Generational Dynamics Forum - New Site

Hey John,

Was wondering if you have heard of mimetic theory or read much of it. I have just gotten started in reading a book on this and I see a lot of parallels to GD. Rene Girard (person who discovered this theory) also has a book "Battling to the end" where he applies mimetic theory to Clausewitz's work. A lot of parallels. I have just gotten started on diving into this but was curious if you have heard of this and what you're thoughts are. I should have some time freeing up soon to be able to cover it more. I'll try to report back some thoughts if you haven't already covered it.

uncertainty wrote: > Was wondering if you have heard of mimetic theory or read much of
> it. I have just gotten started in reading a book on this and I see
> a lot of parallels to GD. Rene Girard (person who discovered this
> theory) also has a book "Battling to the end" where he applies
> mimetic theory to Clausewitz's work. A lot of parallels. I have
> just gotten started on diving into this but was curious if you
> have heard of this and what you're thoughts are. I should have
> some time freeing up soon to be able to cover it more. I'll try to
> report back some thoughts if you haven't already covered
> it.

I'm not familiar with Girard, but I did just read through a summary:

http://www.jeramyt.org/papers/girard.html

It's possible that Girard's theory of mimetic memory might explain how
information is passed from generation to the next, or how
collaborative identity groups are formed, based on xenophobia towards
another group, which would be Girard's scapegoat.

I look on Generational Theory as providing a top-level model for the
effects of generational flows on populations. Once the top-level
model is in place, it's possible to drill down search for explanations
at the detail level, and perhaps Girard's theory is one partial
explanation. But there are also many other more conventional
explanations, and really the job that needs to be done is to tie all
these explanations together into a single Grand Unified Theory.