Recently reposted this from the original essay that was written in 2009 for dailykos.com, and when I lookied at a few months later I was really disappointed. All my formatting was gone and I didn't bother to clean it up, but worse was the fact that it was so self referential and full of insider information that it was practically unreadable. No wonder my only comment was from miss Jenni, who posted a sideways frowny face....nice and accurate critique, actually. Part of the original point of the essay was that definitions themselves evolve, and of course this one has in the last five years. So here is another effort to define the word without all the "wah, wah...they stole my word" and the references to sci fiction authors and philosophers. It's just the facts, maam. And the fact is that Google still compiles search results based on links, not on content or quality, and dictionaries still list the broadest possible meaning of a word first and then the more specific, limited definitions secondarily. Lol, so this may still satisfy no one but me, but Google and Wiktionary, you are still wrong and history (if we survive it) will vindicate my point of view!!! LMAO, just had to get that off my chest... Enjoy!
10. Paras Chopra is still #4 on the Google top ten idiotic algorithms generated list with his classic bit of unsupported nonsense, "metaevolution is the evolution of evolution".... Duh, hurrr but i got plenty of links to other pages. :D
9. Then there is the definition found at humancondition.org. "it is the evolution of the mechanisms of evolution." This is basically the same as the current Wiktionary definition and you can see the tie in to Mr Chopras definition, the limiting influence and damage done by thinking too narrowly and and/or allowing an algorithm to do your thinking for you. This definition may be useful if you are a biologist writing for a science journal, but how many of us are? Don't we deserve a broader definition? Having said that, humancondition.org is a pretty cool site, so I joined their site the same day i wrote this essay.
8. "Metaevolution is the evolution of the potentiality of evolution..." ?? This was #5 on the Google list and part of an article that was just a little too esoteric and abstract for me to follow, soo ...all i could say for sure was that it was still implying that evolution is a biology only issue, and that it doesn't apply to any other subject. So wrong! Moving along...
7. Number 9 on the google list is from meta-evolution.blogspot.com "it is fitness beyond reproduction" Couldn't really make out what this person was writing about either and it occurs to me the subject itself is enough to make people think in fuzzy patterns (who knew?). Here the author is apparently saying that the prefix "meta" means super-duper or encompassing... in other words, he just another idiot who likes the sound of meta, thinks it makes him sound smart, and really has no idea what the original greek prefix means...
6. Google rounds out it top ten list with a hashtag from Twitter. As if that could possibly have any meaning at all, gigglesnort!! This is why i always look past the first page of results anytime i do a google search, just sayin.
5. "The synthesis of optimization algorithms" this is from a doctoral research thesis from a person from a person who wants to be a professor of computer programming. So this is just completely unreadable of course, and highly specialized... But for first time, we are seeing that things (algorithms) are evolving and not just organisms. You're getting warmer, Google.
4. The book by David Hunter Tow that has been reviewed by me elsewhere. This is the closest to my original meaning of the word, but the author concluded wrongly that we have evolved past the need for religion. Oh well, close but no cigar. Otherwise, he did a really good job of documenting the basic ideas of applying evolutionary thinking to nonliving objects. If you want to read the entire book for free, go to http://books.google.com/...
3. Number 25 on the google list is the original essay I wrote for Daily Kos back on 10/28/2009... Woohoo! I'll take third page, lolol.
2. Facebook.com/Metaevolution...when i saw this on the list, i thought it was a link to my Study of Kittens page, lol. This is a practical philosophy page (love practical philosophy) whose motto is "Health, Learning, Permaculture" There are no definitions here, but it is another pretty cool page that I liked immediately. Here is a description from their page..."Meta-Evolution means merging Permaculture insights, Meta-Health knowledge and Meta-Learning tools to create YOUR OWN empowered sustainable lifestyle towards a healed world!" This is not only interesting to me, but extremely close to the original meaning i had in mind way back in 2004 when i started writing my blog.
1. Finally, let me provide my new definition which was a titanic struggle to come up with. "Metaevolution is going "beyond evolution" by looking beyond traditional, biological evolution. It is applying evolutionary concepts to nonliving systems and it also refers to a practical philosophy of learning and individual self determination."
They laughed at me at the university and said i was a fool, but i'll show them. Science will not be mocked, and etymology is a science, Bwahahahahaha!!! Peace!