Mimetic theory was discovered by Rene Girard. It describes the force that determines our wants and desires in life
A lie that nearly everyone falls into is that our desires are entirely from our own. In fact, our desires are derivatives from other people’s desires
Girard discovered this by analyzing characters in novels, and found that most of them had to be guided by others to find out what is worth wanting
Biological needs are not imitated, it’s desires
We tend to imitate models, who show us what is worth desiring. It’s very hard to figure out who your models are, hence why most people don’t care
We can’t afford to ignore mimesis because:
Mimesis can hijack our noblest ambitions: we become tied to models and what they do, we try to imitate
Homogenizing forces are creating a desire crisis: when two people become similar to each other and are made aware, there is conflict. Look at all the sibling conflict in stories and history. Social media makes this worse
Sustainability depends on desirability: we need to make sustainable options more desirable; mimetic theory may help
If one cannot find positive outlets of desire, it will turn destructive: organizations/civs get into conflict not because they want to have different things; it’s because they want the same thing
This brings us to two critical questions: What do you want? How have you influenced others’ wants?
Part 1: The Power of Mimetic Desire
Hidden Models: Romantic Lies, Infant Truth
Romantic lie: we see something and we instantly desire it
Actually, we depend on models that tell us what we want. These models have other models for desires
Having models of desires is not dangerous, but not recognizing our models is
We are born imitators: babies can imitate sounds & actions of surroundings quite quickly
Biological indicators include mirror neurons
When we are adults, this will form into full-form mimesis.
Why is this bad? If we become models of desire of each other, our actions are no longer controlled by us but rather our models
Eddie Bernays was a well-known advertising director who made several practices popular.
Eg: he made smoking socially acceptable among women by creating spontaneous models at suffragette marches
Lots of examples of mimetic models were listed after: Tesla stock bubble, romance, Instagram models
Distored Reality: We’re All Freshman Again
When people are able to be anti-mimetic, where no on else can affect their desires and they have different desires than anyone else, they develop a personal sense of magnetism. Steve Jobs was like that
Imitation is a human strength, but we look down upon it, especially if we imitate a model too closely
There are two types of spheres of model influences:
Celebristan: this is the models that are far outside our direct reach, whose desires are vastly different than ours
Freshmanistan: this is the sphere where models are people we directly know. This is where rivalry often happens and tiny differences are made a big deal
Models from Celebristian are often freely imitated because they are far way from us
Models from this sphere of influence may use a certain trick to increase their status: they won’t reveal who they are. How can you compete with someone you don’t even know?
Models from Freshmanistan is much more unstable and causes a lot of jealousy and rivalry
Reality distortions:
Misappropriation of wonder: we exaggerate qualities of models and often do irrational things. Extreme examples are anorexia. This is because we have a metaphysical desire (we want to not only have what they have, we want their lifestyle)
Cult of experts: we look for competent people who are extremely skilled in certain areas to be our models, especially in a complex world. However, we sometimes put models in places where they don’t belong (eg. stock market experts vs. the actual market) who are trying to be as ‘expert’ as they can via mimesis, but are still charlatans
Reflexivity: if there are multiple people who have similar desires, their desires will be changed. We see examples of reflxivity all the time (if you have an unpopular opinon and you don’t say it, it changes the way people think about the unpopular opinion (they think it is more unpopular))
Examples:
East coast vs. west coast rapper battles in the 90s were all reflexive. When one person attacked one coast, it became more desirous to attack the other coast. This put rappers in a reflexive bind
Rivals often try to differentiate themselves in any way possible, another example of reflexivity
Mimetic rivalries often don’t end well when someone renounces the rivalry, because the ‘loser’ sees that they were using the wrong model
With social media, we are all in Freshmanstan. We have to think carefully about which desires are affecting us, and if they are affecting us in a way that will be fulfilling.
Social Contagion: Cycles of Desire
The more alike two parties are, the more likely the are to fight since they are so similar and want to distinguish themselves from the other. Examples exist in literature (eg. Capulets vs. Montagues)
Mimetic desires spread like energy
Story: the rise of Lamborghini
Lamborghini was a successful tractor manufacturer while Ferrari was a supercar maker. Lamborghini thought that Ferrari’s manufacturing and build was subpar, so he made his own cars
He often used imitation of others to create a better process but his Freshmanistan proximity with Ferrari made Ferrari enraged
Lamborghini understood mimetic rivalry and forbade his company from participating in racing. He knew that competition is fine up to a certain point, and then it becomes rivalry which could destroy both parties
Mimetic rivalry often is because of trying to differentiate ourselves from each other. If you start to remove the structures that make people different, expect more mimetic rivalry
Mimetic desires and habits also follow flywheels
Everyone has a fear of not being part of the inner ring of people who they consider as freshman models. If you don’t consider this when making organizations or assigning roles, it can lead to chaos
Incentives also have a big impact on our desires. Sometimes, it comes into conflict with what we actually want, so we need to be pretty careful
Furthermore, not all desires are equal. We order desires based off a hierarchy of values. This hierarchy should be clear to avoid conflict of desires and to ensure our desires don’t become mimetic
The invention of blame: an underrated social discovery
Mimetic societies have one way of resolving a mimetic crisis: creating scapegoats
These scapegoats provide an easy means to let our anger and violence out on one thing rather than each other
When violence happens, we start to make accusations towards one thing, and everyone mimetically follows that accusation. These accusations and resulting expulsion serve to unite people
These mimetic crises are hard to predict because people are not aware of mimetic conflicts
Now, we use substitute sacrifices (eg. cancelling people, incarceration) as our scapegoat mechanism
The sacrifice of Jesus was a turning point in human history because it was one of the first times that the scapegoat mechanism was exposed. The issue is we don’t know how to meaningfully handle mass mimetic conflict
This has caused craziness in our modern era as we are hyperaware of the possibility that victims were innoncent. That wasn’t a thing in the past
Part 2: The Transformation of Desire
Anti-Mimetic: Feeding the People, Not the System
Goal-setting is a little misguided. It’s not about how we set goals, it’s about how we choose goals
In the context of mimetic theory, the goals you set are usually within the system of desire that you currently reside in
For the majority of people, goals are set by our models, so our goalposts are always moving
Most systems that we are in (VC, education, academia) revolve around mimetic desire. In fact, mimetic desire sustains them
Eg: Michelin stars forced chefs to play within the rules and many hate it. Chef Sebastien Bras saw through it and knew that Michelin was determining status for Bras’ own business, so he told Michelin to stop rating them
Many people view opting out of a system as ‘sour grapes’. However, you don’t need to win a mimetic contest to declare that it isn’t a good fit for you!
It is definitely difficult to opt out of the mimetic system that you are in
Disruptive Empathy: Breaking Through Thin Desires
A negative mimetic cycle can be disrupted through empathy, which can prevent you from seeing another person as a model
Empathy allows us to understand another person’s desires without imitation.
Empathy can help us develop thick desires that are more resistant to cheap mimesis, which requires intentional efforts
A thick desire is something that we can start to attain today, growing with compound interest and solidifying
You need to shake off the thin desires and focus on thick desires that compound. This is quite hard to do and it will take time
One way of uncovering your thick desires is by listening to other’s stories of deeply fulfilling experiences and sharing your own
The point of this exercise is to figure out your motivational drives (the energy that makes you do certain things in your life) and to provide the language to describe it
These fulfillment stories have three parts:
Concrete action
You believe you did well: it doesn’t matter how big or small that achievement was. You think you did wel by your own standard
You felt fulfilled: you feel deeply satisfied. The test: did you feel satisfied the morning after?
Fulfillment stories also enable you to understand the context and inner dimensions of what actually made you fulfilled by the action
These stories can reveal motivational drives: which are codified below:
[TODO]
Transcendant Leadership: How Great Leaders Inspire and Shape Desire
Leaders are important because they set the model and what is considered desired in their organization
Many organizations revolve themselves around their leader. Without the leader shaping desires and modelling from outside the system, it would just remain an organization whose primary purpose is to sustain itself
Transcedant leadership is about modelling desires outside of the system:
JFK modelled desire to go to space
MLK Jr. modelled desire that was outside the norm
Transcendant leaders do the 5 things well:
Shift gravity: the emphasis is not on them but the goal
Speed of truth is extremely fast in organizations, since it’s anti-mimetic. It’s then acted upon with frankness and courage
Discernment: desired can’t be decided rationally, it’s usually due to personal preference. Good leaders know that and can employ various techniques to improve discernment, such as regret minimization, knowing where desires come from, and paying close attention to their own emotional state when desires are being thought about
Sit quietly in a room: helps you come to deep realizations about yourself, staying away from noise and mimetic distractions
Filter feedback: not obsessed over feedback and willing to continue to execute against thick desires
The Mimetic Future: What We Will Want Tomorrow
To understand how we will want in the future, we need to understand how desires were molded in the past, present and how it will be formed in the future:
Past: American culture has grown far more mimetic and there has been no transcendant idea that has energized the masses since landing a man on the moon
Present: there is a mimetic crisis and we’re seein the scapegoat mechanism being used more often. We can either continue using it or re-evaluate our relationships with others
What our desires will be in the future depends on how well we manage our desires today
We’re seeing cultural and spirtitual decadence
Many people are leaving religious institutions because of thin desires. To them, the Big 4 tech companies already offer everything they need and can help them decided what they should want
This is due to mimesis. We don’t have models of things outside the system and we’re mostly mimicing others
To escape the destructive cycle of mimesis, we can either engineer desire or transform desire
Engineering desire (like tech companies) require us to give up sensitive data on our own desires. It’s a high cost to pay. It also gives others the abilities to direct our desires
Meditative thought, where you spend time exploring rather than trying to seek an objective, is a key to transforming desires
In the following areas, try to exercise anti-mimetic behaviour:
Family: this is usually our original arena of models. Parents should encourage thick desires and be models of anti-mimesis
Imagination: our thoughts and imaginations are usually from content & fiction. Better if those people we model are modelling thick desires rather than thin ones
Work: businesses shape desires. Owners can figure out unique incentive structures to create model better desires or support thick desires among employees
Tactics
Tactic 1: Name your models
Naming models gives us control, but its easier said than done
The hardest models (usually rivals or ones causing chaos in our lives) are those that we don’t want to see succeed
Tactic 2: Find sources of wisdom that withstand mimesis
You want actual experts, so find sources that don’t use mimesis at all. This is usually historic experts or real papers
Tactic 3: Create boundaries with unhealthy models
If you find yourself checking up on people to see their success/opinions and it is influencing you, create space & time away from them
Tactic 4: Use imitation to drive innovation
If we are trying to be innovative from scratch, we get stuck in mimetic rivalries with others who are doing the same
If we lean into imitating successful things and becoming humble about these influences, we will naturally see where we can imitate. It’s ok to be mimetic
Tactic 5: Start positive flywheels of desire
You can create flywheels of desire, which act as powerful forces that can give momentum for you to accomplish certain things
List out your wants and see how each desire feeds into the next
Tactic 6: Establish and communicate a clear hierarchy of values
A clear hierarchy enables you to easily bypass relativism with your desires
Tactic 7: Arrive at judgements in non-mimetic ways
If you’re coming to a decision via vote, don’t let others see what others are voting, otherwise mimesis will affect the result
Tactic 8: Map out the systems of desire in your world
Look at what people in your industry/milleu want and determine what the system of desire is
By knowing this system, you can transcend it and look at your desires differently
Tactic 9: Test your desires
If you have conflicting desires, try to imagine following through these desires for a whole day. Journal it out
Ultimate way to test your desires is to think about what you would regret more if you were on your deathbed. Death is a great change agent
Tactic 10: Share stories of deeply fulfilling action
We have to mine for these stories, but knowing how you and others are motivated can help you feel more connected
Tactic 11: Increase the speed of truth
Measure how fast it takes for truth to travel in your organization. You can plant anonymous information at various levels and see how fast it takes to trickle back to you
Look at how truth is conveyed with and without your boss in meetings
Tactic 12: Invest in deep silence
Try to do silent retreats for a few days each year. You can go to directed silent retreats or rent your own place
Tactic 13: Look for the coexistence of opposites
Look for people who have contradictions or have values that don’t normally go together. This is something you should dig into