The Meme Machine (Popular Science)

What is a meme? First coined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene , a meme is any idea, behavior, or skill that can be transferred from one person to another by imitation: stories, fashions, inventions, recipes, songs, ways of plowing a field or throwing a baseball or making a sculpture. The meme is also one of the most important—and controversial—concepts to emerge since The Origin of the Species appeared nearly 150 years ago. In The Meme Machine Susan Blackmore boldly asserts: Just as the design of our bodies can be understood only in terms of natural selection, so the design of our minds can be understood only in terms of memetic selection. Indeed, Blackmore shows that once our distant ancestors acquired the crucial ability to imitate, a second kind of natural selection began, a survival of the fittest amongst competing ideas and behaviors. Ideas and behaviors that proved most adaptive—making tools, for example, or using language—survived and flourished, replicating themselves in as many minds as possible. These memes then passed themselves on from generation to generation by helping to ensure that the genes of those who acquired them also survived and reproduced. Applying this theory to many aspects of human life, Blackmore offers brilliant explanations for why we live in cities, why we talk so much, why we can't stop thinking, why we behave altruistically, how we choose our mates, and much more. With controversial implications for our religious beliefs, our free will, our very sense of self, The Meme Machine offers a provocative theory everyone will soon be talking about. Portland Oregonian - James N. Gardner Memetics is that rarest of cultural phenomena-a loose philosophy in the process of transformation into genuine science. Such transformations are potentially the stuff of scientific revolution. We are fortunate indeed to have so lucid a guide to this strange, beguiling and still emerging intellectual landscape as Susan Blackmore. What is a meme? First coined by Richard Dawkins in 'The Selfish Gene', a meme is any idea, behavior, or skill that can be transferred from one person to another by imitation: stories, fashions, inventions, recipes, songs, ways of plowing a field or throwing a baseball or making a sculpture. The meme is also one of the most important--and controversial--concepts to emerge since 'The Origin of the Species' appeared nearly 150 years ago. In 'The Meme Machine' Susan Blackmore boldly asserts: "Just as the design of our bodies can be understood only in terms of natural selection, so the design of our minds can be understood only in terms of memetic selection." Indeed, Blackmore shows that once our distant ancestors acquired the crucial ability to imitate, a second kind of natural selection began, a survival of the fittest amongst competing ideas and behaviors. Ideas and behaviors that proved most adaptive - making tools, for example, or using language--survived and flourished, replicating themselves in as many minds as possible. These memes then passed themselves on from generation to generation by helping to ensure that the genes of those who acquired them also survived and reproduced. Applying this theory to many aspects of human life, Blackmore offers brilliant explanations for why we live in cities, why we talk so much, why we can't stop thinking, why we behave altruistically, how we choose our mates, and much more. With controversial implications for our religious beliefs, our free will, our very sense of "self," 'The Meme Machine' offers a provocative theory everyone will soon be talking about. Uniquely Among Animals, Humans Are Capable Of Imitation And So Can Copy From One Another Ideas, Habits, Skills, Behaviors, Inventions, Songs And Stories. These Are All Memes, A Term First Coined By Richard Dawkins In 1976. According To Memetic Theory, Memes, Like Genes, Are Replicators, Competing To Get Into As Many Brains As Possible, And This Memetic Competition Has Fashioned Our Minds And Culture, Just As Natural Selection Has Designed Our Bodies. Can The Analogy Between Memes And Genes Lead Us To Powerful New Theories That Actually Explain Anything Important? This Book Ends By Confronting The Deepest Questions Of All About Ourselves: The Nature Of The Inner Self, The Part Of Us That Is The Centre Of Our Consciousness, That Feels Emotions, Has Memories, Holds Beliefs And Makes Decisions. Author Blackmore Contends That This Inner Self Is An Illusion, A Creation Of The Memes For The Sake Of Their Own Replication.--from Publisher Description. Strange Creatures -- Universal Darwinism -- The Evolution Of Culture -- Taking The Meme's Eye View -- Three Problems With Memes -- The Big Brain -- The Origins Of Language -- Meme-gene Coevolution -- The Limits Of Sociobiology -- 'an Orgasm Saved My Life' -- Sex In The Modern World -- A Memetic Theory Of Altruism -- The Altruism Trick -- Memes Of The New Age -- Religions As Memeplexes -- Into The Internet -- The Ultimate Memeplex -- Out Of The Meme Race. Susan Blackmore ; [foreword By Richard Dawkins]. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [247]-258) And Index. After Richard Dawkins' *The Selfish Gene*, Susan Blackmore drive us deeply into the theory of the meme, social and cultural "replicators", trying to explain the human unique ability to imitate. Altruism, ideas, human behaviours, sex, poetry, music... seems to be simply the result of such as memetic selection... > Even our inner conscious self and our sense of free will are illlusion created by the memes for the sake of their own replication. Overview: What is a meme? First coined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene, a meme is any idea, behavior, or skill that can be transferred from one person to another by imitation: stories, fashions, inventions, recipes, songs, ways of plowing a field or throwing a baseball or making a sculpture. The meme is also one of the most important--and controversial--concepts to emerge since The Origin of the Species appeared nearly 150 years ago. Memes are the way that ideas, behaviours or skills are passed on from person to person by imitation, in the way that our bodies pass on genes. Examples include tunes, fashion and ways of building arches