Meme warfare dynamics

Meme warfare is mediated by small, fast-moving particles - photons and electrons. Gene warfare is slower and typically involves more protons and neutrons. Memes are able to spread over considerable distances at near light speed, and can penetrate further and faster, but the dynamics are are a bit different from gene warfare. Recipients can choose to put their fingers in their ears and ignore the alien propaganda - if they so choose. So: it needs to be palatable fare - laced with gifts and treasures. However if the meme invasion is to be followed by a "gene" invasion involving real matter, it should not provide the enemy with too much useful technology. This is likely a common situation.

There have been a few SF stories about meme invasions leading directly to gene invasions without the use of spaceships or other classical invasion tools. Fred Hoyle's A for Andromeda is a classic example. It is an interesting possibility. There might be a window of opportunity between a civilization being born and its memetic immune system maturing - during which it could be more vulnerable to such attacks. Maybe technological gifts can be interwoven with alien propaganda in a manner that enticies the recipient to digest the message - even if it contains elements that conflict with their developmental process. I wrote about this possibility here before - back in 2013.

Another consideration here is how the economics of long-distance meme warfare work. Organisms typically face a tradeoff between local growth and development and large-scale distribution of pollen or seeds. When it comes to civilization using its local resources to send out messages through interstellar space a complex cost-benefit analysis is involved to see whether it is likely to pay off. It seems likely to be advantageous to identity living systems and then broadcast to them directly using lasers. Perhaps this is part of the reason why some stars seem to twinkle.

Refs:

• Meme-warfare (2013)
• Memetic-warfare (2011)
• Meme warfare centre (2010)
• Alien memetic takeover (2013)
• A for Andromeda