StoryAlity #130 – Why Some Things Are Popular (Velikovsky 2014)

Why Some Things Are Popular

Mona Dali (Velikovsky 2014)

For thousands of years, the definition of `culture’ has been an unsolved problem in many domains…

Memes, holon-partons, holarchies, a Normal Curve.

That is, in Sociology, in Psychology, Anthropology, in Memetics, in Literature (novels, poems, plays), in Media Studies (Movies, Television, Painting, Photography), Linguistics (words, sentences, jokes), and – even: Cultural Studies)…

However – the chapter below aims to suggest a single solution to that problem.

Velikovsky, J. T. (2016). `The Holon/Parton Theory of the Unit of Culture (or the Meme, and Narreme): In Science, Media, Entertainment and the Arts.‘ In A. Connor & S. Marks (Eds.), Creative Technologies for Multidisciplinary Applications. New York: IGI Global.

And this book is an extension of that concept:

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A Brief Background to the Problem

What is `culture’..?

…What is `Culture’?

In 1952, in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions, Kroeber and Kluckhohn located and published over 150 (varying) meanings and definitions of `culture’ (see; Kroeber & Kluckhohn 1952). However while there is much overlap, there is also considerable variation in (and disagreement among) these definitions; also they use words (rather than diagrams) to identify: the definition of culture. (Notably, Sir Karl Popper [1999] repeatedly emphasized that definitions are not important, but, rather that solving problems is: the key aim of science.)

Around 40 years after Kroeber and Kluckhohn, in 2006, in Redefining Culture: Perspectives Across the Disciplines, Baldwin collated over 300 different definitions of culture (see: Baldwin 2006).

In 2007, in Muses and Measures: Empirical Research Methods for the Humanities, Van Peer et al, rightly concluded

`As far as can be seen, there is no consensus on the notion of culture anywhere to be found.’

(Van Peer, Hakemulder & Zyngier 2007, p. 30)

The definition of `culture’ has therefore been a hard problem for many decades – and in fact, for many millennia, as a consensus was not able to be reached among disciplines.

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…What is `the unit of Culture’?

If we can identify the unit of culture, we can identify (and empirically analyze): culture.

I suggest the unit of culture – the meme (ideas, processes, products) – is the holon-parton.

I presented a peer-reviewed academic paper on this, here, in 2014. i.e. This paper.

In Systems Theory, holon-partons are a whole and a part at the same time. (A whole unto themselves – and a part of a bigger whole unit.) Koestler (1979) presents the following diagram.

Schematic representation of the organismic hierarchy (Koestler 1979)

For example, we can examine the following painting – and its analysis, as a holarchy of holon-partons.

The Mona Lisa (by Da Vinci) – a unit of culture – a meme – a holon-parton

An analysis of The Mona Lisa as a holarchy of holon-partons:

The Mona Lisa as a holarchy of holon-partons (Velikovsky 2014)

The Mona Lisa – as a meme – a holarchy of memes (holon-partons) – (Velikovsky 2014)

The whole – the unit of culture – the meme – that is The Mona Lisa:

The Mona Lisa (Da Vinci) – a unit of culture – and a holon-parton

All of culture can be analyzed, as a holon-parton – as a meme – as a unit of culture…

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In light of all this, I’ve just published an ebook called ‘Why Some Things Are Popular: or, The Meme – The Unit of Culture’ (Velikovsky 2014).

It’s a longer (70 page) and easier-to-read version of, this post:

StoryAlity #100 – The Holon-Parton Structure of the Meme – the Unit of Culture (Velikovsky 2013, 2014)

There is another version of the concept online, here, at Practical Memetics (2014).

And, for a limited time, you can download the PDF of the ebook (for free), Why Some Things Are Popular (2014) from here:

Why Some Things Are Popular (Velikovsky 2014)

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Here’s the Table of Contents:

WHY SOME THINGS ARE POPULAR – Or: The Meme, The Unit of Culture

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ………1
Foreword ………2
Contents ………4
List Of Figures ………6

Introduction ………7

PART 1 – THEORY ………8
Why Are Some Things Popular? ………9
What is Culture? ………11
What is Biology? ………13
What are holons, and, holon-partons? ………15
Holarchies – and `The 3 Laws of holarchies’ ………16
A holarchy in Biology ………17
Why Does Evolution Happen? ………19
The Meme – the Unit of Culture ………21
Biology, Bioculture, and Culture ………24
So, Why Are Some Things More Popular? ………26
The Creativity Continuum ………33

PART 2 – ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS MEMES IN CULTURE, AS HOLON-PARTONS ………35
Why Is This Important? (Does It Even Matter?) ………36
Jokes (as memes – and holon-partons) ………37
Poems (as memes – and holon-partons) ………38
Plays (as memes – and holon-partons) ………39
Novels (as memes – and holon-partons) ………40
Paintings (as memes – and holon-partons) ………41
Photographs (as memes – and holon-partons) ………42
Movies (as memes – and holon-partons) ………43
Television series (as memes – and holon-partons) ………44
Videogames (as memes – and holon-partons) ………45
Transmedia (as memes – and holon-partons) ………46
Music (as memes – and holon-partons) ………47
Languages (as memes – and holon-partons) ………48
Religions (as memes – and holon-partons) ………49
Science (as memes – and holon-partons) ………50
Evolution and Creativity: Selection, Variation, Transmission-with-heredity ………51
Why Does Cultural Evolution Happen? ………53
A holarchy of Novels ………54
The holon-parton structure of the meme, the unit of culture ………60
Analysis of a Painting as a meme, a unit of culture, a holon-parton: The Mona Lisa ………61
Conclusion and Recapitulation ………64

References ………66
Afterword ………73

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Here are some diagrams from the book:

Cultural evolution – (or the Systems model of Creativity – or Evolutionary Epistemology) explains why some memes go viral – as they are better adapted to their environment in human bioculture.

Selection – and De-Selection – of memes in Csikszentmihalyi’s Systems Model of Creativity (1988-2014) – Velikovsky 2014

A holarchy in biology is shown below. There are 3 laws of holon-partons, they are laws of evolution, and laws of physics.

A Biological Holarchy-Partarchy (Velikovsky 2014)

We can analyze Paintings (as memes) – as holon-partons.

Paintings – a holarchy-partarchy

Here is another diagram from the book:

Memes, holon-partons, holarchies, and a Normal Curve.

And – here is a children’s painting, inspired by the above diagram:

An Artist’s Impression of the above diagram

You can download a PDF of the book here. (Or, click the cover-image, below.)

Why Some Things Are Popular (Velikovsky 2014)

And, more detail is at:

StoryAlity #100 – The Holon-Parton Structure of the Meme – the Unit of Culture (Velikovsky 2013, 2014).

And – for more detail on the evolutionary systems (or, complexity) view of narrative and bioculture in general, see, this book chapter:

StoryAlity #132 – The holon/parton structure of the Meme, the unit of culture – and the narreme, or unit of story – book chapter (Velikovsky 2016)

And for a great consilience & creativity & evolution reading list, see:

StoryAlity #71 – On Consilience in the Arts / Humanities / Communication

Comments, always welcome.

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JT Velikovsky

High-RoI Story/Screenplay/Movie and Transmedia Researcher

The above is (mostly) an adapted excerpt, from my doctoral thesis: “Communication, Creativity and Consilience in Cinema”. It is presented here for the benefit of fellow screenwriting, filmmaking and creativity researchers. For more, see https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky

JT Velikovsky is also a produced feature film screenwriter and million-selling transmedia writer-director-producer. He has been a professional story analyst for major film studios, film funding organizations, and for the national writer’s guild. For more see: http://on-writering.blogspot.com/

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REFERENCES

Velikovsky, J. T. (2016). `The Holon/Parton Theory of the Unit of Culture (or the Meme, and Narreme): In Science, Media, Entertainment and the Arts.‘ In A. Connor & S. Marks (Eds.), Creative Technologies for Multidisciplinary Applications. New York: IGI Global.

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