Memes In The Mind

[Guest guest]

You probably are aware that your physical desires and instincts are

at the service of your genes. Survival and reproduction, that's their

game. Your genes are nomads crossing the immensity of time, and you,

are only the tent under which they sleep tonight. But, are you aware

that your mind is also the tool of another kind of evolution, not one

of genes, but of memes. A meme is a unit of information

which replicates itself moving from mind to mind. An idea, a concept,

a slogan, this very post, are memes. There are successful ancient

memes such as: " Thou shall not kill. " or " Life is suffering. "

 

These units of information(memes)had entered a symbiotic relationship

with your genes, and exploit your reproductive urge to propagate

themselves. What do I mean by that? I mean, our minds have an

intellectual sex drive. We love to disseminate our favorite ideas. So

here I'm, like a good old dandelion, floating my fluff on the wind of

the internet. I'm aware of a subtle pleasure in writing this, while I

write, the feeling that this is useful information and that I'm doing

a good thing is being imparted to me. As you must realize, I'm also

aware that I'm being tricked, but I mind as little as when my genes

trick me to have sex.

 

As in sex, beauty helps in meme reproduction. An ugly meme has a hard

time getting from mind to mind. Well, there is always

exceptions, " Shit happens. " has made it into daily parlance. Serving

a natural urge helps too, " Be fruitful and multiply. " has survived

for thousands of years. While a meme like, " Suicide is the ultimate

good. " doesn't have a chance, simple because it will tend to kill its

host.

 

But not all memes are helpful, human culture is full of harmful

memes, and they have been doing quite well for hundreds of years,

just look at " An eye for an eye. " It has no problem surviving in

Christian wisdom alongside " Love thy enemies. " and people gloss over

the obvious contradiction. The concepts of holy war, and martyrdom,

are also examples of destructive, yet successful,even respectable

memes.

 

Look inside, some of those memes sitting in your brain might not be

passengers, they might be flying your mind.

 

Ps: If you are interested in reading more about memes do a google

search. There are some interesting articles on the subject.

 

Pete