it’s worse than a mind virus, it’s a structure of systems with real world cybernetic ( in the original sense of the word ) feedback. that’s what dawkins and pkd failed to see. ( well, pkd did talk about the iron prison and the eternal roman empire, so he might have been closer. )
you can see this happening right now. where by lifting restrictions businesses are forced to open to pay rent, and employees are forced to work because of unemployment rules. i say “forced” because people need to eat.
in turn, small businesses will close ( because customer counts will be down while costs are up, and also customers will die. ) the banks which need to be protected from the inevitable bankruptcies will be bailed out. the same businesses which already have a leg up run by the same people advocating for reopening will become more entrenched.
but that system is not merely a meme or mind-virus. it’s driven by basic human needs, and the laws and police force ( example: eviction ) that support our ways of fulfilling ( or not ) those needs. that its needs are mismatched from our needs is of little relevance ( to it, anyway. )
the desire for medicare for all might be a mind-virus, but our actual health care system is a system that sustains itself ( at our own human expense )
