## What is culture? Broadly speaking, culture is the set of beliefs, values, and norms that guide human behavior. In many ways, it functions like an operating system; a set of software programs that run in the background of our minds, influencing our thoughts, emotions, and behavior. It is an invisible form of regulation, determining how we see the world and what we do in it. %%If you're interested in learning more, Toby Shorin discusses the first principles of culture in [[A. Life After Lifestyle]].%% ## What makes culture? One way of describing it is as [[The memeplex|a configuration of memes]] ([[The memeplex]]). Different cultures, subcultures, and individuals contain a variety of different meme configurations, and some are better than others ([[We should discriminate against ideologies, but treat all humans equally]]). The luxury industry and [Hollywood](https://www.jstor.org/stable/23406577) are perhaps the two most powerful producers of mainstream meme configurations, but in the internet age, we are all memetic agents. These culture creators, or "educators of taste", remain in constant dialogue with society, reflecting back its exisiting values while also producing new configurations. It is a process of reuse, remix, and reinvention, and fundamentally, a powerful place to sit. Whenever someone's meme configuration is changed, their economic and political choices are altered. ## How does culture shape our economic and political choices? Culture derives its power from the fact that the narratives we buy into, and the cultures we embed ourselves in, shape how we live our lives, what we buy, and how we politic. To a large extent, [[Capitalism is a war of all values]]; values which are derived from the cultural arena. Whenever we make a purchase, we are essentially voting amongst competing narratives and values. The political arena is no different, but runs even further downstream from culture, since the economic machine deeply influences its outcomes. ## The culture war > Belief in a collective narrative creates reality; words and ideas have power. Today there is a battle being fought on the front lines of internet culture creation. It is the stage upon which governments, institutions, organizations, groups, and individuals wage war for the future. PSYOP tactics are not uncommon, alongside a number of other [[Modern warfare]] methods. In a certain sense, modern warriors are what Nietzche called artist-philosophers. They fight on the cultural front. Win over hearts and minds. ## Questions for the future How might we create cultures that support indivdual and communal flourishing? How might culture encode the collective wisdom of society? %% - Notes:: - Culture creators... mainstream meme configurations - Religion/Belief/Psychology > Economics > Politics, Culture is upstream of capitalism & democracy - Science & Technology is included in the Economics piece - it drives the economics piece [[Is economic growth required for human flourishing?]] - The importance of "cool" culture [[Status-seeking is eternal, so redefine luxury]] - Steward Brand's counterpoint: [Pace Layering: How Complex Systems Learn and Keep Learning · Journal of Design and Science](https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/issue3-brand/release/2) - Culture as an operating system. Culture is just a configuration of memes — and usually a poor one at that. Change that configuration and you change everything. ^a3e973 - [[Belief in a collective myth creates reality]] - [[Capitalism is a war of all values]] - ![[2021-02-01#^l64ayo]] Ties into psycho-info warfare. - [[Hollywood]] - [[The Entertainment]] - [[We are the sum total of our actions]] - Is culture a form of regulation? An operating system? An invisible check on our freedom based on the narratives we internalize? [[Narrative changes outcome, so choose the most empowering narrative]], [[The narrative-industrial complex]], [[Freedom requires independence -- economic, emotional, intellectual, etc.]] ^e1c4lb - [[Work on the hearts and minds of others]] - [[Words and ideas have power; language is our fundamental technology]] - [[Identity politics and woke culture|Culture clash]], culture war, culture design - [[Market change precedes social change]] - [[The memeplex]] - ![[A. ⦗ℍ𝕪𝕡𝕖𝕣𝔱𝔢𝔵𝔱 H0p3⦘ —#^3cm6yu]] - [[Humans are easily, dangerously hackable]] - [[Is human desire infinite? Is desire good or bad?]] - [[We should discriminate against ideologies, but treat all humans equally]] - ![[2021-02-02#^42w47x]] - ![[2020-08-30#^fcr4q3]] - Relevant Notes:: - [[We have a hard time determining what will make us happy]] - This is why culture is so important. It can encourage desires that are proven to increase happiness, rather than letting each human painfully figure it out for themself. Culture should be the collective wisdom of a society... It should provide the north star or the framework for a well-lived life. ## Scraps: Therefore, if you change someone's culture, you change everything downstream. ## How does culture shape our economic and political choices? Culture is upstream of economics and politics because it shapes our downstream choices. The cultures we embed ourselves in determine what we buy and how we politic. To a large extent, [[Capitalism is a war of all values]], with those values being derived from the cultural arena. %%