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Memetics

In 1976 Richard Dawkins published what is arguably the most
revolutionary book on evolution since Darwin unveiled his book The
Origin of Species. The Selfish Gene advocated, among other things,
the position of looking at a life run by selfish replicators, with us
as their survival machines.

In Chapter 11, Dawkins launched the idea of a new replicator,
practically starring us in the face. The "meme" as he called it. A
meme, he described, is an equivalent to a gene. A meme is a any unit
of culture that can replicate itself. I shall quote Dawkins:

'Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes,
fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes
propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body
via sperms or eggs, so meme propagate themselves in the meme pool by
leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense
can be called imitation. (Dawkins 1976)'

Imitation is what makes sets homo-sapiens apart from most other
species of animals. It is imitation that allows us to spread our
memes. We do it so effortlessly we usually don't realize it, but
think of the complexity of it all. Imagine a little child smiling
back at you, or imitating you in any other way. To do this the child
must first receive the information, and then process that repeating
what they saw relative to their own body.

With imitation, humans can quickly absorb the information and
cultural norms around them. Most other animals are forced to learn by
trial and error, genetic instinct, or simulation.

The question that may be on your mind is why humans have become such
powerful imitators. This can be explained by meme-gene coevolution.
Humans are genetically good imitators because memes changed their
environment. Consider a humanoid that's just toying with the idea of
using a tool. Those humanoids capable of imitating such a skill would
be certainly better off. As new ideas come about, anyone capable of
copying the most profitable would have a better shot at survival.
(note, it should be added that natural selection originally favored
those that copy "good" memes, ones that aid in survival)

Now look at the above, what would be the best strategy of finding a
mate? Well, you'd look for the best imitators of course! The best 
imitators would have the best skills for survival, and therefore pass
their good skills down to their offspring. Sexual selection now
favors good imitators.

Sexual selection is a positive reinforcing system, meaning that
things basically spiral out of control. Because humanoids that have
good imitation skills survive and pass their genes, humanoids that
favor those with good imitation skills pass their genes as well. This
produces offspring with not only good imitation skills, but also a
tendency to mate with the best imitators. This will keep going on
until the power of sexual selection is outweighed by natural
selection.

Since a meme is a unit of replication, memes (like genes) , are
subject to selection. Memes, like genes, replicate purely for their
own benefit. They mutate in being passed, and those mutations are
selected. A common misconception is that memes are in some way
subservient to genes. Memes don't thrive on biological advantage, if
a meme can survive, it will.

We can go too far in comparison with memes to genes, I'll quote
Martin Willett, author of The Meme Machine website:

'I think that people who have taken onboard the "meme meme" are in
danger of misunderstanding what it is all about. It is essential at
all times to remember that memes are not real. They do not have a
physical existence in the way that genes do. Genes and memes are both
replicators but that does not mean that every property of the gene
should be expected to find a correlation with the meme. Just as
whales and submarines have similarities but also many differences,
almost all of their similarities are far from coincidental, but their
differences are very important.

Memes have no shape or structure. They are an abstraction. An
abstraction in the same way as "crime" is an abstraction but all too
real. It is easy to prove that they do not exist because they have no
form, but conversely memes are a very good way of explaining and
predicting behaviour. Memes are a way of looking at events. When we
look at the universe as if memes were real replicators with their own
purposes then we can make sense of things that are otherwise hard to
explain. I always have to keep thinking "as if" whenever I think
about behaviour that has either genetic or memetic advantage. Some
writers have obviously taken the idea to heart and are not constantly
pointing out that all the meme stories are analogy and abstraction,
but I believe that they do understand the point. I fear that many
sceptical people, that is people who are sceptical about memetics, do
not fully grasp the necessary "as if" step and try and fail to
understand memes as physical entities.'

We seem to think that "we" are in some way in control of things such
as radio, television, books, the Internet. These are all things that
can spread memes. Writing is a great way for memes to spread because
it increases their longetivity. The Internet itself can survive
because of it's exceptional rate of spreading and holding memes. The
memes that are best suited to survive and replicate in their
environment, do. Thus the reason we often find ourselves with a
catchy tune or funny story in our head. They're good at spreading and
sticking in your head.


Memeplexes are complexes of memes in the brain that help support each
other. A religion such as Christianity is a memeplex. It supports and
protects such memes as the "God" meme and the "eternal life" meme.
This can be compared to certain genes in the genome that survive well
together. Genes like these include certain genes for a specific
pattern of colors in butterflies to mimic being poisonous. The
combination of a group of genes aids their survival.

The selfplex is probably the most prominent memeplex in most people.
It is, basically, "you." Research has shown that people's decisions
to react come after the reaction itself. This means that if I tell
you to raise your hand, you'll raise your hand (or more accurately,
the chemicals in your brain will tell your hand to raise), and then
quickly thereafter, decide to raise your hand. Your decision is
nothing but a story made up by the selfplex. The selfplex holds all
the memes that survive that make up "you."

"I" believe this, "I" hate that, "I" own this...these are all memes
that are attributed to a nonexistent "self." There may be a
biological animal that craves and gets pleasure out of eating
chocolate, but there is no "I" involved. The selfplex exists because
memes get in it and replicate the idea that "we" are something.

I hope I explained that well, but I there may be some holes in my
understanding that I'm not aware of.  I'd highly suggest picking up
copies of The Selfish Gene and The Meme Machine.

-Brad

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