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7/24/2019 MEMETICS
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MEMETICS
HS 214: Cultural Theory And Practice
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Evolution and Replicators
Fundamental la o! evolution:
All li!e evolve "y the di#erential survivalo! replicatin$ entities%
The $ene& the '(A molecule& happens to"e the replicatin$ entity that prevails onour planet%
)enes are considered to "e the "asicmechanisms "ehind human evolution%
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A gene is the "asic unit o! heredity in alivin$ or$anism% *t is composed o! '(Amolecules and e+ists as speci,c
se-uences o! these molecules% )enes hold the in!ormation to "uild and
maintain their cells and pass $enetic
traits to o#sprin$ throu$h replication%
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'./0E HE* 3.'E .F'(A
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Are )enes the onlyreplicators
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3E3ES: The ne replicators
3eme is an in!ormation pattern held in anindividual5s "rain hich is capa"le o! "ein$copied to another6or several7 individual5smemory%
The etymolo$y o! the term relates to the )ree8ord mimema !or 9somethin$ imitated9%
The ord as ,rst introduced "y 0ritish
scientist Richard 'a8ins in The Selfsh Gene 61;<7 to discuss evolutionary principles ine+plainin$ the spread o! ideas and culturalphenomena%
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Toemphasi=e
commonality ith$enes&'a8inscoined the
term
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For an understandin$ o! the evolution o!modern man& e must "e$in "y throin$out the $ene as the sole "asis o! our ideason evolution%
3eme can "e termed as a noun thatconveys the idea o! a unit o! culturaltransmission& or a unit o! imitation%
A meme has no $iven si=e% A meme could consist o! a sin$le ord& or a
meme could consist o! the entire speech inhich that ord ,rst occurred%
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E+amples o! 3eme
Tunes *deas Catch?phrases Clothes !ashion @ays o! ma8in$ tools& pots or "uildin$
arches an$ua$e Reli$ion
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@hich one
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*nternet 3eme
The term 9*nternetmeme9 re!ers to acatchphrase orconcept that
spreads rapidly !romperson to person viathe internet& lar$elythrou$h email&
"lo$s& !orums& socialnetor8in$ sites&and instantmessa$in$%
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3emetics: *t is the theoretical andempirical science that studies thereplication& spread and evolution o!
memes%
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Transmission o! 3emes
ust as $enes propa$atethemselves in the $enepool "y leapin$ !rom"ody to "ody via
sperms or e$$s& somemes propa$atethemselves in thememe pool "y leapin$!rom "rain to "rain via
a process hich& in the"road sense& can "ecalled imitation%
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*mitation o!ten involves thecopyin$ o! an o"served"ehaviour o! another
individual%
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B3emes may
transmit !romone individual toanother throu$h
a copy recordedin an inanimatesource& such as
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3emes hich replicate the most e#ectivelyspread "est& and some memes mayreplicate e#ectively >even hen they prove
detrimental to the el!are o! their hosts% *n the ords o! (%D%Humphrey&hen you
plant a !ertile meme in my mind youliterally parasiti=e my "rain& turnin$ it into
a vehicle !or the meme5s propa$ation in ust the ay that a virus may parasiti=e the$enetic mechanism o! the host cell%
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The )od 3eme
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Pro"a"ly it ori$inated many times "yindependent Gmutation%
*t replicates itsel! "y the spo8en and ritten
ord& aided "y $reat music and $reat art% The hi$h survival value o! the $od meme inthe meme pool results !rom its $reatpsycholo$ical appeal% *t provides a
super,cially plausi"le anser to deep andtrou"lin$ -uestions a"out e+istence% *tsu$$ests that inustices in this orld may"e recti,ed in the ne+t%
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The Geverlastin$ arms hold out acushion a$ainst our on inade-uacieshich& li8e a doctors place"o& is none
the less e#ective !or "ein$ ima$inary% )od e+ists& i! only in the !orm o! a meme
ith hi$h survival value& or in!ectivepoer& in the environment provided "yhuman culture%
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@here is )od
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Survival strate$y o! memes
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Survival strate$y o! memes
Cultural transmission is analo$ous to $enetictransmission in that& althou$h "asicallyconservative& it can $ive rise to a !orm o!evolution%
Some memes are more success!ul in thememe?pool than others%
Jualities that ma8e !or hi$h survival valueamon$ memes: longevity& fecundity and
copying-delity% The longevity o! any one copy o! a meme is
pro"a"ly relatively unimportant& as it is !or anyone copy o! a $ene%
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Fecundity is much more important thanlongevity o! particular copies%
Some memes& li8e some $enes& achieve
"rilliant short?term success in spreadin$rapidly& "ut do not last lon$ in the memepool% Popular son$s and stiletto heels aree+amples% .thers& such as the eishreli$ious las& may continue to propa$atethemselves !or thousands o! years& usually"ecause o! the $reat potentialpermanence o! ritten records%
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The memes are "ein$ passed on in altered!orm6copying-delity7% This loo8s -uiteunli8e the particulate& all?or?none -uality o!
$ene transmission% *t loo8s as thou$hmeme transmission is su"ect tocontinuous mutation& and also to "lendin$%
3emes that propa$ate less proli,cally may
"ecome e+tinct& hile others may survive&spread& and 6!or "etter or !or orse7mutate%
A(A.)K 0ET@EE( 3E3E A('
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A(A.)K 0ET@EE( 3E3E A(')E(E
@e must not thin8 o! $enes as conscious&purpose!ul a$ents% 0lind natural selection&hoever& ma8es them "ehave rather as i! they
ere purpose!ul& and it has "een convenient& as ashorthand& to re!er to $enes in the lan$ua$e o!purpose%e%$%? $enes are tryin$ to increase their num"ers in
!uture $ene pools& hat e really mean is those$enes that "ehave in such a ay as to increasetheir num"ers in !uture $ene pools tend to "e the$enes hose e#ects e see in the orld%
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Replication And *mitation
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REP*CAT*.( A('*3*TAT*.( The e+treme reductionist claims o! socio"iolo$ists
and evolutionary psycholo$ists have "eensomehat tempered "y the cultural selectionismapproach& hich admits the e+istence o! a dual
system o! inheritance in the human species:$enetic transmission and cultural transmission%
3emetics can "e considered a su"cate$ory ithincultural selectionism& di#erin$ !rom mainstream
co evolutionism in its insistence on replication asthe mechanism o! cultural inheritance%
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The copyin$ process is pro"a"ly muchless precise 6in the case o! memes7 thanin the case o! $enes: there may "e a
certain >mutational element in everycopyin$ event% 3emes may partially"lend ith each other in a ay that$enes do not% (e mutations may "edirected rather than random ithrespect to evolutionary trends%
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Another di#erence "eteen cultural selectionism andmemetics is that cultural selectionism considers thatany means o! non?$enetic transmission can ta8e partin cultural transmission& and thus admits a ide array
o! possi"ilities: imprintin$& classical conditionin$&operative conditionin$& o"servation& imitation& directinstruction% 0y contrast& standard memetics is morerestrictive in that it de,nes imitation as the only
learnin$ process hich ma8es cultural di#usionpossi"le% Accordin$ to one o! the leadin$ memeticists&Susan 0lac8more & the reason !or this emphasis onimitation is that it is the only means o! transmission
hich ma8es possi"le the accumulation o!modi,cations over enerations ?? hat is 8non as
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3utually?assistin$ memes
Some memes "ecome associated ith oneanother and this association assists thesurvival o! each o! the participatin$ memes%
To ta8e a particular e+ample& an aspect o!doctrine that has "een very e#ective inen!orcin$ reli$ious o"servance is the threatof hell re%
This is a peculiarly nasty techni-ue o!persuasion& causin$ $reat psycholo$icalan$uish throu$hout the middle a$es andeven today% 0ut it is highly eective.
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The idea o! hell ,re is& -uite simply& sel perpetuating& "ecause o! its on deeppsycholo$ical impact% *t has "ecome lin8edith the $od meme "ecause the to rein!orce
each other& and assist each others survival inthe meme pool%
Another mem"er o! the reli$ious memecomple+ is called !aith% 3emes !or "lind !aith
have their on ruthless ays o! propa$atin$themselves% This is true o! patriotic and political as ell as
reli$ious "lind !aith%
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ConMicts amon$ 3emes
3emes and $enes may o!ten rein!orce eachother& "ut they sometimes come intoopposition%
3eme?comple+es evolve in the same 8ind o!
ay as co?adapted $ene?comple+es% Selection!avours memes that e+ploit their culturalenvironment to their on advanta$e% Thiscultural environment consists o! other memes
hich are also "ein$ selected% The meme pool there!ore comes to have theattri"utes o! an evolutionarily sta"le set& hichne memes ,nd it hard to invade%
Wh t’ i t t???
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What’s more important???Genes or Memes
Gene Me!e
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)enes
@e are $ene machines& and e erecreated to pass on our $enes to the ne+t$eneration%
0ut as each $eneration passes& thecontri"ution o! our $enes are halved%
So immortality cant "e see8ed throu$h
reproduction%
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As $eneration passes "y& our$enes $et halved
oy ychromosome!rom male
chromosome !rom!emale%
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3emes
3emes li8e reli$ion& music& ritualdancin$ etc% plays an important aspect inour lives%
These are imitated very rapidly&provided a mind is present hich iscapa"le o! imitation%
This is the reason that humans havemuch more memes than animals%
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*n a ay& e can say that memes aremore important in our lives than $enes"ecause $enes !ade out "ut memes are
trans!erred to the ne+t $eneration% !or e$% 3eme comple+es o! Socrates&
eonardo& Copernicus and 3arconi are
still $oin$ stron$%
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Humans are the mostsuperiorNNNN .ne uni-ue !eature o! man& hich may or
may not evolved memitically& is hiscapacity !or conscious !oresi$ht i%e% our
capacity to stimulate the !uture inima$ination% Sel,sh $enes are unconscious& "lind
replicators% Another uni-ue -uality o! man is a
capacity !or $enuine& disinterested& truealtrui!.
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A 1 T R / * S 3 N N N
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@e can see the lon$ term "ene,ts in ourlives and ta8e the necessary steps toachieve them%
Throu$h this essay& 'a8ins li8es toconvey that e humans& have the poerto de!y our sel,sh $enes "y "irth& and
also sel,sh memes o! our indoctrination%
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“ We are built as gene machinesand cultured as meme
machines, but we have the power to turn against our owncreators. We, alone on earth, can
rebel against the tyranny o theselfsh replicators.”
!ichard
"aw#ins
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Presented "y:
Dama8hya Prasad 0asumatary'ipa8 0ansal3adhurya 'ehin$ia0raen 0aishya)aurav Ranan
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Than8in$ Kou