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Behavioral Viruses: A novel way of understanding repetitive, maladaptive behavioral patterns
This volume is a brief introduction to the book series "Viral Schemes and Puppet Dreams." That series presents a rather detailed proposition. Here it is in a nutshell:
A virus is a small infectious parasite that uses a host to reproduce itself. It can be small because it uses the resources of its host to do things it can’t do for itself. We are familiar with the biological viruses that infect the cells of our bodies. But strange as it may seem there are also virus-like parasites that infect our behavior. Just as we have an immune system that combats biological viruses, we have an immune system that fights these “behavioral viruses.”
There is reason to believe that our human capacity for attention and focal awareness serves as our behavioral immune system. In order for a behavioral virus to successfully reproduce within us, it must defeat this behavioral immunity. So successful behavioral viruses either evade or impair our attention. This keeps their negative influence out of our awareness, either rendering them unnoticeable or making them appear innocuous. Such stealthy behavior makes it hard to deal with this kind of virus.
All through the evolutionary history of human beings behavioral viruses have led us to do things that are not good for us. And all through our evolutionary history behavioral viruses and behavioral immunity have been locked in a struggle. The influence of behavioral viruses has been disastrous. The news isn’t all bad, though. This unceasing struggle has contributed substantially to the evolution of human consciousness.
A virus is a small infectious parasite that uses a host to reproduce itself. It can be small because it uses the resources of its host to do things it can’t do for itself. We are familiar with the biological viruses that infect the cells of our bodies. But strange as it may seem there are also virus-like parasites that infect our behavior. Just as we have an immune system that combats biological viruses, we have an immune system that fights these “behavioral viruses.”
There is reason to believe that our human capacity for attention and focal awareness serves as our behavioral immune system. In order for a behavioral virus to successfully reproduce within us, it must defeat this behavioral immunity. So successful behavioral viruses either evade or impair our attention. This keeps their negative influence out of our awareness, either rendering them unnoticeable or making them appear innocuous. Such stealthy behavior makes it hard to deal with this kind of virus.
All through the evolutionary history of human beings behavioral viruses have led us to do things that are not good for us. And all through our evolutionary history behavioral viruses and behavioral immunity have been locked in a struggle. The influence of behavioral viruses has been disastrous. The news isn’t all bad, though. This unceasing struggle has contributed substantially to the evolution of human consciousness.
48 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 24, 2016
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