Witch hunts
Viruses spread by hijacking the physical make-up of the creatures they infect for the purpose of producing more copies of the themselves, and then causing those copies to propagate to new hosts. This is their Darwinian strategy as we see it. Some viruses, for instance rabies, hijack the brains of their hosts, causing the infected animals to risk their own safety and well-being as they unnaturally attempt to bite other animals so as to spread the virus.
We already use the analogy of viruses to describe how images, videos, and ideas spread on the internet. But does this also describe what happened during the witch trial mania that broke out in northern Europe and colonial America in the medieval period? Are some cultural ideas the real thing, or do they just look similar to viruses? Dutch cultural historian Steije Hofhuis states the case:
Witch trials normally occurred unplanned and haphazardly, for instance after strange weather conditions or other misfortune. This again indicates outbreaks of genuine panic about the witchcraft danger. How persecutions unfolded was difficult to predict, and the consequences for society were often dramatic: economic damage disrupted communities, and ruined social relations.
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What if we look at the witch-hunting phenomenon as a cultural “virus”? New variants of witch belief continually appeared, most of which quickly vanished. Only the variants that were best adapted for propagation within their particular environment survived, such as the belief in large witches’ sabbaths, flying witches, or child witches. In the Trier region, these variants led to unusually large persecutions, which then attracted widespread attention. Subsequently, it was these cultural variants that found their way into many new brains, stimulating similar outbreaks elsewhere.
Is there Darwinism behind the viral spread of cultural ideas? Viruses can be tremendously successful for a time, until they’ve either run out of hosts, or the hosts develop immunity. Seeing as how the medieval witch hunt phenomenon burnt itself out, perhaps the human hosts became immune to the viruses’ appeal. But not before it had caused a lot of deaths—in a few instances, taking the lives of all the women in some villages, as well as a fifth or fourth of all the men. In at least one case, a male witch hunter eventually wound up burnt at the stake as a witch himself. If there was immunity, it wasn’t universal.
It began and ended from the bottom up rather than from the top down. Higher authorities tried to put a stop to the trials, but largely failed. The case that the trials were part of a show of force by the authorities has little support.
There doesn’t appear to have been a clear end date to the phenomenon, or any sort of collective epiphany to account for its end, which is part of its historical fascination. Society and culture just moved on, presumably finding new obsessions that were less vicious, at least for a time. The example has long raised the question of how such a mania arises to begin with, where apparently normal individuals lose control and adopt a wild idea that they pursue with a passionate, self-destructive energy.
Darwinian brain bug or not, is there a simple way to determine when a cultural idea has gone viral? Are all viral outbreaks pathological and destructive? Or does that only refer to the biological version?
Good morning, everyone. I wonder if it's an Edit Button day at Substack ... It's chilly here, kind of cloudy. Maybe I'll clean the stove.
Meanwhile, on the topic of AI, there was an article in the WSJ yesterday about some uses in call centers. In general, the humans said the AI was mostly good at routing calls efficiently, but not good in understanding how people interact. AI is used for "grading" phone representatives based on whether they use specific buzzwords and on their tone of voice. One rep said, "I could say, 'Oh, customer, you are an absolute piece of s**t!' and the AI would think it was great, as long as I ended on an upward note."
As I've mentioned before, I don't believe in #Empathy. Even in the most intimate, one-on-one contexts we're all just guessing, at best, or projecting, at worst, about how another person feels, beyond the most basic "feeling positively" or "feeling negatively." Note this usage from the Journal's little writer:
"Charlie [a bot for a home-insurance company] is a quick study. By late fall, she was trained to handle a water-leak claim ('Is this a major leak?') while using empathy ('I'm sorry to hear about your leak') and able to determine the urgency of the issue ('Are you able to shut off the water yourself')."
Note that "empathy" here means a machine has been coded to produce a rote statement of concern, just like Sheldon Cooper's mother taught him to say, "Oh, that is too bad. Can I get you a hot beverage?" when normal humans showed signs of distress. (We have used this programming with the Sons.)
You know who else has been taught to produce rote statements of concern in various situations? Literally everyone who has been decently brought up from the dawn of time. And the great thing about it is you don't have to think about whether anyone "authentically" cares, because they call a plumber, put a bandage on what's bleeding, or bring you the hot beverage.
Peggy Noonan's article in the same WSJ edition is headlined, "Americans Long for Authenticity." No, they don't, Peggy. They would hate it if everyone other than themselves were "authentic." They "long" for the Law of Scarcity to be repealed, that uncaring, unempathetic, cold, robotic Law that says, "All the stuff people want adds up to more than all the stuff that exists."
Hello fellow posters
That is an interesting piece Marque...isn't there something called "Group Hysteria", or something similar...that it is contagious, just like when groups of men suddenly gang rape, ( or riot for all kinds of people) most of whom would never do this without the "mob" influence? I guess that is like a virus and is contagious..we can apparently be caught up in the emotions and do things we normally wouldn't...or think things we normally wouldn't...kinda scary..and there are probably other things that have happened with similar behaviors and results in the past ...