Mr Spinkles
Mr
I read a very interesting article recently. Anyone every heard of a field of study called "Memetics"?
Memetics is basically the study of ideas and how they evolve. People in the field call ideas "memes". Just like how a computer runs programs, so does your brain- in the form of ideas, which are electrical patterns called "memes".
This is really tricky to explain, but I'm going to continue anyway. Now, you're brain is constantly thinking, or running programs inside it. You're using memes all the time. Whether its a catchy tune that you can't get out of your head, or a catchphrase, or any thought at all- all of them are memes. Thousands of them!
Now, scientists have observed that a group of chimpanzees in Africa will use ONLY peices of wood in performing various tasks, rather than stones. The question is, why? There appears to be no advantage to using one over the other. And both peices of wood and rock are in plentiful supply- in fact another group of chimps, seperated from contact by natural land barriers a short distance away, uses ONLY stones. They'll even search at length to find stone, rather than resort to using peices of wood!
These observations have led some scientists to conclude that the chimps LEARN the behavior of using either stone or wood from their fellow chimps. This constitutes a primitive sort of "culture".
Now, what does this have to do with memes? Well, the idea inside the chimps' heads that "i must use stone- not wood" is a meme. It's an idea that they have- a program running inside their brain that dictates their behavior. It illustrates an important point- memes are self-replicating entities that can help us, or hurt us, or make no difference.
Ok, now bear with me.... DNA, according to traditional biological theory, are the only self-replicators known. All life lives (and dies) for one ultimate purpose- the spread of our particular code of DNA. However, along with the rise of logical thought processes came a NEW replicator- memes! Memes are all basically viruses- they exist for one purpose- to spread themselves around (of course, some of them are helpful to us- like the meme "a penny saved, is a penny earned"). Some, however, trick the host (just like a real virus or computer virus) into ceasing to spread its own genes- and instead spread the meme (or virus) instead. Celibacy is an example of this. Catholic priests deliberately choose to stop spreading their own genes for the sake of a meme (celibacy)- which is produced and spread instead.
Think about it. How do ideas evolve over time? Think about altruism. Altruism is a meme that has been very successful because when someone is altruistic, they tend to expose others to their altruism. On the other hand, when someone is solitary and crabby, people stay away from them- so the meme is "quarantined". Bigotry is a powerful meme that comes to mind.
The thing to keep in mind is that all memes have a few things in common: 1. They can help us spread our genes (like the meme "clean food before you eat it) and thereby spread more 2. They can also be harmful to us 3. They trick the host by either providing some kind of reward for propogating the meme (I just love whistling this song! Or, "You'll go to heaven if you do this!") or by threatening a punishment for not spreading the meme (If I don't believe in God, I'll go to hell). 4. Their main purpose is to get you (the host) to expose as many other people to them as possible, and therefore cathphrases, religions, etc get spread a lot. :angel:
Just think about how many things this theory of memetics accounts for! It helps explain why we have cultures, religions, philosophies- everything. It explains why we do things that don't really "benefit" us- because we've been infected by a virus! Think about how much energy you spend on memes..those tunes you just keep repeating to yourself in your head (or "replicating" if you will)... :talk: I think you'll realize that if you could press Ctrl+Alt+Delete on your brain, you'd have a lot of suspicious looking programs running that are spreading themselves to other peoples' "computers" (think of missionaries, Jahovah's Witnesses, the little mannerisms you do that others imitate, Mr_Spinkles who is spreading or "infecting" you, if you will, with the meme of thinking about memes as you read this...some of you might not be able to get the "Meme"-meme out of your head... etc).
Just a theory!
Memetics is basically the study of ideas and how they evolve. People in the field call ideas "memes". Just like how a computer runs programs, so does your brain- in the form of ideas, which are electrical patterns called "memes".
This is really tricky to explain, but I'm going to continue anyway. Now, you're brain is constantly thinking, or running programs inside it. You're using memes all the time. Whether its a catchy tune that you can't get out of your head, or a catchphrase, or any thought at all- all of them are memes. Thousands of them!
Now, scientists have observed that a group of chimpanzees in Africa will use ONLY peices of wood in performing various tasks, rather than stones. The question is, why? There appears to be no advantage to using one over the other. And both peices of wood and rock are in plentiful supply- in fact another group of chimps, seperated from contact by natural land barriers a short distance away, uses ONLY stones. They'll even search at length to find stone, rather than resort to using peices of wood!
These observations have led some scientists to conclude that the chimps LEARN the behavior of using either stone or wood from their fellow chimps. This constitutes a primitive sort of "culture".
Now, what does this have to do with memes? Well, the idea inside the chimps' heads that "i must use stone- not wood" is a meme. It's an idea that they have- a program running inside their brain that dictates their behavior. It illustrates an important point- memes are self-replicating entities that can help us, or hurt us, or make no difference.
Ok, now bear with me.... DNA, according to traditional biological theory, are the only self-replicators known. All life lives (and dies) for one ultimate purpose- the spread of our particular code of DNA. However, along with the rise of logical thought processes came a NEW replicator- memes! Memes are all basically viruses- they exist for one purpose- to spread themselves around (of course, some of them are helpful to us- like the meme "a penny saved, is a penny earned"). Some, however, trick the host (just like a real virus or computer virus) into ceasing to spread its own genes- and instead spread the meme (or virus) instead. Celibacy is an example of this. Catholic priests deliberately choose to stop spreading their own genes for the sake of a meme (celibacy)- which is produced and spread instead.
Think about it. How do ideas evolve over time? Think about altruism. Altruism is a meme that has been very successful because when someone is altruistic, they tend to expose others to their altruism. On the other hand, when someone is solitary and crabby, people stay away from them- so the meme is "quarantined". Bigotry is a powerful meme that comes to mind.
The thing to keep in mind is that all memes have a few things in common: 1. They can help us spread our genes (like the meme "clean food before you eat it) and thereby spread more 2. They can also be harmful to us 3. They trick the host by either providing some kind of reward for propogating the meme (I just love whistling this song! Or, "You'll go to heaven if you do this!") or by threatening a punishment for not spreading the meme (If I don't believe in God, I'll go to hell). 4. Their main purpose is to get you (the host) to expose as many other people to them as possible, and therefore cathphrases, religions, etc get spread a lot. :angel:
Just think about how many things this theory of memetics accounts for! It helps explain why we have cultures, religions, philosophies- everything. It explains why we do things that don't really "benefit" us- because we've been infected by a virus! Think about how much energy you spend on memes..those tunes you just keep repeating to yourself in your head (or "replicating" if you will)... :talk: I think you'll realize that if you could press Ctrl+Alt+Delete on your brain, you'd have a lot of suspicious looking programs running that are spreading themselves to other peoples' "computers" (think of missionaries, Jahovah's Witnesses, the little mannerisms you do that others imitate, Mr_Spinkles who is spreading or "infecting" you, if you will, with the meme of thinking about memes as you read this...some of you might not be able to get the "Meme"-meme out of your head... etc).
Just a theory!