Is Religion a Virus?

[SnakePegan]

I would just like to know who is to say what is a good meme or a bad meme. To you or I Naziism,Bigatry,Atiesm, or what ever can be called a bad meme, but to a Nazi,a bigit, or an athiest, they are good memes. So there for in some way of thinking all memes are viruses. Good bad or indiferent, they are viruses and it is up to you and your free will, (or anti-virus program) to sort through the viruses and find out for you witch ones are bad and witch ones you choose to keep in your "computer like" brain. :talk:

 

[Ceridwen018]

Lol,

I think you'll be a bit hard pressed to find people seeing atheist memes as negative in this forum, but you do have a point.

We throw around words like 'good meme' and 'bad meme', when in all actuality, they really are on equal footing no matter what they are, as far as the science of them goes. Concerning society and morals however, negative and positive connotations are assigned, but you are absolutely right: these connotations are different for everyone.

Referring to them as viral is also a bit misleading, as viruses hold a predominately negative connotation in our society, but this is just to explain how memes funtion and work in a sense, which is a lot like an actual virus. the word 'infection' also fits in here, but by true defintion, infection doesn't have to mean a negative disease.

 

[Alaric]

Have I heard of this Susan Blackmore before? The name sounds familiar- is she a renowned skeptic?

She's a professor of psychology in the U.K. and wrote a book called 'The Meme Machine' - very good, except for the last chapter where she tries to apply her theories to how we should live our lives. The really interesting thing about the book is that she uses memes to explain the evolution of the brain - it was the enormous benefits of being able to copy others' behaviour that made the enormous investment in a big brain pay off.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

I see....she must have been mentioned in the article about memes that I read in Skeptic magazine.