This is a Lexicon entry: the mechanism, when it shows up, and the countermeasure. The full correction, with real-world cases and the audit prompt, hasn't been written yet.
Definition
The idea, derived from René Girard's mimetic theory, that humans rarely desire things independently - instead we desire what others desire and conflict arises not from difference but from sameness.
When it shows up
Career goals, purchase decisions, lifestyle aspirations. Desires that appeared in you after exposure to models who had them. Nearly all desires, under scrutiny.
Failure mode
Most of what we want, we want because others wanted it first. The desire is copied without being noticed as copying. We experience the desire as original and internal. Pursuing these borrowed desires produces achievement without the satisfaction originality would have given.
Countermeasure
For each major goal, ask: 'Who first modeled this desire for me?' If you can identify them, the desire is memetic. You may still pursue it but name it as imitation; avoid mistaking it for original self-knowledge.
Related traps
Also connected in the map4 more, locked
Credit & first seen
DiscoveredBased on René Girard's Mimetic Theory, developed in Deceit, Desire and the Novel (1961). source ↗
Also revealed
Entry #100 of 631 in The Lexicon · see the full Lexicon