The Meme Machine

The Meme Machine was to me a very clear eye opener. Susan Blackmore defined memes in a clear way, separated the theory from earlier theories of cultural evolution and also explained what it means to model a human being as a random copier. It does not mean as has mistakenly been blaimed that we had no brains to make distinction between good ideas and bad. It just means that we are not very good at it and often other things make a good meme. Susan Blackmore studies these other "irrational" things and shows many psychological (in the tradition of evolutionary psychology) characteristics we have that show how symbiotic our genes have become with our memes but also showing how memes nowadays can travel faster than ever and crossways to genes thus making the world much more open to destructory memes than ever before. This book was able to explain to me in a logical way several issues of human behaviour that previously were unexplainable and that Blackmore claimed were also unexplainable through previous theories. The book needs to be read as carefully as it is written. It is easy to make false conclusions if you are predjudiced and do not approach the topic with an open mind, but it is very difficult to find real faults with Blackmores thinking. Dawkins in his foreword does warn the reader that Blackmore takes meme theory farther that a careful scientist would do but the parts where she speculates are separable from the more grounded work and I enjoyed the speculations also, they had the ring of truth at least partially and they touched important issues like the evolution of our consciousness, why we favour popstars as sexual objects, why religions are so sticky etc.

This book offers some amazing insight to our behaviour. It makes you understand why people are so eager to pass on their opinions, habits and religions. I started to feel like a meme machine myself after reading the book!

A radical analysis of the competition between replicators - genes and memes. Blackmore makes a compelling a case that memes have often triumphed over genes for control of physical evolution. Intellectually challenging, weak existential end.

Great book, and a wonderful attempt at placing the meme squarely into the realm of real science. It absolutely makes you think in ways you're not used to thinking, and you won't be the same again.

I am much impressed. This book contains brilliant insigts and a truly intriguing concept about the evolution of human beings and human culture. I don't follow the author into all of her conclusions though. Especially her ideas of religion seems rather superficial - leave out a lot I have come to find important to take into account, but here is not the place to discuss this in detail. Alltogether absolutely worthwhile reading and not easy to integrate. If this concept turns out to be a substantial - and I suppose it will - it will have enourmous implications for our worldview.

A splendid interpretation of the memetic view with a new and interesting link to neurophysiology and psychology.

Si te atreves a cambiar tu percepción de la realidad, entonces debes leer este libro. Excelente ensayo de Susan Blackmore.

This is a well-written and very readable book of commendable structure, outlining a good case for the power of memes; and comparing its relation with genes.

I would however like to say that while some areas may indeed see a larger memetic influence as opposed to genetic influence, I do think that Blackmore does discount the effects of genes in equipping us with the tools to create the memes in the first place given that memes - as ideas which are imitated - consist physically of the signaling across chemical synapses which have an effect on our behaviour (although this is of course disputable). Nevertheless, some of her ideas do show successful application to areas such as religion, altruism and our need to communicate.

I also find her final conclusion that we should try to let go of ourselves and let “the decisions make themselves” a little dubious. While that may be the moral implication of the proposal that the self is a constructed entity (which I do indeed think is a credible idea), I don’t think that it is completely necessary to act accordingly.

Assuming that we are organisms who have no real purpose other than to act as vectors for replicators such as genes and memes, ideally we should try to take advantage of the fact that we are ‘alive’ and enjoy being alive. Where personal gratification results in thinking that we are defying the memes, I would argue that it is up to the individual to act on his/her personal interests, as the effects would be mostly confined to the individual concerned. One’s idea of personal gratification may indeed vary between experiencing life with “conscious thought” or without it. Of course, living in the present as opposed to worrying ceaselessly about the past or future may be preferable when the costs of such preoccupation outweigh any benefit obtained from learning about past mistakes and planning possible outcomes; however I believe that this is not the main point which Blackmore puts forth for her argument.

However even if we are free of memes, we will not be free of the effects of genes as our cells are inevitably influenced by them; and hence it is impossible to apply this philosophy in order to nobly defy the idea that we are vectors of replicators.

Possibly the most informative book which explains why I remember things. Take the scientific part out, it's an incredibly fast read, academic and chomps through life's questions, not answers, but some explanation. I bought 5 to give to friends.

This is the tome of popular memetics, and it's clear and solid introduction to the concept of memes and memetics. If you really want to know what memes actually are with regard to the idea of communications and culture, this is the best starting point for you.