Better focus, pragmatic definition
Ability to make testable
predictions & falsifiable
hypotheses
MEMETICS AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE

The discrete meme must be
defined, identified, and
distinguished in the nearcontinuum of information
Just as the discrete gene can be
identified (more or less) in long
string of DNA nucleotides
Quantitative basis for memes

must be established, e.g.,
Physiological effects
Information theory and entropy
Genetic, memetic, and
evolutionary algorithms
Modeling and simulation
Neuroeconomics tools
WHY DEFINE MEMES?

Some say a crisp definition of
unit of information or unit of
cultural transmission is not
critical to a theory of memes
E.g., Darwins Theory of Evolution
was scientifically useful before
anyone knew about genes and
DNA
But a pragmatic definition and

associated metrics would provide
a better foundation for research
and the ability to make testable
predictions and falsifiable
hypotheses, and control effects
Which DNA and genetic
engineering now provides to
Darwins Theory
Memetic engineering or applied
memetics
WHY DEFINE MEMES?

Darwins Theory of Evolution
was scientifically useful before
anyone knew about genes and
DNA
Because Darwin and other
scientists had physical objects
(e.g., fossils or living
physiological structures) to
measure
Metrics existed with which to
compare and contrast entities
A coherent theory could be
developed in which phenomena
can be quantified and predicted
This is not the case for Memes

There is not an analogous
Theory of Memetics
EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

Extensive memetics literature reveals a plethora of definitions for the
meme, with most being variations of Dawkins original notion
Most agree that a meme is a unit (whatever that means) of cultural
transmission (or a unit of information - whatever that means), where
culture may be defined as the total pattern of behavior (and its products) of
a population of agents, embodied in thought, behavior, and artifacts, and
dependent upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to
succeeding generations
None of these definitions is sufficient to allow a meme to be clearly
recognized or measured
EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

A self-reproducing and propagating
information structure analogous to a
gene in biology
A unit of cultural transmission (or a unit
of imitation) that is a replicator that
propagates themselves in the meme
pool leaping from brain to brain via (in
a broad sense) imitation; examples:
tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes
fashions, ways of making pots or of
building arches
Ideas that program for their own
retransmission or propagation
Actively contagious idea or thought
Shared elements of a culture learned
through imitation from others with
culture being defined rather broadly to
include ideas, behaviors, and physical
objects

An element of a culture that may be
considered to be passed on by nongenetic means, especially imitation
Whatever is passed on by imitation
Constellations of activated and nonactivated synapses within neural
memory networks
Information patterns infecting human
minds
While the internal meme is equivalent
to the genotype, its expression in
behavior (or the way it affects things
in its environment) is its phenotype
Meme: It Aint Over Till The Fat Lady Sings

Any information that is copied from
person to person or between books,
computers, or other storage devices
Many mental contents are not memes
because they are not acquired by
imitation or copying, including
perceptions, visual memories, and
emotional feelings; skills or
knowledge acquired by ordinary
learning are not memes
A unit of cultural information; a

piece of knowledge, an idea [with an
anchor, carrier, and payload]
Biological Definition: Basic unit of
cultural transmission, or imitation
Psychological definition: The unit of
cultural heredity analogous to the
gene; the internal representation of
knowledge

Cognitive definition: An idea, the
kind of complex idea that forms itself
into a distinctive memorable unit,
spread by vehicles that are physical
manifestations of the meme
Working definition: A unit of
information in a mind whose
existence influences events such
that more copies of itself get created
in other minds
A memory item, or portion of an
organisms neurally-stored
information, identified using the
abstraction system of the observer,
whose instantiation depended
critically on causation by prior
instantiation of the same memory
item in one or more other organisms
nervous systems

A heterogeneous class of
entities, primarily including
(observable) behavior and
artifacts
An element of culture that may
be considered to be passed on
by non-genetic means,
especially imitation
The least unit of socio-cultural
information relative to a
selection process that has
favorable or unfavorable
selection bias that exceeds its
endogenous tendency to
change

Cultural replicators propagated through
imitation, undergoing a process of
selection, and standing to be selected not
because they benefit their human carriers,
but because they benefit themselves
A symbolic representation of any state of
affairs, either internal and implemented in
the mind or external implemented in an
external (non-mental) objects such as
artifacts, products, behaviors
Replicating conceptual units the largest
reliably replicating unit within our text
corpus
A (cognitive) information-structure able to
replicate using human hosts and to
influence their behavior to promote
replication

Cultural information units that are the
smallest elements that replicate
themselves with reliability and
fecundity
A rule of behavior, encoded by
functional neuronal groups or
pathways. [Behavior is action, whether
mental or physical. Ideas such as tying
shoe-laces or opening a door represent
rules of physical action, i.e., rules of
patterned neural-muscular interaction.
Concepts such as apple, seven, or
causality, represent rules of mental
action, or rules of cognition, i.e., rules
of patterned neural-neural interaction.
Hence, physical movement is governed
by memes which represent rules of
physical action and thought is
governed by memes which represent
rules of mental action]

Any kind, amount, and
configuration of information in
culture that shows both variation
and coherent transmission
A pattern of information (a state
within a space of possible states)]
A unit of cultural information as it
is represented in the brain
An idea, behavior, style, or usage
that spreads from person to
person within a culture

A unit of information residing in
a brain
An observable cultural
phenomenon, such as a
behavior, artifact or an objective
piece of information, which is
copied, imitated or learned, and
thus may replicate within a
cultural system. Objective
information includes
instructions, norms, rules,
institutions and social practices
provided they are observable
A pattern of information, one
that happens to have evolved a
form which induces people to
repeat that pattern

A contagious information pattern that replicates
by parasitically infecting human minds and
altering their behavior, causing them to propagate
the pattern. Individual slogans, catch-phrases,
melodies, icons, inventions, and fashions are
typical memes. An idea or information pattern is
not a meme until it causes someone to replicate it,
to repeat it to someone else. All transmitted
knowledge is memetic
The smallest idea that can copy itself while
remaining self contained and intact essentially
sets of instructions that can be followed to
produce behavior. Instructions can be encoded in
either: 1) musical notation; 2) written text; 3)
visible (or vocal) action; 4) the neural structure of
the brain; 5) digitized structures in a computer
The least unit of socio-cultural information
relative to a selection process that has favorable
or unfavorable selection bias that exceeds its
endogenous tendency to change
OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME

We created a pragmatic
definition of a meme
To elicit comments and
improvements
Eventually converge to a
canonical definition that
will be useful in
establishing a scientific
basis for memetics
OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME

The concise version:
A meme is information which propagates, has impact, and persists
We will elaborate on this definition
And we will elaborate on the meanings of the terms of this definition:
information, propagation, impact, and persistence
ELABORATING ON OUR DEFINITION OF THE

MEME
A meme is information (using Shannons definition as that which
reduces uncertainty) transmitted by one or more primary sources to
recipients who, as secondary sources, retransmit the information to at
least an order of magnitude more recipients than primary sources,
where propagation or the information persist at least ten hours and
the information has observable impact in addition to its transmission
To distinguish a meme from other sorts of information (e.g., from common
daily utterances), we invoke an order of magnitude rule and place an
emphasis on the necessity of a threshold for propagation and persistence
OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME:

EXPLANATION
Information: Claude Shannons
definition: information is that which
reduces uncertainty
The difference between two states
of uncertainty before and after a
message has been received
A message carries information
inasmuch as it conveys something
not already known
The same message can have
different influence or impacts,
depending on the states of the
recipients; a meme, as a subset of
information, could have different
consequences for different
recipients

EXPLANATION
Transmitted by one or more primary
sources
A primary source either originates a
new, original meme, or a variation of an
existing meme, or resuscitates a
previous meme (e.g., one that has been
dormant or otherwise unknown to the
current recipients)
A single primary source can be
sufficient for a meme (and is usually the
case for original memes)
Because communication is now
inexpensive, a single primary source
can transmit the meme to hundreds or
thousands of recipients
A group may also originate a meme, and
one or more members of the group may
then transmit the meme to any number
of recipients

EXPLANATION
Transmitted to recipients who, as
secondary sources, retransmit the
information to at least an order of
magnitude more recipients than
primary sources
At a minimum, if there is one primary
source, then there must be at least 10
recipients of the meme when it is retransmitted by one or more secondary
sources (i.e., initial recipients)
While 10 is an arbitrary number, as an
order of magnitude increment (at a
minimum) it serves a filter to distinguish
memes from ordinary discourse
The requirement that a meme be retransmitted in at least one cycle also
serves as filter to distinguish memes
from non-memes

EXPLANATION
Where propagation and/or the
information persists at least ten
hours
As another constraint to distinguish
memes from ordinary discourse, at
a minimum, the meme must be
transmitted (e.g., constant emailing
or text messaging or hits on a
website) over a period of 10 hours
or persist (e.g., in a file or on a
website or in memory) for at least
10 hours
The 10-hour minimum applies to
either propagation or persistence or
as a minimum total for both
While 10 hours is arbitrary, it
serves as a minimal propagation
and persistence filter

EXPLANATION
The information has observable
impact in addition to its
transmission
Information may be ascribed to
have impact from the act of
transmitting or re-transmitting it but our definition requires
additional kinds of impact
Impact might be evidenced, for
example, as identifiable neuronal
patterns in the brain or other
physiological effects in
individuals, or as resulting
behavior in an individual or a
group of individuals
The significance (or degree) of
the impact may be determined
objectively or subjectively or a
combination of methods

EXPLANATION
Our definition of the meme has
metrics contained within it, to
distinguish memes from nonmemes
In addition, we defined metrics
and submetrics so that memes
can be evaluated against each
other, to
(1) Estimate which prospective
meme might be preferable for a
particular application
(2) Examine why some memes
are more successful than others
While (1) requires that the values
of the metrics and submetrics be
estimated, (2) requires that the
values be obtained as measured
data
MEMETIC METRICS AND SUBMETRICS

We defined metrics and submetrics for evaluating memes
MEMETIC METRICS
MEMETIC METRICS
PROPAGATION
PERSISTENCE
ENTROPY
IMPACT
Number Of
Recipients
Duration Of
Transmission
Small
<100K Bits
Individual
Consequence
Type Of
Recipients
Duration Of
Memory
Medium
<100M Bits
Societal
Consequence
Dispersion Of
Recipients
Large
>100M Bits
CHARACTERIZATION OF MEME PROPAGATION AND

PERSISTENCE (MINIMUMS)
LEVEL
(Order of Magnitude)
PROPAGATION
(NO. OF PEOPLE)
PERSISTENCE
No. Hours
No. Years
EXAMPLE CHARACTERIZATION
(Minimal Meme)
Origin of meme
10
10
Neighborhood gossip, Text Message
100
100
Newspaper article
1,000
1000
0.1
Urban legend
10,000
10000
Cookbook
100,000
100000
10
Fundamentalist insurgency
1,000,000
1000000
100
Political ideology
10,000,000
10000000
1,000
Major religious canon
100,000,000
100000000
10,000
Instructions on growing wheat
1,000,000,000
1000000000
100,000
Human burial ritual
10
10,000,000,000
10000000000
1,000,000
Instructions on making flint cutting tool
CHARACTERIZATION OF MEME
PROPAGATION AND PERSISTENCE
The previous characterizations of
memes (e.g., neighborhood
gossip, political ideology) are
intended to relate a (rough) orderof-magnitude, represented by
Level or scale of values from 0 to
10, to examples representing the
population size of recipients and
duration of these categories of
memes
Example: neighborhood gossip
(Level 1) may propagate among 10
people and persist for 10 hours,
while a fundamentalist insurgency
(Level 5) may propagate among
100,000 people and persist for
100,000 hours (about 10 years)
ENTROPY AND INFORMATION

Entropy as a metric of information: entropy is probably a better
information sizing metric than the number of words (or bits) because it
can be applied to any language as well as symbols, signs, and images
semiotics in general
The relative importance of meme size (e.g., small, medium, large) remains to
be determined, but we have initially weighted it lower than the other metrics
At this time, we consider smaller memes to be more important than larger
memes
Larger memes may all be memeplexes (e.g., the typical human brain cannot
hold more than 10 chunks of information in short-term memory)

Entropy as a metric of
information: Claude Shannons
mathematical theory of
communication measures the
amount of information in any
message using a function
identical to that of Boltzmanns
formulation of entropy
The use of this entropy is
noncontroversial as long as it is
used to measure the freedom of
choice in messages and not
semantic content (i.e., a specific
message is selected from a
larger set)

Example: information (entropy) needed to select one word out of a
vocabulary of 200 words is 7.6 bits (S = log2 200 = 7.6 bits)
That is, the word is within the first 100 words or the second 100 words
It takes one bit to determine that, or one guess to as to which of the two
sets it was in - if the word is in the first 100 words, it takes another bit
(guess) to determine which of the two sets of 50 words it is in; and so on
It takes between 7 and 8 bits (guesses) to find the one word in 200 words
Likewise, a 50-word meme requires 380 bits (for a 200-word vocabulary).
Nothing is indicated about the meaning or significance of the message that
results from selecting and stringing together the 50 words

Because of its logarithmic
nature, the quantity of
information (entropy) needed
to isolate one item remains
very modest as the total set of
items increases enormously
If, for example, the sample
space is a 20,000-word
vocabulary, a 50-word meme
requires only 714 bits

A problem arises when entropy is used as a
measure of informational order and disorder
For example, a manager has a desk with
mounds of paper covering it - is this a high or
low entropy case?
The managers associate cannot find a paper
he is searching for until he has made a large
number of guesses, separating the piles of
papers a very high entropy case
But the manager knows exactly where every
paper is located the mounds of paper are
quite organized in her mind; it would take her
no guesses to find the crucial paper a very
low entropy case
Both cases concern the same set of items,
but two different observers
Entropy then becomes a subjective measure
of information (or a measure of the
information contained in the brain of the
observer), and this can be a disturbing
concept to some

The entropy of a meme, whether long or
short, can be estimated and calculated
from the individual letters or symbols
Based on the total number in the originating
set, or from the individual words, based on
the vocabulary in the originating set
Example: the Oxford English Dictionary
contains 616,500 words and spelling bee
contestants study perhaps 614,000 of those
words; but, in reality, the average
vocabulary of an American English speaker
is estimated by various linguists as between
10,000 and 20,000 words, or optimistically
between 50,000 and 70,000 words)
The average American would actively use
only a fraction of that vocabulary

Typically, there are about 800 words per
page with 12-point Times Roman font,
although publications vary considerably in
the number of words, based on page size,
format, and number of pages
Shannon calculated the entropy per letter of
an 8-letter chunk of English as 2.3 bits per
letter, using a 26-character set (although a
76-symbol, including 26 letters, set might be
generally more appropriate)
Assuming a vocabulary of 30,000 words the
entropy of a single word is about 15 bits (S =
log2 30,000 = 15 bits)
The following Table shows the entropy as a
function of the number of (English) words in
memes
Most memes of military worth are 10 100,000
words, or an entropy of 150 1,500,000 bits
ENTROPY AS A FUNCTION OF MEME SIZE

MEME SIZE (Words)
MEME SIZE
(No. of Pages)
ENTROPY
(Bits)
EXAMPLE CHARACTERIZATIONS
(Approximate)
0.001
15
Exclamation (Hooah! Oorah! Allah!)
10
0.01
150
Catchphrase, Slogan, Exhortation (Remember the

Maine! Death to America! Jesus loves you! When it
absolutely, positively has to get there overnight! Youll
wonder where the yellow went when you brush your
teeth with Pepsodent!)
100
0.1
1,500
Sound-bite, Prayer, Incitement, Joke
1,000
15,000
Flyer, Poster, Advertisement, Notice, Propaganda
10,0000
10
150,000
Political speech, Sermon, Polemic, Article, Blog
100,000
100
1,500,000
Field manual, Ideological indoctrination, Manifesto
1,000,000
1,000
15,000,000
Bible, Koran, Abridged dictionary
10,000,000
10,000
150,000,000
Unabridged dictionary, Religious canon
100,000,000
100,000
1,500,000,000
Federal Register, Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia
1,000,000,000
1,000,000
15,000,000,000
Instructions for building nuclear submarine or Apollo

spacecraft

A Threshold Metric is Propagation
The submetrics for Propagation are
Number of Recipients
Type of Recipients and
Dispersion of Recipients
Depending on the problem under

consideration, the type of
recipients might be characterized
or categorized by their economic,
social, or educational class,
ethnicity or culture, religion,
gender, age, tribe, politics, etc.
Depending on the problem under
consideration, the dispersion of
recipients might categorized as
local, tribal, familial, regional,
national, global, etc.

Another Threshold Metric is
Persistence
The submetrics for Persistence
distinguish between the Duration of
Transmission of the meme and Duration
in Memory or storage
Submetrics for metric Entropy (or size)

Distinguish among Small, Medium, and
Large, which are (using an order of
magnitude rule) characterized as less
than or equal to 100K bits, less than or
equal to 100M bits, & greater than 100 M
bits, respectively
Submetrics for metric Impact

Distinguish between the impact (or
potential impact) of the meme on the
individual (individual consequence) and
its impact (or potential impact) on
society as a whole (societal
consequence)

MEMETIC METRICS
MEMETIC METRICS
PROPAGATION
PERSISTENCE
ENTROPY
IMPACT
Number Of
Recipients
Duration Of
Transmission
Small
<100K Bits
Individual
Consequence
Type Of
Recipients
Duration Of
Memory
Medium
<100M Bits
Societal
Consequence
Dispersion Of
Recipients
Large
>100M Bits

Memetic metrics were weighted using the
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)
This is an initial effort and not etched in stone
it should be revised as necessary, including
because of experimental evidence
The AHP is used to determine the relative
importance (weights or priorities) of the metrics,
and can be used to evaluate (score or prioritize)
alternative memes and then rank-order them
The AHP simplifies decision processes through
problem structuring, decomposition and
pairwise comparisons and can accommodate
both quantitative and subjective inputs, merge
them into single overall measure for ranking
alternative choices (the underlying mathematics
mostly involves solving for matrix Eigenvalues)
After defining metrics and submetrics, pairwise
comparisons and a numerical scoring system
are used to weight the metrics and submetrics,
then evaluate and rank alternative memes
against the weighted metrics and submetrics
WEIGHTED METRICS AND SUBMETRICS

The Propagation metric is deemed more
important (weighted more) than Persistence (and
the other metrics) because it is more easily
measured or estimated and more relevant
concerning memes of military worth, especially
in the near-term
The Impact metric is deemed somewhat less
important than Persistence because it is more
difficult to measure, especially in the real-world,
in the near-term (in a model, with a Gods-eye
view, Impact might be considered the most
important metric)
The Entropy metric is deemed least important
because the size of the meme, while influential,
is not critical in its ability to propagate, persist,
and impact (alter behavior), especially for digital
media (e.g., images and videos)

For the Propagation submetrics,
the Number of Recipients is more
heavily weighted than the Type or
Dispersion of Recipients
submetrics because it is more
easily measured than the other
submetrics and it alone can serve
as a useful crude indicator of
successful propagation
The Type and Dispersion of
Recipients are demographic details
which refine the efficacy of the
memes dispersion but are not as
important as the sheer Number of
Recipients

For the Persistence submetrics,
the Duration of the Transmission
of the meme is deemed somewhat
more important than Duration of
the Memory (in mind or artifact) of
the meme because
It is easier to measure and more
important for memes of immediate
military worth

For the Entropy submetrics, the Small
categorization is deemed more
important than Medium, which is
deemed more important than Large
Despite meme size being less important
with digital media, the human brain is
still size and retention limited and is
generally more responsive to briefer
memes
For Impact submetrics, the Societal

Consequences of memes are deemed
more important than the Individual
Consequences (e.g., the altered
behavior of many is generally of
greater consequence than that of a
single person, even if a single person
may sometimes alter history)
A MEMETICS FITNESS FACTOR

We made an initial attempt to
create a method (equation) for
deriving numbers to
characterize memes so they
can be conveniently evaluated
against one another
The equation includes the
previously defined metrics
The equation is an initial hack
at the problem and is intended
to elicit comments and
suggestions for improvement
Experimental results are likely
to alter the notion (and
equation) of memetic fitness
A MEMETICS FITNESS FACTOR

M = PrPeI/S
Where: Pr = Propagation (number of
people [transformation])
Pe = Persistence (time [transformation])
I = Impact (dimensionless number)
S = Entropy (number of bits
[transformation])
M = Memetic Fitness (person-hours/bit)
Memetic Fitness is given in

(transformed) units of person-hours/bit
This seems appropriate in that it
characterizes a level of effort expended,
in various ways, per unit of information in
the meme
With a different derivation, Memetic
Fitness might be defined as a
dimensionless number
MEMETICS FITNESS FACTOR VARIABLES:

PROPAGATION
Pr =
iRi
Where: Pr = Propagation
R1 = Log10N (where N = number of recipients) (0R110)
R2 = Characterization of types of recipients (0R210)
R3 = Characterization of dispersion of recipients (0R310)
W1, W2, W3 = Weighting factors for R1, R2, R3, respectively

PERSISTENCE
Pe =
iDi
Where: Pe = Persistence
D1 = Characterization of duration of transmission ((0D110)
D2 = Characterization of duration of memory (0D210)
W1, W2 = Weighting factors for D1, D2, respectively

IMPACT
I=
iCi
Where: I = Impact
C1 = Characterization of consequence of the meme on individual (0C110)
C2 = Characterization of consequence of the meme on society (0C210)
W1, W2 = Weighting factors for C1, C2, respectively

ENTROPY
S = WLog10Sm
Where: S = Fitness entropy characterization
Sm = Entropy of meme (bits); Sm = log2n (where n = vocabulary size)
W = Weighting factor
MEMETICS FITNESS FACTOR

M = PrPeI/S
In this definition, M is directly proportional to Propagation,
Persistence, and Impact, and inversely proportional to entropy
A conjecture is that smaller memes (lower entropy) lead to a higher
fitness factor than larger memes
Units are person-hours/bit
The hypothesis is that the greater the effort/bit in the meme, the
more important the meme
MEME REPLICATION & PROPAGATION

Successful replication and propagation
of meme independent of usual social
criteria of good or bad (e.g., truth,
ethics, or science)
Good ideas can become extinct while bad
ideas flourish
A successful insurgency requires the

active support of few and the
acquiescence of many
MEME REPLICATION & PROPAGATION

Memes (like genes) do not have cognition or foresight they (like
genes) have algorithms which drive natural selection
MEMES: EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM
The evolutionary algorithm

generates complex entities from
simple entities a process for
creating design out of chaos
without the aid of mind:
Variation: Abundance of different

elements
Heredity or replication: Elements
can create copies or replicas of
themselves
Differential fitness: Number of
copies of created elements varies
depending on interactions among
features of the elements
(whatever makes it different from
other elements) and features of
the environment in which it
persists
MEMES: EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM

Replicators: The evolutionary algorithm
(heredity, variation, selection) can run
on different substrates (genes and
memes)
Humans are the product of two

replicators: genes and memes
Memes might explain
Why humans constantly think and talk

Excessively large human brains
Non-genetic altruism & suicide bombers
Any behavior adverse to genetic survival
Example Memes
Ideas, tunes, poems, catch-phrases,

fashion, technological processes (e.g.,
making arrowheads or gumbo), fables,
religion, graffiti, images, novels,
movies, insurgent or terrorist culture,
military culture (training, tactics,
strategy, doctrine, policy)
MEME LIFECYCLE
Host transmits meme intentionally or unintentionally

Transmission Vector
Meme received and encoded by host

Meme transmitted to new host via stone engraving, speech, text, image,
observed behavior, email
MEME LIFECYCLE
Meme Lifecycle resembles Claude Shannons iconic schematic of
a general communications system
Information
Source
Transmitter
Message
Receiver
Signal
Received
Signal
Noise
Source
Destination
Message
MEME LIFECYCLE
New Potential Host
Meme received and decoded

Becomes host if meme satisfies selection and
fitness criteria
New host replicates and transmits meme

(perhaps with different vector)
There is a great excess of potential memes
over available brains
MEME LIFECYCLE
Selection and Fitness Criteria
Motivation & Hooks
Fit Existing Constructs
Receptive paradigms or belief

systems
Memes aggregate and reinforce in
complexes
Suitable Storage
Threats: hell or failure

Rewards: heaven or success
Beneficial or entertaining
Appreciative Direct Feedback
Memory or media
Enduring Vectors
E.g., chiseled in stone; certain books
MEME LIFECYCLE
Memes can be transmitted without true

communication
The sender can pass memes to the

receiver using deception where the intent
of the sender is not communicated to the
receiver
Or memes might be diffused through a
population without overt imitation by
receivers
Memetic mutations can be directed by

purposeful human decision-making as
well as by random processes
Lamarckian as well as Darwinian evolution

With directed (Lamarckian) processes,
memetics becomes analogous to genetic
engineering
POTENTIAL MILITARY WORTH OF MEMETICS

Information Operations
Military culture
Recruitment
Training
Deterrence
Tactics, Strategy,
Doctrine
Peacekeeping and
occupation
Nation building
Adversarial culture
Military, insurgents,
terrorists, civilians
Reduce probability of
war or defeat
Increase probability of
peace or victory

Information Operations (IO)
The integrated employment of
the core capabilities of:
Electronic warfare
Computer network operations
Psychological operations
Military deception and
operations security
In concert with specified

supporting and related
capabilities, to influence,
disrupt, corrupt or usurp
adversarial human and
automated decision making
while protecting our own
According to Joint
Publication 3-13 Information
Operations (13 February 2006)

Psychological Operations (PSYOP)
Purpose: to induce or reinforce foreign
attitudes and behavior favorable to the
originators objectives
To convey selected information and
indicators to foreign audiences to influence
their emotions, motives, objective
reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of
foreign governments, organizations, groups,
and individuals
Focuses on cognitive domain of the
battlespace and targets the mind of the
adversary
Seeks to induce, influence, or reinforce the
perceptions, attitudes, reasoning, and
behavior of foreign leaders, groups, and
organizations in a manner favorable to
friendly national and military objectives
Exploits the psychological vulnerabilities of
hostile forces to create fear, confusion, and
paralysis, thus undermining their morale
and fighting spirit

Psychological Operations
From Information Age Psychological Operations, Commander Randall G. Bowdish, US

Navy, Military Review, Dec 98 Feb 99

Psychological Operations (PSYOP)
According to Information
Operations Roadmap, DOD, 30 Oct.
03:
PSYOP capabilities have
deteriorated and remedial action is
required
PSYOP is a low-density, highdemand asset which is particularly
valued in the war on terrorism
Well-documented PSYOP
limitations include:
Inability to rapidly generate and
immediately disseminate
sophisticated, commercial-quality
products targeted against diverse
audiences
Limited ability to disseminate
PSYOP products into denied areas

Military Deception (MILDEC)
Actions executed to deliberately
mislead adversary military decision
makers as to friendly military
capabilities, intentions, and
operations, thereby causing the
adversary to take specific actions (or
inactions) that will contribute to the
accomplishment of the friendly forces
mission
Military deception will not
intentionally target or mislead the US
public, Congress, or the news media

Military Deception (MILDEC)
According to Information Operations
Roadmap, DOD, 30 Oct. 03:
Military deception should be one of
the five core capabilities of IO..
The value of military deceptionis
intuitive
Effective military deception requires
centralized planning, security, and
close integration with operational
planning

Counterpropaganda
Activities to identify and counter
adversary propaganda and expose
adversary attempts to influence
friendly populations and military
forces situational understanding
Efforts to negate, neutralize,
diminish the effects of, or gain an
advantage from foreign
psychological operations or
propaganda efforts
Commanders at all levels should
integrate activities designed to:
Disseminate truthful information
Mitigate adversary messages
Disrupt, degrade, and disable
adversary psychological operations

Public Affairs Operations (PA)
Assess the information environment in
areas such as public opinion and to
recognize political, social, and cultural
shifts
A key component of informational flexible
deterrent options
Build commanders predictive awareness
of the international public information
environment and the means to use
information to take offensive and
preemptive defensive actions
Lead activity and the first line of defense
against adversary propaganda and
disinformation
Must never be used to mislead the public,
national leaders, or the media

Public Affairs
According to Field Manual FM 461, Public Affairs Operations, HQ,
Department of the Army,
Washington, DC, 30 May 1997
Public Affairs operations are
combat multipliers by:
Keeping soldiers informed
Maintaining public support for the
soldier in the field
Mitigating the impact of
misinformation and propaganda

Military and adversarial culture
Recruitment
Motivation
Enhance image of military
Service awareness (branding)
National service perspective
Global situational context
Training
Motivation
Explanation
Comprehension
Retention
Culture (traditions, customs, mores)
MEMES AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media (e.g., smart phones) have
provided highly effective and efficient
means for propagating memes (e.g.,
voice, texting, and tweeting)
For state and non-state actors
For strategic and tactical objectives
Popular uprisings (e.g., the Middle East)

demonstrated the efficacy of social
media
Tools and techniques are being
developed to (1) rapidly detect, identify,
and evaluate memes propagated by
social media; (2) rapidly create and
propagate counter-memes
A framework for Meme-War is the Meme
Control Center
MEME CONTROL CENTER

A conceptual Meme Control Center
(MCC) consists of a Meme Processing
Center (MPC) and a Counter-Meme
Processing Center (CPC)
A Memetics for Intelligence and National
Defense (MIND) Research and
Development Center provides the tools
and techniques employed by the MPC
and CPC)
The MPC is highly automated with, for
example, information mining and
semantic processing)
The CPC includes a multi-disciplinary
meme engineering staff (e.g., cultural
anthropologists, linguists, semanticists,
psychologists, social network analysts,
O.R. analysts, intelligence and psyops
analysts, economists)
MEMES AND CULTURE

Culture: set of values (and the attitudes
and beliefs generated by values) shared by
a group
Values: general criteria, standards, or
guiding principles that people use to
determine which types of behaviors,
events, situations, and outcomes are
desirable or undesirable; the basis for
making a decision
Terminal value: a desired end state or
outcome that people seek to achieve
Instrumental value: a desired mode of
behavior
Norms: standards or styles of behavior that
are considered acceptable or typical for a
group of people
Some values are genetically determined (i.e.,
nature); other values are environmentally
(culturally) determined (i.e., nurture)
MEMES AND CULTURE

Culture sets the standards of behavior
required for continued acceptance and
participation in the group
The group might be a nation, ethnic
group, religion, corporation, or other
institution or organization
Culture is based on common

experiences and heritage
Example: food is often cultural people
tend to prefer the same daily fare they
experienced as children
Example: religion is often cultural
people tend to prefer the same religion
they experienced as children
MEMES AND CULTURE

Culture, as nurture, (partially)
determines values
Values are the bases of decisions
Decisions lead to behavior
Therefore, culture drives behavior
Examples: preferences in food;
religious practices; social interactions,
transactions, and manners; choices of
self-actualization and lifestyles; choice
of marriage partners
Cultures develop like natural evolution,

with punctuated equilibrium
Long static periods of little or no
change, punctuated by dynamic
intervals of rapid or revolutionary
changes
MEMES AND CULTURE

Culture determines whether people will
strive to better their condition or accept
their lot as the will of God or fate
Culture determines, in general:
How people work and play
Whether they prefer cooperation or
competition, individuality or social
conformity
How much they defer to authority
Whether they prefer tradition or change
How much they value education
Whether they prefer peace or war
Whether they tend to be optimistic or
pessimistic
Whether they are sectarian or secular
Whether they prefer critical thinking or
magical thinking
What and how they eat and drink
MEMES AND CULTURE

Culture is passed on from generation to
generation by behavioral examples of
family, friends, and other members of the
group (e.g., nation, tribe, sect)
Culture is also shaped, exemplified, and
propagated by memes and narratives
(which are a type of meme)
Stories: oral, written, or multi-media
Aphorisms, fables, legends, mythology
Celebrated heroes and role models
(historical and contemporary),
Iconic graphics (fine and popular art,
paintings, statues, posters, prints, and
advertising)
Catch phrases, exhortations, declarations,
gossip, jingles, songs, speeches
Semiotics (signs and symbols)
Narratives can strongly shape or modify a

culture
Cultural narratives and strategic narratives
MEMES AND NARRATIVES

A narrative is a story: long or short; past,
present, or future; with or without much
detail; told for any purpose
A story has a beginning, middle, and (hopefully
happy) ending
Cultural narratives are important in forming

and maintaining cultures (of nations or other
groups), in giving a sense of identity and
purpose to individuals within a culture
What is our past? Why are we here? What is
our future?
National strategic narratives describe the core

interests of a nation and provide a foundation
for statecraft and national security
Example: the U.S. post World War II strategic
narrative provided the basis for the global
struggle against communism
A post-communism narrative is needed for the
global struggle against asymmetric adversaries

There is not yet a suitable
narrative theory or
narrative engineering to
counter adverse
individual and social
behavior originating from
narratives
Not yet an integrated
system of tools and
techniques for
automating the ability to
detect, identify, and
evaluate narratives and
for creating and
propagating counternarratives

Research shows that narratives are fundamental to
the human mind and perception
Sensory data and subsequent perception are
intermittent, with only the illusion and delusion of
continuity and coherence
Plagues with uncertainty and flawed information, the
subconscious mind creates an illusion of a coherent
narrative, constructing relationships, motives, and
intentions based on limited or incorrect information
The mind fills in details and revises its narratives as
needed, with or without evidence, even retroactively
The mind autonomically, unconsciously, and
continuously constructs narratives, weaving the weft
of subjective reality among the warp of physical
reality
Thus individuals create personal stories about who
they are and what the world is like; narratives by
which they live their lives
These individual narratives can aggregate and evolve
into cultural narratives influencing the behavior of
the tribe or nation

The structure, function, and ontology of narratives
are shaped by their building blocks, including:
metaphors, symbols, symbolic actions, semiotics,
myths, frames, scenarios, etc.
For example, metaphors shape and express
cultural thought and style as embedded in
language, artifacts, and behavior
They shape ideology and religion and can spark
insurgencies
The major sources of metaphor vary from culture

to culture, whether the human body, animals,
dwellings, landscapes, sport, war, etc.
Many cultures have common metaphors, i.e.,
identical mapping of metaphor sources into target
domains; but seemingly identical metaphors might
have different implications in different cultures
Examples: Arab street has negative connotations,
including instability, irrationality, and violence; but
Arab spring has positive connotations the
overthrow of tyrannical regimes
MEMES AND CULTURE

Cultures and subcultures can be
functional or dysfunctional or something
in between
Cultural anthropologists are loath to
judge the functionality the value or
worth of cultures
Anyone judging a culture is from within a
culture and thus deemed biased; such
judgments are judged too subjective
If dysfunctional cultures and

subcultures can be properly identified
and evaluated, they can be enhanced
Memetics can be used to enhance
dysfunctional cultures and subcultures
MEMES AND CULTURE

Maslows Hierarchy of human needs
and wants can provide a reasonable
basis for developing metrics to
evaluate the degree to which a
culture is dysfunctional
Maslow was immersed in American
culture, so his hierarchy can be
criticized for its composition and
characterization of relative
importance
The specified needs and wants are
nevertheless generally valid, if not
for every individual or culture
The relative importance of some
needs and wants can be shifted
without invalidating the ability to
identify dysfunctional cultures or
subcultures
MEMES AND CULTURE

Maslows Hierarchy of Human Needs and
Wants
Physiological: air, water, food, clothing, shelter
Safety: personal security, economic security,
health (physical and mental)
Social: relationships and sense of belonging
(family, friends, neighbors, society, spiritual)
Esteem: self-respect and respect by others (e.g.,
status, recognition, fame, prestige, attention;
strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence,
independence, and freedom)
Self Actualization: achieve ones full potential
To the extent that a culture or subculture

provides these needs and wants it is
functional or dysfunctional
Metrics can be developed and cultures can be
evaluated
Dysfunctional cultures can be changed with

memetics
MEMETICS AND TRUE BELIEVERS

The dynamics of mass movements and
True Believers have significant
implications for memetics
In the 21st century the true believer still
infests the world in every nation and
culture, whether of ideological, religious,
social, or political orientation
If anything, the threat from the True Believer
seems greater now than it has been in since
World War II
Mass movements of all sorts, good and bad,
have altered history over the centuries - they
were particularly bloody in the 20th century,
and they are with us to the present moment
Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman philosopher

of the mid-twentieth century, expounded his
views of this phenomena in his 1951 book
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature
of Mass Movements
Following are excerpts from Hoffer that I
have paraphrased or interpreted as
aphorisms (occasionally injecting my own
views) and which offer clues to the design
of effective memes

True believers are functionally
identical
Regardless of the causes people die
for, they die for basically the same
thing
While all mass movements are
taxonomically equivalent, not all mass
movements are equally good or evil
We must know all we can about the
nature and potentialities of the true
believer
The true believer is everywhere on the
march, shaping the world in his image
by both converting and antagonizing

True believers arise primarily from
the among frustrated
The frustrated predominate among
the early adherents of all mass
movements, and they join of their
own accord, without the need for
proselytizing from the outside
Frustration alone can generate most
of the peculiar characteristics of the
true believer, including readiness to
sacrifice his life for a holy cause
A proselytizing mass movement
deliberately fosters in its adherents a
frustrated state of mind, increasing
the propensities of the frustrated
While those with a sense of
fulfillment want to conserve the world
as it is, the frustrated favor radical
change
To the frustrated the present is
irremediably spoiled so that only
hope provides comfort

True believers are drawn primarily by
hope
Extravagant hope, even when not backed
by actual power, is likely to generate a
most reckless daring; for the hopeful can
draw strength from the most ridiculous
sources of power a slogan, a word, a
button
There is a difference between immediate
hope and distant hope: a rising mass
movement preaches immediate hope that
prompts people to act, but an established
mass movement is preoccupied with
preservation of the present, prizing
obedience and patience over spontaneous
action, and thus preaches distant hope as
an opium to dull the impatience of the
masses and reconcile them with their lot in
life

True believers are drawn primarily by hope
If a movement (e.g., Al Qaeda) wins a chunk
of the world, it is not because they know
how to stir up discontent or how to infect
people with hatred, but because they know
how to preach hope
One of the most potent attractions of a
mass movement is its offering of a
substitute for individual hope
The unemployed are more likely to follow
the peddlers of hope than the handers-out
of relief
Those who would transform a nation or the
world cannot do so by breeding and
captaining discontent or by demonstrating
the reasonableness and desirability of the
intended changes or by coercing people
into a new way of life they must know how
to kindle and fan extravagant hope, and it
matters not whether it be hope of a
heavenly kingdom, of heaven on earth, of
plunder and untold riches, or fabulous
achievement or world dominion

Give the powerless a sense of power as
well as hope for the future
Those who plunge into movements of
vast social change feel they possess
some irresistible power, whether based
on notions of reason and intelligence
(e.g., the French revolution), political
ideology (e.g., Marxism), religion (e.g.,
Christianity and Islam), or nationalistic
mythology (e.g., Nazism)
An effective doctrine, as well as being a
source of power, must also claim to be a
key to the book of the future; faith in the
future is even more important than the
instruments of power for driving change

Give the powerless a sense of power as
well as hope for the future and selfesteem
To plunge into an undertaking of vast
change, people must be intensely
discontented yet not destitute, and they
must have the feeling that by
possession of some potent doctrine,
infallible leader, or some new technique,
they have access to a source of
irresistible power they must also have
an extravagant conception of the
prospects and potentialities of the
future and must be wholly ignorant of
the difficulties in their vast undertaking
(experience is a handicap)
Take away our holy duties and our lives
become puny and meaningless; in
exchanging a self-centered for a selfless
life we gain enormously in self-esteem
and the vanity of the selfless, even
those who practice utmost humility, is
boundless

The true believer is willing to die for his
belief
When individual interests and prospects
do not seem worth living for, then one
seeks worth and meaning in all forms of
dedication, devotion, loyalty, and selfsurrender the embracing of a
substitute will necessarily be
passionate and extreme, the faith in
nation, religion, race, or holy cause will
be extravagant and uncompromising
We cannot be sure we have something
worth living for unless we are ready to
die for it
The readiness to die is evidence, to
themselves and others, that those who
have taken a substitute for an
irrevocably missed or spoiled first
choice is indeed the best there ever was

All true-believer mass movements are
taxonomically equivalent
When people are ripe for a mass
movement, they are usually ripe for
any effective movement, not solely for
one with a particular doctrine or
program
The receptivity to all movements does
not always cease even after the
potential true believer has become the
ardent convert of a specific movement

Each proselytizing mass movement seems to
regard the zealous adherents to its antagonist
as its own potential converts
Since all mass movements draw their adherents
from the same types of humanity and appeal to
the same types of mind, it follows: (1) all mass
movements are competitive, and the gain of
one in adherents is a loss of all the others; (2)
all mass movements are interchangeable and
transformable (so that a religious movement
may develop into a social revolution or a
nationalistic movement; a social revolution may
transform into militant nationalism or a
religious movement; and nationalist movement
may transform into a social revolution or a
religious movement)
It is rare for a mass movement too be wholly of
one character; it usually displays some facets
of other types of movement, and sometimes it
is two or three movements in one (such as
religious, social, and nationalistic)
The problem of stopping a mass movement is
often a matter of substituting one movement for
another
A religious revolution can be stopped by
promoting a social or nationalistic movement

It is usually the newly poor, often from a
ruined middle class, who ferment with
frustration at the memory of relative
affluence and who respond to every rising
mass movement
The chronically unemployed feel
degraded, disinherited, and injured by an
unjust order of things and will to listen to
instigators of mass movements
The poor on the borderline of starvation
live purposeful lives desperately
struggling for survival; with every meal a
triumph, they are immune to the appeal of
a mass movement
Misery does not automatically generate
discontent, nor is the intensity of
discontent directly proportionate to the
degree of misery
Discontent is likely to be highest when
misery is bearable; when conditions have
so improved that an ideal state seems
almost within reach

Unless a person has the talent for
achievement, freedom is an irksome
burden; people join a mass movement to
escape individual responsibility, to be
free from freedom

The most fertile ground for a mass movement is a society with
considerable freedom but lacking in the palliatives of frustration
Even mass movements which rise in the name of freedom
against an oppressive order do not realize individual liberty once
they start rolling its chief preoccupation will be unity and selfsacrifice, which requires surrender of the individuals will,
judgment, and advantage
Fanatics fear liberty more than they fear persecution

Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted
crave equality and fraternity more than they do
freedom
Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of
the masses; where equality is real, freedom is the
passion of a small minority
Equality without freedom creates a more stable
social pattern than freedom without equality
A rising mass movement attracts and holds a
following not by its doctrine and promises but by
the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness,
and meaninglessness of an individual existence
Where new creeds vie with one another for the
allegiance of the populace, the one which comes
with the most perfected collective framework wins
The fiercest fanatics are often selfish people who
were forced, by innate shortcomings or external
circumstances, to lose faith in their own selves;
they separate the instrument of their selfishness
and attach it to the service of some holy cause
The inordinately selfish are likely to be the most
persuasive champions of selflessness

In their earliest stages, mass movements are
more likely to find sympathizers and support
among the bored than among the exploited
and oppressed
Fervent patriotism as well as religious and
revolutionary enthusiasm often serves as a
refuge from a guilty conscience
The technique of a proselytizing mass
movement aims to evoke in the faithful the
mood and frame of mind of a repentant
criminal
The technique of a mass movement aims to
infect people with a malady and then offer
the movement as a cure
The vigor of a mass movement stems from
the propensity of its followers for united
action and self-sacrifice
The success of a mass movement, usually
ascribed to its faith, doctrine, propaganda,
leadership, ruthlessness, etc., actually
arises from its instruments of unification
and the means used to inculcate a readiness
for self-sacrifice

The angst of the frustrated stems from a
consciousness of an irredeemably
blemished self; the desire to escape that
self is manifested in a propensity for united
action and self-sacrifice
The capacities for united action and selfsacrifice almost always go together; a
group that is particularly contemptuous of
death is usually close-knit and thoroughly
unified
To ripen a person for self-sacrifice he must
be stripped of his individual identity, most
drastically by complete assimilation of the
individual in the collective body
The individual fully assimilated into the
collective never feels alone; to be cast out
from the group is the equivalent of being
cut off from life
The collectivized individual is in a primitive
state of being, equivalent to that in
primitive tribes mass movements strive
to approximate this primitive perfection

The capacity to resist coercion, torture, or
annihilation stems partly from the individuals
identification with a group; individualists crush
easily
Dying and killing seem easy when they are part
of a ritual, ceremonial, dramatic performance,
or game; there is a need for some kind of
make-believe to face death unflinchingly
One of the main tasks of the leader of a mass
movement is to mask the grim reality of dying
and killing by evoking in his followers the
illusion that they are participating in a
grandiose spectacle, a solemn or light-hearted
dramatic spectacle
Glory is largely a theatrical concept which
requires a vivid awareness of an audience (and
a definition of terrorism is the act of violence,
or the threat of violence, against noncombatants to influence an audience)
In the practice of mass movements, makebelieve plays perhaps a more enduring role
than any other factor; when faith and the power
to persuade are gone, make-believe lingers on

Once the mass movement starts rolling, the
present is shoved off the stage and its
place taken by posterity; the battle line is
drawn between things that are and have
been, and the things that are not yet
To lose ones life in a defiled, worthless
present is not to lose much
The mass movement decries pleasures and
comforts and extols the rigorous life,
fashioning individual existence as dour,
hard, repressive, and dull; ordinary
enjoyment is deemed trivial or
discreditable, and the pursuit of individual
happiness is immoral
The very impracticality of many of the goals
which a mass movement sets itself is part
of the campaign against the present all
that is practical, feasible, and possible is
part of the present
All mass movements deprecate the present
by depicting it as a mean preliminary to a
glorious future, a mere doormat on the
threshold of the millennium

To a religious movement, the
present is a place of exile, a
vale of tears leading to the
heavenly kingdom; to a social
revolution it is a mean way
station on the road to Utopia;
to a nationalist movement it is
an ignoble episode preceding
the final triumph
Possessed of a vivid vision of
past and future, the true
believer sees himself as part of
something that stretches
endlessly backward and
forward, something eternal; he
can sacrifice his life because it
is not the beginning and end of
all things

The frustrated derive as much
satisfaction (if not more) from
the means a mass movement
uses as from the ends it
advocates; chaos and
destruction are at least as
satisfying as that which will
follow
People are less ready to die for
what they have or are than
what they wish to have or
become
Self-sacrifice is an
unreasonable act; so all mass
movements strive to interpose
a fact-proof screen between
the faithful and the realities of
the world by claiming that
absolute truth is already
embodied in their doctrine and
there is neither truth nor
certitude outside it

It is the certitude of his infallible
doctrine that renders the true believer
impervious to the uncertainties,
surprises, and unpleasant realities of
the world around him
In order to be effective a doctrine
must not be understood, but rather
has to be believed we can be
absolutely certain only about things
we do not understand
The devout are always urged to seek
the absolute truth with their hearts
and not their minds; when a
movement begins to rationalize its
doctrine and make it intelligible, it is a
sign that its dynamic span is over and
that it is interested primarily in
stability

If a doctrine is not unintelligible it has
to be vague; and if neither
unintelligible nor vague, it has to be
unverifiable one has to get to
heaven or the distant future to
determine the truth of an effective
doctrine
There is an illiterate air about the
most literate true believer, using
words as if he were ignorant of their
true meaning; hence his taste for
quibbling, hair-splitting, and
scholastic tortuousness
The true believer is without wonder
and hesitation; the true doctrine is
the master key to all the worlds
problems

The fanatic is not a stickler to principle he
embraces a cause not primarily because it is just
or holy but because he has a desperate need to
hold onto something
The fanatic can swing suddenly and wildly from
one cause to another
Fanatics of all kinds are similar to one another, at
one end of the pole despite seemingly at opposite
ends of religious, social, or ideological poles
The radical and reactionary have more in common
than either has with the liberal or conservative
Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive
of all unifying agents
Mass movements can rise and spread without
belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil
Common hatred unites the most heterogeneous
elements, even erstwhile enemies

The genius of a great leader consists in
concentrating all hatred on a single foe,
making even adversaries far removed from
one another seem to belong to a single
category
The ideal devil is a foreigner; to qualify as a
devil, a domestic enemy must be given a
foreign ancestry
A sublime religion inevitably generates a
strong feeling of guilt (given the disparity
between the lofty doctrine and the imperfect
practice), and the feeling of guilt promotes
hate and brazenness
The more sublime the faith, the more virulent
the hatred it breeds
The influence of the fanatic is out of all
proportion to his abilities; by converting and
antagonizing he shapes the world to his own
image (such as causing democracies to
become zealous, intolerant, and ruthless)
Hatred is a convenient instrument for
mobilizing a community for defense, but we
often pay for it by losing all or many of the
values we have set out to defend

Part of the attractiveness of the mass
movement to its adherents is the emergence
of a new freedom from the loss of individual
judgment: the freedom to hate, bully, lie,
torture, murder, and betray without shame
or remorse
Hatred is not only a means of unification but
also its product
Imitation is an essential unifying agent
The one-mindedness prized by every mass
movement is achieved as much by imitation
as obedience
There is a connection between frustration
and the readiness to imitate the frustrated
imitate to search for a new identity or
camouflage their individual distinctness, to
be like others
The ready imitativeness of a unified
following is both an advantage and a peril to
a mass movement: while the faithful are
easily led and molded, they are also
particularly susceptible to outside
influences a unified group is easily
seduced and corrupted

The preaching of all mass movements warns
against copying foreign models the imitation
of outsiders is branded as treason and
apostasy
Contempt for the outside world is the most
effective defense against disruptive imitation
every device is used to cut of the faithful from
interaction with unbelievers
We tend to exaggerate the effectiveness of
persuasion as a means of inculcating opinion
and shaping behavior we falsely attribute to
propaganda the startling successes of mass
movements
Propaganda on its own cannot force its way
into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate
something new; nor can it keep people
persuaded once they have ceased to believe
Propaganda penetrates only into minds
already open, articulating and justifying
opinions already present in the minds of its
hearers
Where opinion is not coerced, people can be
made to believe only in what they already
know

Propaganda by itself succeeds mainly with
the frustrated
Even skillful propaganda cannot keep people
persuaded once they have ceased to believe
force must then be used for the mass
movement to maintain itself
Propaganda becomes more fervent and
importunate when it operates in conjunction
with coercion than when it has to rely solely
on its own effectiveness
Propaganda serves more to justify ourselves
than to convince others; the proselytizing
terrorist must reinforce the conviction that
his faith is the only true one or he will feel
himself to be a criminal
The more blood the terrorist sheds, the more
he needs to believe in his principles as
absolutes only the absolute will absolve
him in his own eyes
The practice of terror serves the true believer
not only to cow and crush his opponents, but
also to invigorate and intensify his own faith

Where a mass movement can either persuade
or coerce, it usually chooses the latter
Force can stop and crush even the most
vigorous mass movement, but to do so the
force must be ruthless and persistent
Ruthless and persistent force can only come
from fanatical conviction the violence needed
to counter a mass movement must spring from
a spiritual base to avoid being wavering and
uncertain (fanaticism is needed to counter
fanaticism)
The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own
faith by converting others the creed whose
legitimacy is most easily challenged is likely to
develop the strongest proselytizing impulse
The leader cannot create the conditions which
make the rise of a mass movement possible
he cannot conjure a movement out of the void
There has to an intense dissatisfaction and an
eagerness to follow before the movement and
the leader can make their appearance

Once the stage is set, the presence of an
outstanding leader is indispensable without
the leader there will be no movement
It needs the iron will, daring, and vision of an
exceptional leader to concert and mobilize
existing attitudes and impulses into the
collective drive of a mass movement and kindle
the vision of a breathtaking future
The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role
in mass movement leadership what counts is
the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of
the opinions of others, the single-handed
defiance of the world
Charlatanism of some degree is indispensable
to effective mass movement leadership; there
can be no mass movement without some
deliberate misrepresentation of facts
The true believer, no matter how lawless and
violent his acts, is basically an obedient and
submissive person

The literati and intellectuals often set the
stage for the fanatics
There is a moment (before he formulates a
philosophy and a program) when the
articulate finder of fault may be won over by a
deferential or conciliatory gesture from those
in power
A mass movement is pioneered by articulate
intellectuals, materialized by fanatics, and
consolidated by leaders of action (usually
different people, men or women, play these
roles in succession, as conditions require)
The leader of action saves the movement
from the suicidal dissensions and
recklessness of the fanatics, marking the end
of the dynamic phase of the movement
The leader of action fixes and perpetuates the
mass movements unity and readiness for
self-sacrifice, relying mainly on drill and
coercion but preserving as a faade the
earlier enthusiasm of faith
At the end of its vigorous span, the mass
movement is an instrument of power for the
successful and an opiate for the frustrated
MEMETICS AND THE TIPPING POINT

The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
(2002): how ideas, products, messages,
and behavior spread like viruses the
moment when everything changes all at
once
Contagious behavior (e.g., viral marketing)
Small number of people in small number of
situations start behaving differently and that
behavior spreads and changes the behavior
of others in similar situations
Examples: trends in: fashion, crime or anticrime, music, fads, religion, ideology
Small changes can have big effects

A few percent change in initial conditions
can lead to non-linear outcomes (like a
single match with limited energy can start a
forest fire)
Changes can occur quickly, not gradually

(e.g., epidemics or punctuated equilibrium
in evolution)

People are conditioned for linearity and
gradualness, not exponential or geometric
progression
But social change can be as sudden as the
phase change of rain to snow
The 95/5 rule (a more extreme version of

the 80/20 rule): 5% of people cause 95% of
new ideas to spread
Stickiness in messages (sticks in memory
and has impact)
Simple changes in presentation or
structuring of information can make a big
difference in impact
Examples: Winston Tastes Good Like a
Cigarette Should (1954)
It Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking
(1956)
Good to the Last Drop (1926)

Three rules of the Tipping Point
(1) The law of the few: few
people can cause large effects
(e.g., changes in mass behavior)
(2) The stickiness factor:
message stays in memory
(3) The power of context: impact
on behavior depends on context

The Law of the Few
Starting an information epidemic requires
concentrating resources on a few key
areas
Success of social epidemic heavily
depends on involvement of three types of
people:
Connectors: gregarious and know many
people, active in many different social and
professional niches and subcultures
Mavens: experts, socially motivated to
share information
Salesman: persuaders, articulate and
inherently good at convincing others after
rapidly obtaining their trust and support
Mavens generate the message,

Connectors spread it, and Salesmen
persuade the unconvinced to heed the
message

Stickiness: message should be made
practical and personal
Information should be packaged in a
simple way to make it irresistible
Context
Behavior is a function of social context
Little things matter
When interpreting the behavior of others,
people overestimate the importance of
fundamental character traits and
underestimate the importance of situation
and context
Humans are more attuned to personal
cues than contextual cues (a simpler, but
inaccurate, description of reality)
Groups have a critical role in social

epidemics

To bring about a fundamental change
in peoples belief and behavior, a
change that would persist and serve
as an example to others, a community
must be created around the beliefs
For groups to serve as incubators of
messages (or ideas) they should be
kept below 150 members (the maximum
size for informal, person-to-person
contact and cohesive group loyalty
(e.g., an Infantry Company)
Larger groups spontaneously become
divided and alienated
To create one contiguous movement

(e.g., an epidemic), first create many
small movements

Rumor: most contagious of all social
messages
Kernel of truth in rumor (or urban legend)
is distorted in 3 directions:
(1) Level story (i.e., leave out details
essential for understanding true meaning of
incident)
(2) Sharpen story (i.e., make remaining
details more specific)
(3) Assimilate story (i.e., change story so it
makes sense to those spreading the rumor)
Example: rumors of 9/11
Mavens, Connectors, and Salesmen make

an idea contagious by dropping
extraneous details and exaggerating other
details so that message acquires a deeper
meaning and is better understood by the
intended recipients

Suicide is contagious
In Micronesia, suicide among young
males went from near zero to highest
rate in world (7 times higher than
U.S.)
Triggered by minor incident, suicide
rituals became embedded in local
culture, an important form of selfexpression, imitated by younger and
younger boys
In the U.S., newspaper stories of

suicides temporarily increase suicide
rates in local or national coverage
area
Influence of peers is more important

than parents in shaping personality
and intelligence

People can transform behavior or beliefs
with the right impetus
Seemingly intransigent, implacable
people can be tipped with the slightest
push in the right place at the right time
Social change is volatile and often
inexplicable because people are
naturally volatile and inexplicable
NEUROECONOMICS AND MEMETICS

Neuroeconomics
The study of how the brain
interacts with the external
environment to make choices
(decisions)
Examples: Choices among
competing alternatives; strategic
choices with other individuals;
choices under uncertainty, etc.
Combines neuroscience,
economics, and psychology
Examines role of the brain in
evaluating decisions, categorizing
risks and rewards
Focuses on high-level concepts of
personal choices and decisions,
and how these are represented in
neurons and biochemistry

Neuroeconomics: More Definitions
An interdisciplinary research
program with the goal of building a
biological model of decision making
in economic environments
Neuroeconomics is a subset of
economics that focuses on personal
choices and decisions and mental
changes that correlate with the
choices (and may cause them)
Neuroeconomics is a subset of
psychology that focuses on thought
about choices (especially the
cognition for understanding and
choosing options
Steps In Decision Making

Experimental focus includes studies of:
Game theory, risk, attention and awareness,
learning, valuation, motivation, emotion, behavior,
trust and attachment, and addictive behavior
Experimental methodologies include:

Neuroimaging (MRI), genetic profiling,
psychopharmacological manipulations,
psychophysiology (EMG, ERP, and EEG),
behavioral measures, psychological testing,
blood chemistry (and hormone) analysis, and
single neuron recording, among others
New field of neuromarketing investigates:

Product branding, preference, and purchase
decisions using neuroscientific techniques
Experiments confirm that emotions are an
important factor in many choices
Memetics research can leverage research in

neuroeconomics
MEMETICS: IMPLICATIONS FOR INTELLIGENT

MACHINES
Intelligent machines can far exceed
biological intelligence in memetic behavior
Information (Entropy)
Example: large to small almost functionally
equivalent
Propagation
Example: global dispersion and mind-to-mind
at speed of light, with very high accuracy
Impact
Example: behavioral responses can be
immediate for the individual or the collective
Persistence
Example: indefinite duration of transmission
and memory, with very high accuracy
POTENTIAL NATIONAL SECURITY USERS

Central Intelligence Agency
U.S. Army Civil Affairs and
Psychological Operations Command
Reserve Psyops Units
Naval Network Warfare Command

(NETWARCOM)
Air Force Psyops Commands
Joint Forces MILDEC
Joint Forces Information Operations
Defense Intelligence Agency
Public Affairs (all services)
Recruitment (all services)
Training (all services)
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Surveys and interviews
Information theory and entropy
Genetic, memetic, and evolutionary
algorithms
Modeling and simulation
Rumor propagation models (e.g., NSF
program); epidemic-like models
Social media and networking
Rumor and gossip theory and
psychological models (e.g., Naval
Postgraduate School)
Rumor propagation dynamics on
networks
Modeling theory of mind with decisiontheoretic agents (e.g., PsychSim)
Agent-based simulation of geopolitical conflict
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Neuroeconomics tools
Neuroimaging
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(fMRI)
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Genetic profiling
Psychopharmacological manipulations
Psychophysiology (electromyography
(EMG), event related potential (ERP), and
electroencephalogram (EEG))
Behavioral measures
Psychological testing
Blood chemistry (and hormone) analysis
Single neuron recording
Example: FMRI scans have revealed:

Political disparities in brain areas
Mirror neurons reflecting social cues and
behavior of others and related to empathy
and altruism

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TUTORIAL: MILITARY MEMETICS

24- 26 October 2011

This presentation is based on

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MOTIVATION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: WHAT IS A MEME?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MEME ASPECTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: E-MEMES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: I-MEMES

The study of both aspects of memes

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MEME ORIGIN

A memes information structure can have

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MILITARY MEMETICS

The desired impacts of memes for national

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: MEMETICS

The Defense Advanced Projects Research

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: DARPA MEMETICS

Military Memetics (DSO, 2006-2009)

Social Media in Strategic Communications

Narrative Networks (N2) (DSO, 2011-in progress)

PURPOSE OF A MILITARY MEMETICS

To make new discoveries concerning

MILITARY MEMETICS CONGRUENT WITH

MILITARY MEMETICS CONGRUENT WITH

MILITARY MEMETICS CONGRUENT WITH

EARLY CONCEPT OF THE MEME

Analogous to Darwinian natural selection

Memes and genes may have cooperative or

Becoming mainstream: Witness

RELEVANT MEME PROPERTIES

Exclude from consideration:

The meme will be examined as a type

MEMETICS AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE

MEMETICS AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE

Quantitative basis for memes

WHY DEFINE MEMES?

But a pragmatic definition and

WHY DEFINE MEMES?

This is not the case for Memes

EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

Meme: It Aint Over Till The Fat Lady Sings

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

A unit of cultural information; a

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

EXAMPLE EXTANT MEME DEFINITIONS

OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME

OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME

ELABORATING ON OUR DEFINITION OF THE

OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME:

OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME:

OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME:

OUR PRAGMATIC DEFINITION OF MEME: