The particular variation of the memes expressed by the diagrams is meant to more illustrative than definitive. There are multiple key ideas for many of the memes, and, in some cases, many variants of each key idea. From the basic structure, I think you'll be able to fill in the rest.
The central box in the diagram represents the core idea of each meme (or at least one version of it.) The loops trace out the path from original thinking through confirmation of that thinking. When a particular kind of thinking produces results that confirm it, the thinking is strengthened as a result, leading to more thinking in the same vein. This constitutes a positive feedback loop. (The loops proceed directly from thinking to perceived result -- taking action on the thinking is implicit between these steps.)
Each loop of the diagram is labeled according to the SD phase that it corresponds to: alpha, beta, or the alpha/beta tipping point.
In the alpha loop, thinking and life conditions match well. Actions based on thinking from the active meme produce the desired results, which constitutes positive feedback. In the alpha/beta loop, thinking and life conditions no longer mesh as well, but it is hoped that 1st order change (such as Fine Tune or Expand Out) will solve the problem and restore the alpha fit. If first order change fails, there is a shift to the beta phase, in which it is seen that the desired result is not being produced but the blame is laid elsewhere (in order to stave off the psychological upheaval of dismantling a familiar way of thinking and finding a new one.)
If none of these feedback loops can be sustained, one progresses into the gamma phase and the upheaval commences. The central way of thinking is given up, the feedback loops spin down, and the whole system of thought dissolves, leaving the perceived world chaotic and disordered. Under the right conditions, a delta Up-Shift may follow, bringing with it a new central idea and the idealism that goes with it. As the new central idea is put into play, a new alpha feedback loop commences, and so on.
As I pondered the relationship between the memes and feedback, it became clear to me that the tighter the memetic feedback loop was in a person's life, the more likely that person would be in a closed, single meme state. (By tighter, I mean the degree to which thinking is quickly, strongly, and thoroughly confirmed by results. And by results, I mean the product of interacting with the environment and present life conditions.)
This fits well with the idea I'd had previously regarding defensive thinking: when actions based on a meme produce poor results, but the carrier is not yet ready to give it up (i.e. closed beta phase), they will tend to attribute their poor results to something other than their thinking. So, the tighter the loop, the more arrested or even closed the carrier is likely to be, and the higher the likelihood that they will form compensating defensive beliefs to explain away the failure of their thinking to produce the results they desire. And on the other hand, the looser the loop, the more open the carrier is likely to be, and the higher the likelihood that they will engage in the oblique change strategies, Stretch-Up and Stretch-Down.
I'm finding this perspective provides new insight into change. In some measure, it pulls together the conditions for change, the variations on change, the phases of change, and the memes themselves. I expect that this could use some refinement, but I think there's more that can be built on this kind of framework.
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this is good - you are definitely on to something useful, especially in the way SDi deals with change.
ReplyDeleteI read Freud's Future of and Illusion, where he digs into European Christianity and the worldview that perpetuates it. I think it is interesting that he sees all three of blue's feedback loops from what I would call orange. How do you think memes can see each other's feedback loops? Can the less complex see the loops of the more complex? What about the reverse? Do certain memes have blind spots about this?
ReplyDeleteWell, Robert Kegan's subject-object theory helps makes sense of that to a degree. His idea is that growth from one stage to the next consists of forming a higher order subject self, which can then take the lower order previous stages as objects. From that perspective, it would make sense that each meme could spot the behavior patterns of the previous memes, and express them in terms of its own language and preferred conceptual forms. That makes some sense in light of Spiral Dynamics too, since each meme is, in many ways, a reaction to the life conditions created by the success of the previous meme.
ReplyDeleteSince the thinking that creates the loops gets more and more complex as you go from purple to green and on into second tier, it seems unlikely to me that the lower memes could identify the higher memes feedback loops. I imagine if they were spotted at all, they would seem paradoxical, nonsensical, or somewhat random and lacking a consistent pattern.
Specific blind spots is a great question, but I can't think of one off the top of my head. Can you think of any possibles?