The Selfish Meme: A Critical Reassessment

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Some of the models show that cultural evolution of a Darwinian kind can occur even when cultural variants are not faithfully copied discrete particles (Boyd and Richerson 2005). That is, pace Dawkins, cultural evolution of a Darwinian kind can occur even when, strictly speaking, there are no memes at all. But -- one may wonder -- how is it possible to see culture as an evolutionary system once we give up the assumption that it is made up of particulate gene-like entities? This is obviously an important question. Let me outline the answer. Dawkins writes that gene combinations which help an organism to survive and reproduce tend to also improve the gene's own chances of being replicated, and, as a result, "successful" genes frequently provide a benefit to the organism. An example of this might be a gene that protects the organism against a disease. This helps the gene spread, and also helps the organism. Witt, U. (2004). On the proper interpretation of ‘evolution’ in economics and its implications for production theory. Journal of Economic Methodology, 11, 125–146. Dan Neuharth says that “Narcissists distort the truth through disinformation, oversimplifying, ridiculing and sowing doubt. Narcissists can be incredibly skilled at using classic elements of thought-control and brainwashing.” Feschotte, C., & Pritham, E. J. (2007). DNA transposons and the evolution of eurkaryotic genomes. Annual Review of Genetics, 41, 331–368.

Although Dawkins agrees that groups can assist survival, they rank as a "vehicle" for survival only if the group activity is replicated in descendants, recorded in the gene, the gene being the only true replicator. An improvement in the survival lottery for the group must improve that for the gene for sufficient replication to occur. Dawkins argues qualitatively that the lottery for the gene is based upon a very long and broad record of events, and group advantages are usually too specific, too brief, and too fortuitous to change the gene lottery:Edmonds, B. (1999). Syntactic Measures of Complexity. PhD Thesis. Dept. Philosophy. University of Manchester. Thompson objects that the gene cannot operate by itself, since it requires an environment such as a cell, and life is "the creative outcome of highly structured contingencies". Thompson quotes Sarkar: [47] "there is no clear technical notion of "information" in molecular biology. It is little more than a metaphor that masquerades as a theoretical concept and ...leads to a misleading picture of the nature of possible explanations in molecular biology." We present the formal definition of meme in the sense of the equivalence between memetics and the theory of cultural evolution. From the formal definition we find that But on their journey towards finding their happiness, they carelessly and intentionally walk over people.

I didn't know that was the case. It's undoubtedly true that many religious people see their religion as part of their identity, but I thought atheists were largely free of that. As we have mentioned above, there’s not much point in trying to change them as a narcissist “ will only change if it serves his or her purpose.” Let me start by explaining what memetics is and where it comes from. Memetics is one possible way of using Darwinian evolutionary ideas to study culture. As I shall explain below, it is not the only way of doing this. According to memetics, the essence of culture is constituted by memes and the essence of cultural change is constituted by changes in meme frequencies. Memes are mental states that embody discrete chunks of socially transmissible information. To say that the information that memes embody is socially transmissible is to say that memes can give rise to other memes through social learning. To say that memes embody a discrete chunk of information is to say that, when the information present in a meme is socially transmitted, such information does not usually blend with the information present in other memes. On this view, social transmission is (at least at its most fundamental level) a copying process in which memes generate copies of themselves. Memes are thought to be socially transmissible beliefs, desires, values, and mental representations of tunes, stories, myths, rituals, ways of doing (or saying, or thinking about) things, etc. According to some versions of memetics, it is not just socially transmissible mental states that deserve to be classified as memes, but also those artefacts and activities (including those of a linguistic and textual nature) that can be copied and that can result in the existence of similar artefacts or activities. Heylighen F. (1993): "Selection Criteria for the Evolution of Knowledge", Proceeding 13th International Congress on Cybernetics. International Association ofIn Mind in Life, the philosopher Evan Thompson has assembled a multi-sourced objection to the "selfish gene" idea. [49] Thompson takes issue with Dawkin's reduction of "life" to "genes" and "information": In April 2016, The Selfish Gene was listed in The Guardian's list of the 100 best nonfiction books, by Robert McCrum. [64]

The Selfish Gene was extremely popular when first published, causing "a silent and almost immediate revolution in biology", [19] and it continues to be widely read. It has sold over a million copies and has been translated into more than 25 languages. [20] Proponents argue that the central point, that replicating the gene is the object of selection, usefully completes and extends the explanation of evolution given by Charles Darwin before the basic mechanisms of genetics were understood.According to Sarah Newman, MA, MFA in Psych Central, “Selfish people consume the time and energy of others and, despite what you tell yourself, there’s no end in sight to their narcissism.” Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

Sahotra Sarkar Biological information: a skeptical look at some central dogmas of molecular biology, p. 187 Distin, K. (2005). The selfish meme: A critical reassessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

John S Wilkins, David Hull, Dawkins on Replicators and Vehicles, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Units of selection [ edit ] According to Abigail Brenner M.D. in Psychology Today, manipulative people “truly believe that their way of handling a situation is the only way because it means that their needs are being met, and that’s all that matters.”