Finance          Automotive          Computers          Health          Shopping          Sports         News          Reference           Print Facts in English - BCUZ.COMlos hechos en Español

Meme



In traditional population genetics the normal genetic variation, genetic selection, and genetic drift do not lead to the formation of a new species without some form of "reproductive isolation". Thus in order to split a single species into two species, the two subpopulations of the original species must ultimately lose their ability to interbreed, which would normally maintain their heterogeneity. However, once separated, natural selection and/or mere genetic drift acting on the normal genetic variation in the two subspecies will eventually change enough characteristics of the two subgroups to preclude them interbreeding, which (by a common definition of what constitutes a species) means that they will comprise two different species.[citation needed] Examples of reproductive isolation include geographical isolation, where a suddenly-appearing mountain range or river separates two subgroups; temporal isolation (isolation by time), where one subgroup becomes entirely diurnal in its habits while the other becomes entirely nocturnal; or even just "behavioral" isolation, as seen in wolves and domestic dogs: they could interbreed, biologically speaking, but normally they do not.[citation needed]

A similar phenomenon can occur with memes.[citation needed] Normally, the population of individuals having a meme in their consciousness contains sufficient internal variation and mixes enough to keep a given meme relatively intact (although it covers a wide range of variations).[verification needed] Should that population become split, however, without sufficient contact for the two different subgroups of variations of the meme to equilibrate, eventually each group will evolve its own version of that meme, each version differing sufficiently from that of the other group to appear as a distinct entity.[citation needed]

The Kellerman meme provides an example of this occurring on the Internet.[original research?] A search of the web and/or Usenet for the word 'Kellerman' will turn up many citations, describing at great length the behavior of a "Dr. Arthur Kellerman", who, with the willing assistance of the Centers for Disease Control and the public-health lobby, purportedly fabricated studies in order to implicate firearms (and by extension their owners) as a menace to public safety, for the purposes of statist control of the population. The authors of these pages and postings describe purported machinations, "junk science", a subsequent recantation by Dr. "Kellerman", and the use of his work by proponents of gun control.[citation needed]. Compare the work of the differently spelled scientist Arthur Kellermann.

The original meme of Kellermann and his work on gun-related violent injury has generated a new meme ("Dr. Kellerman is an evil lying gun-grabbing enemy of freedom") by the classic genetic phenomenon of a deletion mutation.[citation needed] The sub-population involved had strongly negative attitudes towards Kellermann's work as well as a lack of firsthand familiarity with his studies and career.[citation needed] Because of the "reproductive isolation" caused by the total non-intersection of the results of searches for "Kellerman" and "Kellermann", the Kellerman-meme drifted even further in the direction of negativity, unchecked by facts related to the real Kellermann.[citation needed] As this group encounters new individuals of similar general outlook, they introduce new recruits to the "Kellerman" lore only, and go on to produce their own websites and postings furthering the rapid progress of this meme.[citation needed]

(This phenomenon also demonstrates two other features of memes — the "meme-complex" (memeplex) as a set of mutually-assisting "co-memes" which have co-evolved a symbiotic relationship, and the "Villain vs. Victim" infection strategy.)

[

Expansion of concept

The propagation of memes follows a phenomenon that also appears in many other fields of study.[citation needed] One can expand the same principles to include all material patterns as well, in the sense that every material pattern in the universe exists to an extent proportional to its frequency of appearance, longevity and ability to reproduce (or to allow copying by others).[original research?]

The material pattern "shoes", for instance, reproduces dependently on the meme of how to create shoes, which in turn depends on its ability to benefit human beings. Nevertheless one can view it[original research?], like the material patterns it depends on, as a "selfish" material pattern, only benefiting human beings to such extent as to favour its own rate of reproduction by human agency.

[

See also

[

References

  1. ^ See for example the pronunciation in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition, 2000; and compare the original suggestion of the coiner of the word recommending a pronunciation to rhyme with "cream": Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989 ISBN 0-19-217773-7 page 192
  2. ^ Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, 11. Memes:the new replicators, Oxford University, 1976, second edition, December 1989, ISBN 0-19-217773-7; April 1992, ISBN 0-19-857519-X; trade paperback, September 1990, ISBN 0-19-286092-5
  3. ^ Kelly, Kevin (1994). Out of control: the new biology of machines, social systems and the economic world. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 360. ISBN 0-201-48340-8. 

    "But if we consider culture as its own self organizing system,- a system with its own agenda and pressure to survive- then the history of humanity gets even more interesting. As Richard Dawkins has shown, systems of self-replicating ideas or memes can quickly accumulate their own agenda and behaviours. I assign no higher motive to a cultural entity than the primitive drive to reproduce itself and modify its environment to aid its spread. One way the self organizing system can do this is by consuming human biological resources."

    "In Danny Hillis's terminology, civilized humans are 'the world's most successful symbionts' — culture and biology behaving as mutually beneficial parasites for each other."

  4. ^ Dawkins, Richard, The Selfish Gene (Oxford University Press, USA; 3rd edition, April 24, 2006, ISBN 0-1992-9114-4), p. 192. To quote Dawkins more extensively:

    We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. 'Mimeme' comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like 'gene'. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to 'memory', or to the French word même. It should be pronounced to rhyme with 'cream'.

    – Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989 ISBN 0-19-217773-7 page 192

  5. ^ Dawkins, Richard, Speech at an event at the London School of Economics held to mark the 30th anniversary of the publication of his book, The Selfish Gene, 2006
  6. ^ http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/memetics/temes.htm Temes in technology
  7. ^ Charles J. Lumsden and Edward Osborne Wilson: Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981. ISBN 0674344758
  8. ^ Edward Osborne Wilson: Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. New York: Knopf, 1998. ISBN 0679450777
  9. ^ Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, Chapter III, Mental Powers, pp.90-91.
  10. ^ Keynes, John Maynard. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. New York: Harbinger. 1965.
  11. ^ See for example John D. Gottsch: "Mutation, Selection, And Vertical Transmission Of Theistic Memes In Religious Canons" in Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2001. Online version retrieved 2008-01-27.
  12. ^ Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene, p.330. Oxford University Press, 1989. ISBN 0192860925
  13. ^ Kim Sterelney and Paul E. Griffiths, Sex and Death: And Introduction to Philosophy of Biology, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999, p.333
  14. ^ Peter S Williams: "'What do you believe is trues(sic) even though you cannot prove it?' – Comparing Dawkins' Blind Faith with Flew's Evidence" on the "action research network" site ("providing accessible information on science, technology, and society from an intelligent design perspective"). Retrieved 2008-05-30. Reproduced as Peter S Williams: "The Faith Based Dawkins: 'What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?' – Comparing Dawkins' Blind Faith with Flew's Evidence" on the bethinking.org apologetics website of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF), retrieved 2008-05-30. Note that the original article does not use the technical terms "crusader" or "faith-based" or "belief systems" at all: let alone with reference to Professor Dawkins.
  15. ^ Dieter Lohmar - "Truth", in Lester Embree, Encyclopedia of phenomenology, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997
  16. ^ Friedrich Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morals. Translated by Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale. New York: Vintage, 1967.
  17. ^ Mikael Sandberg: "The Evolution of IT Innovations in Swedish Organizations: A Darwinian Critique of ‘Lamarckian’ Institutional Economics", Journal of Evolutionary Economics Volume 17, Number 1, February, 2007 (on-line 2006, retrieved 2008-02-27; in print 2007)
  18. ^ Susan Blackmore: The Meme Machine. Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-19-286212-X
  19. ^ Evan Louis Sheehan: The Mocking Memes: A Basis for Automated Intelligence. Authorhouse, 2006. ISBN 978-1425961602
  20. ^ Scott Atran, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion, New York, Oxford University Press, 2002, chapter 9 "The Trouble with Memes". ISBN 0195149300
  21. ^ Quine, W. V. O., 1952, "Two Dogmas of Empiricism", in From a Logical Point of View: Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press.
  22. ^ See for example: "Missionary Program"; retrieved 2008-01-27
  23. ^ See Lawrence Mills, Our Own Religion in Ancient Persia, Chicago, 1913
  24. ^ See for example the discussion and quotations in http://www.zarathushtra.com/z/article/influenc.htm
  25. ^ See History of theology for accounts of the varying emphases and interests of theologians in various traditions over time.
  26. ^ Compare for example the discussion in the article Christianization of Kievan Rus'.
  27. ^ J M Balkin: Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. ISBN 0300072880
  28. ^ AskOxford: What is the origin of the word 'quiz'?
  29. ^ See for example Mooney, Criss. The Republican War on Science. NY: Basic Books, 2005.
  30. ^ "Vocal learning in whistle production has been demonstrated in bottlenose dolphins ..." Atlantic Spotted Dolphin vocalizations, chapter Delphinid vocalizationsPDF (797 KB), page 133 — retrieved 2007-08-29.
  31. ^ Compare for example Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye (1988): "Vocal Development", http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Vocal_Development.html
  32. ^ "Chain Letters and Evolutionary Histories", Charles H. Bennett, Ming Li and Bin Ma. Scientific American, June 2003.

[

Literature

  1. Henson, H. Keith: Memes Meta-Memes and Politics, 1988
  2. Henson, H. Keith and Arel Lucas: "Memes, Evolution, and Creationism", 1989
  3. Khan, Pir Hazrat Inayat: The Music of Life, Omega Uniform Edition, 2nd edition, 1993, trade paperback: 353 pages, ISBN 0-930872-38-X. An introduction to the muwakkals (Eastern memes).
  4. Dennett, Daniel: Consciousness Explained, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1991. ISBN 0316180653
  5. Dennett, Daniel: Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, 1995
  6. Brodie, Richard: Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme. Integral Press, September 1995, 251 pages, ISBN 0-9636001-1-7
  7. Bloom, Howard: The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History. Atlantic Monthly Press, February 1997, 480 pages, ISBN 0-87113-664-3
  8. Blackmore, Susan: The Meme Machine. Oxford University Press, 1999, hardcover ISBN 0-19-850365-2, trade paperback ISBN 0-9658817-8-4, May 2000, ISBN 0-19-286212-X
  9. Fog, Agner: Cultural Selection. Dordrecht: Kluwer 1999. ISBN 0-7923-5579-2.
  10. Lynch, Aaron: Thought Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society. Basic Books, 1999, ISBN 0-465-08467-2
    1. Review: "The new pseudo-science of memes"
  11. Stephenson, Neal: Snow Crash. Bantam Doubleday Dell, reprint, 2000, trade paperback: 440 pages, ISBN 0-553-38095-8 (science-fiction novel about a metavirus engineered to activate as a meme in the brain, spreading through a number of vectors such as actual physical viruses, images, and others)
  12. Flannery, Tim: "Eyes at the back of your head: How Richard Semon's memes gave way to Richard Dawkins's memes". Times Literary Supplement, October 19, 2001
  13. Atran, Scott: "The Trouble with Memes", Human Nature 12, 4 (2001), S. 351 ff. [3]
  14. Aunger, Robert: The Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Think. Free Press, 2002, hardcover ISBN 0-7432-0150-7
  15. Aunger, Robert: Darwinizing culture: the status of memetics as a science. Oxford University Press, 2000, New-York ISBN 0-19-263244-2
  16. Henson, H. Keith: "Sex, Drugs, and Cults. An evolutionary psychology perspective on why and how cult memes get a drug-like hold on people, and what might be done to mitigate the effects", The Human Nature Review 2002 Volume 2: 343-355 [4]
  17. H. Keith Henson: "Evolutionary Psychology, Memes and the Origin of War."
  18. Lanier, Jaron: "The Ideology of Cybernetic Totalist Intellectuals", an essay which criticises "meme totalists" who assert memes over bodies.
  19. Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
  20. Principia Cybernetica holds a lexicon of memetics concepts, comprising a list of different types of memes.
  21. A list of memetics publications on the web
  22. Ericsson-Zenith, Steven: Memeiosis , a formal characterization of memes.
  23. Situngkir, Hokky: Culture as Complex Adaptive System, formal interplays between memetics and cultural analysis.
  24. Chielens, Klaas: The Viral Aspects of Language: A Quantitative Research of Memetic Selection Criteria
  25. Distin, Kate: The Selfish Meme: A Critical Reassessment. Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-521-60627-6
  26. Hugo, Victor: Notre Dame de Paris (translated into English as The Hunchback of Notre Dame), 1831
  27. Dennett, Daniel: Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon , 2006
  28. Gibson, William: Pattern Recognition, page 95, "Word-of-mouth meme thing. We don't really know what it does, yet.", 2003.

[

External links

v • d • e
Richard Dawkins
Books Richard Dawkins in March 2005
Related works
See also



BCUZ.com FACTS Encyclopedia content is licensed under the GFDL as approved by Wikipedia.
For more information review our copyright contact and privacy policy.
© 1996 - BCUZ.COM - We have all the FACTS you need about Small Business Financing, Behavior Disorder, Having Too Many Bills, Needing Cash Fast, Structured Settlements, Frequent Flier Programs, Top Steak Houses, The Mayan Indians, Norfolk and Suffolk England, Growing Longer Hair and a full reference English Encyclopedia and Spanish Encyclopedia.Privacy Policy