Any speculations on what makes some memes "more infective than others"? What makes a meme good at getting copied from one brain to another? What "inherent properties" would be "reasonable enough" to explain their success at replicating? Dawkins touches on this (p. 304+) but doesn't really go into detail. I always thought that the more links to existing memes a new meme has, the more infective it is.
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- Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder - by Richard Dawkins
- Atheism: A Reader - edited by S. T. Joshi
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infective memes
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 tarav |
infective memes |
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Posts: 1052 07/09/03 15:17:18 Moderator |
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conanlee |
Re: infective memes | #1 | ||
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Posts: 9 07/09/03 20:09:46 |
One of strongest memes is religion, obviously harmful. There's an article by Pual Kurtz discussing about the science of religion : www.humanismtoday.org/vol13/kurtz.html
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Kostya |
Re: infective memes | #2 | ||
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Posts: 131 07/11/03 14:18:07 Graduate |
Simplicity of the meme has to be an important factor for meme's success. For example, meme "God did it" is much more likely to spread than "Read some science books and you might get an idea of how things came to be what they are". More people are likely to get infected by one of the Britney Spears songs meme than by Mozart's music.
I do agree with you that memes that depend or that are based on other successful memes are more infectious. If you interested in reading more about memes I recommend "Meme Machine" by Susan Blackmore (www.amazon.com/exec/obido...n=507846). |
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Meme Wars |
Re: infective memes | #3 | ||
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Posts: 101 07/12/03 04:30:56 Senior |
The most effective cluster of memes are the ones that are most truely in tune with genetic human nature, and, of course, the trojan horse for "getting in" are those memes that we are most familiar with at this moment in time.
So the "Meme War" is for the rapidly evolving cluster of memes that are in best harmony with the present state of human nature. There is something about Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism that has keyed in to those elements; that have caused them to be so effective; that elicit strong emotions (human nature confuses emotions for evidence of truth.) The only evidence of truth that these superclusters of memes (religion, tradition, social behavior) will reveal is the architecture of the human psyche, and their success reveals little or says nothing about the laws of nature or the nature of the Cosmos. But they are powerful enough to destroy and displace other modes of thinking. Civilization is in peril due to these memeplexes, especially the one that believe eternal economic "growth" is a good thing (as if cancer is good) and that to not grow, is to die. I would go with "to not change invites memeplexes to break down the immune system of civilization." Sincerely, Meme Wars Monty Vonn montyquest@aol.com |
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tarav |
Re: infective memes | #4 | ||
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Posts: 1052 07/16/03 15:19:15 Moderator |
Interesting points from you all. I too am concerned about the power of destructive memes and how they can replace rational thinking. On the lighter side, some infective memes are just annoying. Like Dawkins' example with the tango, there is a song that sticks with me. I absolutely abhore the song and the band. U2's With or Without You infects my brain even if I just hear a snippet of it! I'm sure I'll get some flak from U2 fans for this! Fans, just rest assured that I'll be sick with the virus for just thinking about it!
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Chris OConnor |
Re: infective memes | #5 | ||
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Indisputable BookTalk Master
Posts: 9511 07/17/03 23:37:46 BookTalk Owner |
I wonder if riots would be a rapid spread of a meme. Mobs behave irrationally and get out of control quickly after one fruitloop spreads the idea that violence or destructive behavior are an effective communication technique. I'm sure if you videotaped the evolution of a riot it would start with particular individuals and then spread out like a wildfire as the meme jumped from one idiot to the next.
Chris |
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- General Discussion & Miscellaneous Topics
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- Additional Book Discussions
- Godless in America: Conversations With an Atheist - by George A. Ricker
- Interventions - by Noam Chomsky
- Religious Expression and the American Constitution - by Franklyn S. Haiman
- Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future - by Bill McKibben
- The God Delusion - by Richard Dawkins
- The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal - by Jared Diamond
- The Woman in the Dunes - by Abe Kobo
- Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction - by Eugenie Scott
- The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - by Michael Pollan
- I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B.C., Murdered and Deified A.D. 54 - by Robert Graves
- Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon - by Daniel Dennett
- A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East - by David Fromkin
- The Time Traveler's Wife - by Audrey Niffenegger
- The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason - by Sam Harris
- Ender's Game - by Orson Scott Card
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - by Mark Haddon
- Value & Virtue in a Godless Universe - by Erik J. Wielenberg
- The March: A Novel - by E.L. Doctorow
- The Ethical Brain - by Michael Gazzaniga
- Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism - by Susan Jacoby
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed - by Jared Diamond
- The Battle for God - by Karen Armstrong
- The Future of Life - by Edward O. Wilson
- What is Good? The Search for the Best Way to Live - by A.C. Grayling
- Civilization and It's Enemies: The Next Stage of History - by Lee Harris
- Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space - by Carl Sagan
- How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God - by Michael Shermer
- Looking For Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain - by Antonio Damasio
- Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right - by Al Franken
- The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature - by Matt Ridley
- The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature - by Stephen Pinker
- Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder - by Richard Dawkins
- Atheism: A Reader - edited by S. T. Joshi
- Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century - by Howard Bloom
- The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History - by Howard Bloom
- Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies - by Jared Diamond
- Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark - by Carl Sagan
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West - by Dee Alexander Brown
- Future Shock - by Alvin Toffler
