CC BY
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Л. Донай, М. Бараньска
МЕМЕТИКА И ПОЛИТОЛОГИЯ. ИЗБРАННЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ
Аннотация
Сейчас интердисциплинарность является показателем качества исследований. Особенный вызов стоит перед политологией, которая по своей сути есть наукой интердисциплинарной. Потому что на чём может основываться интердисциплинарное исследование, учитывающие методологию наук о политике или, например, нейробиологию? Авторы статьи стараются показать, что может получить политология, если будет использовать меметику. В публикации представляется краткое описание меметики, при этом особое внимание уделено шуточным мемам в интернете, а также использованию юмора и спле-ни в политике. Указывается также на биологические основы принятия политического решения.
Ключевые слова:
мем, меметика, нейробиология, политология, юмор, сплетня, Liquidator
L. Donaj, M. Baranska
MEMETICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE. CHOSEN PROBLEMS
Abstract
Interdisciplinarity has increasingly become a determinant of the quality of research. A particular challenge faces political science, which in itself is an interdisciplinary area of study. Or else what is interdisciplinary research including the methodologies of political science and, for example, neuroscience to depend on? In this article, the authors try to identify what political science can gain by using such fields as memetics. The subject matter of the publication is a brief description of memetics, with particular emphasis on humorous internet memes and the phenomenon of the use of humour and rumour in politics. It also states the biological basis for decisions of a political nature.
Key words:
meme, memetics, neuroscience, political science, humour, rumour, liquidator
As indicated by Prof. Karwat of the University of Warsaw, the identity of political science is not determined by either the formal separation of the subject (having a sole object of study, supposedly identical to some mechanically separated field of reality) or completely specific research methods (on the contrary, the political scientist draws from a repertoire of methods common to the humanities and social sciences, borrows methods from "basic" sciences - philosophy, sociology, psychology), rather by the categorical apparatus that allows you to capture the political context of genealogically and formally diverse social phenomena, reveal political involvement of phenomena that are originally and formally "nonpolitical," or determine what is "political" in the interdependence between the economy, artistic culture, scientific research, media coverage, etc. [2, p. 187]
What is especially important is the observation that political science draws from a variety of research methods. Political science, as an interdis-
ciplinary science, can benefit from fields that at first glance do not have much in common such as the game theory, chaos theory, and memetics. According to Nowosad, the use of memetics or just viewing the phenomena that political science deals with through the prism of memes enrich it a lot. Then new research methods appear that make it possible to analyse political science phenomena, especially the decision-making process in politics and other political behaviours [26].
Although memes today are only associated, especially by young people, with internet jokes, the meaning of the term is more complicated. In the early eighties of the twentieth century, B. Libet and his colleagues conducted an experiment the results of which rocked the community of philosophers and neuropsychologists interested in the notion of free will. He showed that the sense of freedom of choice and influence on decisionmaking is an illusion. Without going into detail, B. Libet studied brain activity, namely the EEG of the so-called readiness potential in simple tasks. It turned out that awareness of choice appeared about 200 msec before the move, but about 350 msec after recording the brain activity indicating that such a move would occur. Therefore, it was concluded that intention is formed independently of consciousness, but is wrongly realised as our own choice. 20 years later, B. Libet admitted that the script does not necessarily have to be so pessimistic, and a loophole for free can still exist [14, p. 22]. One of the disputes most characteristic of psychology concerns the source of determination of human behaviour. The Environment camp says that who we are and how we behave is determined mainly by the environment or upbringing given by parents, school, and friends. The Genes camp diminishes the influence of the environmental factors, claiming that it is primarily genes inherited from parents that shape man. The latter, as strong arguments, give the results of research carried out into the similarity of identical twins (having the same genetic material) brought up together and separately. Between these extremes there is a series of compromises, some give more to the environment, others to the genes, and still others say that the two factors determine a person's life equally. No one seriously takes into account factor F, free will [22].
Prof. Pinker, a Harvard University evolutionary psychologist, tries to reconcile these positions. He says, "A lot of research shows that when parents talk with their children a lot, they do well with language learning. And if a child is often subjected to violence, they grow into a violent person. But this is not sufficient proof that what we are depends on the environment. Parents not only bring children up, but also equip them with genes. The same genes that make parents talkative can make the children have language skills___ What we are, both as a society and as individuals, is deter-
mined by brain activity. And the brain is a product of evolution no less than
the liver or kidneys are. It was formed on the principle of natural selection." What, then, with free will, where is room for personal responsibility for actions? According to Prof. Pinker, free will and associated with it personal responsibility of man for his action are related to the activity of the brain. It is a mistake to say that hunger, thirst, and sexual desire result from biology, and reasoning, decision-making, and learning is something different, nonbiological. It is just a different variety of biology. Such biological understanding of human nature does not threaten equality, freedom, or responsibility. It does not deplete the meaning of human life either. What threatens these values more is the belief that man is born tabula rasa. Only in this case there is a worry if what is written on it is right. The robotisation of man should not be feared though, because the brain is so complex that there is no threat that it will be taken over in any way. We are not robots genetically engineered to only breed and die. The genes encode the potential of the mind, which let us create an infinite number of ideas and behaviours. This ensures that our humanity has unlimited possibilities. Possibilities themselves, however, are not encoded in the genes [3].
One representative of sociobiology, a field of psychology dealing with the evolution of behaviour and inheritance of action programs from our ancestors, is undoubtedly R. Dawkins. The famous evolutionist believes that life existing in the form as it is today was created as the result of the evolutionary accumulation of change, and all our complexity and humanity can be explained by very simple laws (thereby denies the need for interference of a higher being, which sparks attacks by creationists). He has more revelations. Dawkins titled one of his books The Selfish Gene, the concept he is probably most famous for. According to him, every man, you, I, Albert Einstein, and Woody Allen are merely containers that store genes and obey their commands. Evolution works not at the level of individuals or groups, but at a more elementary level-individual genes. According to Dawkins, genes are potentially immortal replicators whose sole purpose are reproduction, development, and domination of other genes. All of this is good for man, because more perfect genes mean a more efficient person. If sex was deprived of the reproductive value, would there be jealousy, virtue, shame, or monogamy? It is doubtful, probably sex would be entertainment like dinner at a restaurant or an evening at the theatre. Why does the mother sacrifice her life for the child? Because through her, the genes will protect the progeny from destruction. Why would most couples not decide to adopt? Only because the selfish genes ensure the continuation of their line, building into the mind of man unwillingness to work towards the competing genes. The general rule is that the more someone resembles us, the more willing we are to help them, because there is a good chance (the greater the similarity, the higher the chance) that we are "carriers" of similar genes [22].
Dawkins argued that man is not an entity that uses genes to reproduce, but the opposite: it is replicators, genes, that treat him objectively - as a carrier and a machine for copying themselves with maximum efficiency. He also made an assumption about another, in addition to genes, selfish replicator, which he called meme (an abbreviation of Greek mimeme, meaning something subject to imitation) [18]. The meme is, according to the biologist and zoologist, a hypothetical unit of cultural information analogous to the gene; subject to natural selection on the basis of its "genotype" effects determining its survival and ability to replicate in the cultural environment [9, p. 340].
Memes are governed by the same rules that govern the replication of genes. However, the process of the replication of memes is distinct from the process of the replication of genes. Firstly, in contrast to biological evolution, cultural evolution proceeds much faster. Secondly, genes compete for environmental resources, memes in turn for the memory resources of the human brain. The starting point of biological evolution was a defined environment that contributed to the formation of the first biological replicators, the starting point of memetic evolution is the human brain, without a doubt the most sophisticated product of evolution based on the reproduction of genes. Memes are, for example, melodies, ideas, common phrases, clothing cuts, good manners, religions. It should be remembered that a meme is only some defined unit of cultural information that undergoes moderately accurate replication. Thus, for example, religion constituting a more or less integrated structure, which consists of images of God, certain rituals, and social relationships (religious community), is a group of memes rather than a single one. Memes replicate by widely defined imitation. This applies in particular to the process of learning and memorising, which can be done in many different ways. It can be the result of a conscious effort on our part to learn how to control a specific behaviour or learn a field of knowledge, but it can as well be the result of unconscious acquisition of neutral knowledge such as accidentally seeing ads on TV. This is then a group of memes that behave just like a virus. According to R. Brodie, viruses of the mind infiltrate our psyche, because they grasp new concepts and information well. We copy them when we communicate with others, which goes better and better. Viruses of the mind give commands putting memes affecting behaviour into our minds. And finally they spread when the chain of events initiated by the new behaviour reaches a virus-free mind [21]. Memeticists distinguish between two kinds of memes. The first type are memes that spread rapidly and last for a short period of time. The second type are memes that replicate slowly, but their duration is very long. Memes can also be divided into three main groups: memes-categories, memes-strategies, and memes-associations. Memes-categories control above all our cognitive activity. These are the basic building mate-
rial of coherent and internally consistent models of a description of the world. Memes-categories are a set of concepts, various classifications and typologies, but also various types of rationalisations and defined arguments we use to justify our actions. Memes-strategies control especially our behaviour, are various models of behaviour and social interaction. Their effectiveness is based on the assumption that certain behaviour will have the desired effect. Memes-associations are memes that affect our emotions. They are a matrix by which other types of memes take a time-stable structure. Acquiring a meme-association makes the appearance of one object immediately trigger a corresponding thought or feeling. If the newly formed meme leads to changes in behaviour, it can be transferred to another mind. The result of a successful strategy of meme infection can be various forms of memobots or memoids. A memobot (or memetic robot) is a unit whose existence is entirely devoted to the spreading of a meme or an entire group of memes. It is the ideal medium for various types of ideas and beliefs aggressive and authoritarian in their form. Its operation is focused on the mechanical and continuous replication of memes. Memobots can be Jehovah's Witnesses, followers of Hare Krishna and Scientology. The memoid in turn is a meme carrier infected to the extent that its own survival ceases to be important. It can be said that followers of Jim Jones, the Japanese kamikaze, Muslim terrorists are examples of the dangers associated with the operation of memoids. It should be kept in mind that not every memobot is a memoid, and not every carrier of memes is an example of a memobot or memoid [21].
Memetics was a hit in the nineties of the twentieth century. The meme became fashionable. And it divided the scientific community. Some wanted quick experimental confirmation of the theory, others replied that it had taken an entire century from G. Mendel's discovery of the mechanisms of inheritance to the discovery of the structure of DNA, and memetics would be the exact same [18]. It is difficult to predict at this time the further development of memetics - R. Dawkins' followers are S. Blacmore and D. Dennett. Memetics is also more and more often linked with another sci-ence-neuroscience, which, drawing on the achievements of molecular biology, closely monitors the activity of the most complex and sophisticated product of evolution, the brain [21].
Neurological and psychological processes occurring in the brain when making difficult decisions have always fascinated scientists. One of the experts in this field is Prof. Damasio of the American University of Iowa, who specialises in questions related to the so-called emotional intelligence. The case of Elliot, a lawyer who as the result of the activity of the brain lost the ability to recognise his emotions, that A. Damasio studied went down in history. In a short period of time, the decisions taken by Elliot brought him to total ruin. He lost his fortune, his wife left him. It turned out that with-
out emotions, we are not able to truly manage our lives. Prof. Damasio together with researchers from the Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology decided to examine the decision-making processes by people who might have impaired emotional responses. For that reason, a group of specially selected people were put in the situation where they had to choose between the life of a loved one and the so-called common good. Six people who were invited to participate in the experiment had had during neurological surgeries a portion of nerve tissue in the mid-ventral prefrontal cortex removed. The treatment had not affected adversely their intelligence, ability to think logically, or consciousness. The experiment also included 12 patients with other brain injuries and 12 healthy people. With the help of functional magnetic resonance imaging, CT scans, and a special computer program Brainvox, the researchers created three-dimensional, detailed maps of the brains of the volunteers, particularly the region of ventral premotor cortex (the so-called VPMC) they were interested in. It is connected to the frontal cortex, responsible for complex mental operations, including sense of morality, and to the brain stem, the structure that controls the body's physiological response to emotional stimuli. In the crucial phase of the study, the researchers confronted the volunteers with a number of situations that required difficult decisions. The situations differed in degree of difficulty, some of which did not require much effort, others were simply heartbreaking. Each of the participants had to choose: During an escape attempt, would you leave a child behind to get rid of the extra ballast?, Would you kill your own child to save 20 other people?, Or a friend with AIDS, knowing that they would infect other people thereby sending them to death? The results of the questionnaires were shocking. People who had had the VPMC removed behaved extremely cool in situations that should have unleashed in them a deep moral crisis. Without turning an eyelid, they were willing to sacrifice the lives of the loved ones for the greater good, or to save the group. "Most people with a healthy brain are in such a situation torn internally, are in crisis. Our patients did not have this kind of dilemmas, they were free from any distractions, emotional suffering," said Prof. Damasio [25].
Interestingly, in the case where the moral dilemma was not particularly hard, people with the VMPC removed responded as the healthy ones did (e.g., did not abandon the child in the situation of an escape). The research carried out by the American scientists confirmed what brain researchers had known for some time: in the frontal cortex there are areas responsible for characteristics and behaviours attributed actually only to humans. It is due to the structure that such emotions as love or friendship can overshadow rational thinking. It turns out, however, that in the event of damage to a particular piece of the cerebral cortex, each of us can become an extremely practical person who will kill a loved one in cold blood
for public good [25]. This knowledge is helpful in resolving such problems as the prisoner's dilemma [4, p. 58-61].
The term meme (though now somewhat in isolation from Dawkins' original vision) has in recent years become very popular, especially thanks to the above-mentioned internet jokes. However, to explore their sense, it is necessary to present - briefly - the theories of humour. Such theories were already created by ancient scholars. According to Plato, humour was used to discharge aggression in socially acceptable ways. An overt display of hostility can be risky, because it leads to conflicts. It is safer to use malicious caricature or ridicule, especially when the person under attacked is stronger and has power over us. Take how many jokes about professors circulate among students, bosses among employees. H. Spencer and Freud assumed that humour is mainly to release unnecessary tension accumulated as the result of bad experiences. This is confirmed by the fact that when the stress level increases, for example, during disasters, there are often jokes about the difficult situation, or manifestations of black humour. Although it is sometimes downright distasteful, it can help relieve tension and cope with stress [15].
Researchers trying to understand the phenomenon of humour analyse different types of jokes. The pattern of the reception of jokes is fairly constant. We experience a situation. Based on our knowledge and experience, we anticipate what might happen next. And then it turns out that we were wrong. We expected something different. Thanks to mental operations we come at last to the conclusion that the solution is perverse but logical, not senseless. This approach, called the theory of inconsistencies due to the apparent inconsistency in the punch line and the introductory context, is now fairly widely accepted [7, p. 15].
The said can relate to politics-humour has been present in it (or rather next to it) from the beginning of time. As noted by Szalkiewicz, the cradle of humorous badmouthing practiced by the opposition is ancient China, where songs (couplets) and prophecies heralding the fall of unpopular rulers were formed. During the Enlightenment, in connection with the development of rhetoric and eristic, new forms of literature that in a satirical way illustrated the reality evolved. Fairy tales, pamphlets, and libels played the same role to contemporaries as feature articles and cabaret acts, full of anecdotes and jokes, do to the people of today. Interestingly, the authors were most often the people closest to the rulers, as for example in Poland was the case for I. Krasicki, a royal chaplain who did not hesitate to even mock other members of the clergy. Also in the U.S., the cradle of political marketing, political leaders have a long tradition of making fools of themselves and becoming heroes of popular jokes. American spin doctors, although they earn the most in the world, do not even have to make a
lot of effort. For example, what is the similarity between R. Nixon and B. Clinton? One had the "Watergate" and the other the "Waterbed." They both liked "presidential cigars," but of course they never had a puff. Any internet user can easily find rich rankings of top bushisms, extremely stupid quotes by George W. Bush (although some of them, like words spoken by smart preschoolers discovering the world, mask a surprising depth, for example, "I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change"). One person who followed in George W. Bush's footsteps was his party colleague, M. Romney, who during the last presidential campaign complained, among others, that you cannot open the windows on a plane. In present-day Poland, such amusement was perhaps topped only by words spoken by L. Wat^sa, who (though "he didn't want to, but he got no choice") in a decade from a simple electrician was promoted to the highest position of state [19].
One thing is certain, the harder the times, the more absurd the reality, the better the jokes. In the Polish People's Republic (Polska Rzeczpo-spolita Ludowa, PRL), baptised by the famous Polish satirist J. Pietrzak "the merriest barrack in the camp," political jokes were high on the agenda. As a result, the jokes can actually tell the whole story of the PRL. Cocking a snook at the authorities, that kind of manoeuvring between what is forbidden and permitted, required not only caution, but also outstanding creativity and intelligence. Thanks to this, the art of cabaret was at the highest level, there were excellent comedies that make us laugh even today and that we remember with special fondness. Great jokes were created even in the dark times of Stalinism, when telling one in a public place could be fatal. Their subject was not only the leaders, but also - and perhaps primarily - the prodigal system based on violence ("What would have been in Poland but for the PRL? Everything") [19].
It should also be noted that old jokes, anecdotes such as, for example, from the Cold War, talk about the public mood in those decades and above all, leave no doubt that the people knew the truth - about everything related to big and small politics, geopolitics, the rules of public life, etc. So the Pole lived all these years in a schizophrenic situation, he knew and lived every day as if he did not know... Somehow, he hung on in this complex situation - the jokes from the forty years of the PRL therefore also document our collective opportunism and Orwell's "doublethink." The jokes also remind us what we would prefer to forget. We always laughed at others. The laughter was to be cathartic. If, however, asked Gogol's question what we were laughing at, we should answer that at ourselves, but not always being aware of it [6, p. 7].
Returning to the present day - nowadays, the young generation creates politically incorrect internet memes and using social media mocks the
political class. The phenomenon of memes lies in the fact that for those who will pick up the convention they are genuinely funny. They are not made to order for any ideology, but in a brutal way expose the weaknesses of the media image of all political celebrities. Could the Polish prime minister Donald Tusk have predicted that the existence of his daughter's popular blog about fashion would contribute to jokes about his own clothes? How to defend yourself against vicious comments circulating on the web on photos of your family life? For now, political parties do not attempt to create and publish on their websites memes or counter-memes. The specific style creates a risk that this form of communication by some recipients could be misunderstood. In addition, to keep the feeling of authenticity, photograph captions often contain curses and/or a major display of aggression. While many may not like it, nothing can be done about it - spontaneous rudeness seems more authentic than fake, forced politeness. Besides, it is difficult to attack the whole community in such a way - the official reaction would only be an inspiration to even more courageous acts of provocation. The only advice is therefore to avoid faux pas and proper performance of the duties [19].
Currently in the virtual world it is easy to find countless memes. Many of them can be quickly created on special portals. It is simple, just a few clicks, upload the meme on a social network site, and you have already imaginatively and personally commented on a piece of TV news with funny graphics, showed a friend your mood, or invited to play together. "Amusing, witty, funny content spreads the fastest," says Dr Batorski, a sociologist, net surfer. "Statistics show that some of these memes reach up to more than a hundred million customers around the world. In the world of pop culture there is no longer one platform of experience exchange and communication, which until recently were books or even television. There is so much choice of media, various forms of communications, and multiplicity of content that it is difficult to find a single plane of communication. Prof. Godzic calls memes a form of contemporary poetry: "Contemporary culture has forgotten the relationship between the word and the image. A pop culture meme rebuilds it and gives the word back its meaning. The essence of both poetry and memes is ambiguity, metaphor. So it can be said that some Internet memes are poetic. They require deeper understanding, thinking, empathy. Memes can be primitive, violent, stupid, but there are many reflective, thought provoking ones. A photo of an old Chinese woman severely damaged by hard work and difficult life, with the caption 'I Assemble an iPod in 13 Minutes. And You?' will appeal to young people much better than long lectures on slave labour." According to Prof. Godziec, the creation of memes commenting on the reality shows that we do not remain indifferent to a difficult situation. Creating a number of memes is a kind of social mission. "Memes are often an important tool in the struggle for the
importance of events, beliefs about right. It should be ensured that this internet chivalry never turns into aggressive trolling or harassment," indicates Prof. Godzic [27; 1, pp. 74-75].
An example of the power of internet memes can be the cover of the well-known Polish weekly Politics from July 2012 (see Picture 1). The cover is nothing more than a paper version of the image that has long been popular on the web [24].
Picture 1. Picture 2.
So, the east of Poland is rolling highways, the west is dismantling stadiums.
On the cover, we can see a brand new highway that builders are rolling... like grass. It is all accompanied by the meaningful questions "How to Live After Euro?" (after the European Football Championships organised jointly by Poland and Ukraine). The finish is imaginative and funny, but the snag is that an almost identical picture has been an Internet sensation for a few months now (see Picture 2). The cover is all the more surprising, because the Politics has been considered an influential weekly with traditions. That is something that is not associated with internet jokes. And here it reached for seemingly a minor niche [24].
The editorial board of the Politics explained: "We do not deny that we had been inspired by the picture from the internet, which was written on the cover. After entering "rolling a highway" in a search machine a whole bunch of these very concepts pop up. We just borrowed the idea, but the execution was ours.... The cover amused someone from the editorial board, and because it fitted the theme we decided to do it" [24].
Some socio-political initiatives are trying to tame memetics for their own needs and promote their ideas. For example, this is how liquidators,
memes whose task is to convince to the new concept of the political system, liquid democracy, were formed [19; 20; 23]. Is it a successful attempt? It is best to judge for yourself. According to Klimowicz, at the time of the emergence of new solutions concerning political system, alternative to the current representative democracy, all intelligent, thought-provoking attempts to ridicule the current "political class," exposing the system inefficiencies and revealing the waste of public institutions should be acknowledged and seem morally justified [20].
The activity of memes - their rapid spread, reach, and impact on the mind - indistinguishably resembles the activity of ... rumours. Intuitively, we know what rumour is (usually because we realise that we are spreading rumours, it is a conscious process), when it comes to its definition, it is recognised as an exchange of judging information about people who are absent between closely related individuals. It is a process of the exchange of information, however, differing substantially from other similar processes. Unlike news, hearsay, or just information, rumour carries a serious emotional charge, usually a negative one [28]. Although it may seem even more trivial than memetics, rumours can also have - and do - an impact on our lives, including the public sphere. Below are two examples of using rumour to create a reality desirable in the future.
A few years ago, at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, there was information about the introduction from the next academic year of a new form of exams. They were to be two-stage: in the first stage a written exam, followed by verification of the grade by an oral exam. The interviewers asked students of individual courses whether they liked the idea. The news spread rapidly and caused quite a stir. The student corridors became a place of debate for the concerned students: First, write and then give the same responses orally? It is double stress. The Society of Sociology Students showed initiative to protest. They wanted to use mail and send the Dean's office a large numbers of e-protests. But as it turned out, this was not necessary. The measures taken were an integral part of a research project undertaken by the staff and authorities whose task was to determine how quickly rumours are flying and if students can be mobilised into protest action. The speed at which rumours spread surprised the authors of the project - everything had to be denied straight away. Interestingly, despite the fact that the Dean's office denied the idea of two-stage exams, many people believed that the denial was only to mute the case, which still was to be on the agenda.... [5, p. 1].
An example of a rumour that changed the history of humanity can be a conflict between Prime Minister A. Kerensky and the commander of the Russian army, General L. Kornilov, provoked in August 1917 by the Menshevik newspaper Новая жизнь. On August 25, the paper published a text
titled "Conspiration" inspired by rumours circulating around Saint Petersburg and Moscow that suggested that the right wing was preparing an attack on A. Kerensky and that General L. Kornilov had been appointed dictator. R. Pipes in his book titled The Russian Revolution says that the prime minister believed these rumours, but rejected foreign intelligence information, gathered especially by the British, which warned, but ... against a coup prepared by the Bolsheviks. The article, based on rumours, led to a conflict between the prime minister and the commander-in-chief. The hostility was fuelled by V. N. Lvov, a descendant of a gentry family, who is characterised by Pipes as "driven by morbid ambition, lacking the appropriate talent." Lvov came to General L. Kornilov and presented him with his own ideas - the appointment of the commander-in-chief as dictator or including him in the directorate - as proposed by the prime minister. Later in the same role he appeared before A. Kerensky, but this time he claimed, of course, to be the general's messenger. After a comedy of errors caused by misuse of the telegraph, L. Kornilov was accused of trying to seize power and released from the function of commander-in-chief of the Russian army. A. Kerensky was left on the battlefield, not understanding the threat of the Bolshevik coup. Later the October Revolution occurred. A historian, especially brought up on Marxism, of course, will say that a revolution would have occurred no matter what rumours Novaya zizn published on its pages. Perhaps.... [10, p. 5-6.]
Can memes (especially in the form of rumoured information) be used to create a future? Is the future predictable? The answer to this question can be formulated as follows: the future is not predictable in detail, nor in concrete terms, can be unpredictable when a page of history turns, but it is predictable in the major trends and tendencies towards fundamental changes that result in conclusions sufficient to begin work on the study of the future [12, p. 21]. Forecasting is understood as predicting based on specific trustworthy data. Futurology in turn is the science of predicting the future. The purpose of scientific forecasting is to show a vision (model) of the future in the most probable way that the phenomenon under investigation will develop, including the directions and dynamics of its development. In the course of forecasting, we also aim to determine the conditions for the evolution of the analysed phenomenon. A forecast prepared for this purpose must take account of the known relationships, types, and intensity of external influences and internal changes expected in the development of the phenomenon under investigation [8, p. 1].
It is worth recalling some of the terms used in futurology: 1 forecast is an uncertain unconditional judgement about the formation of a phenomenon in a specific time in the future (this is a reply to the question what will be at time t); 2 simulation is an uncertain conditional judgement about the forma-
tion of a phenomenon (the answer to the question what would happen if), time determinants may be present here, but do not have to; 3 anticipation is prediction, assuming something that does not exist yet (a view not yet proven, but right and confirmed later) [13; 11, p. 4]. The last term in particular - often misused by politicians - is very important to us. In practice, it means that with the right anticipation of events (especially the actions of our political opponents), we can create a situation in which the adversaries will be playing only for us - theirs will in fact be our strategies. It should be noted though that for some researchers, memetics, futurology, and anticipation are just a pipe dream that has nothing to do with science.
However, given the aforementioned syndromatic nature of the study of politics, it is appropriate for a political scientist to have in his instrumen-tarium research methods from various fields. As it turns out, for example, with the help of neuroscience, we can explain the dramatic decision of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. According to Greek mythology, Agamemnon agreed to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to ensure good winds on the way to Troy. At the last moment, however, Artemis came down from heaven and rescued the girl, ordering to sacrifice a lamb instead. The king's daughter soon became her priestess [16; 17]. Although this situation is mythic fiction, in the modern world do we not get such political and personal dilemmas? What with, for example, the problem of an acceptable loss during counter-terrorist hostage-rescue missions?
As Prof. Karwat said, the progressive subdisciplinary specialisation of political scientists should not make them unable to see the "organics" of the object of study - not only understood as a "field of politics," but also the subject of specific description, analysis, explanation, or prediction. From this point of view, a "pure" political scientist would be the epitome of the type once bluntly called "Fachidiot." The future of political science belongs to those who are not afraid to operate on the border of sociology, social psychology, ethics, jurisprudence, cybernetics, etc. However, the guards of the borders (the borders between the disciplines) are trying to catch water in a sieve [2, p. 188]. We can try to patch such holes with the help of interdisciplinarity, using disciplines that either seem to be very distant from each other (e.g., neuroscience vs political science) or, considered "unscientific", are not juxtaposed with well-established sciences (e.g., memetics vs political science).
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