Genes. Memes and Co-Evolution


	Genes. Memes and Co-Evolution

abailart

3-25-2008 12:16 PM

186 views

tags:

susan blackmore, meme/gene, replicators, culture and biology

abailart says:

whole paper at site

Add a Comment

Login to Comment. Not a member yet? Sign up

At the Olympics, Age Is Just a Number

Top 10 reasons to quit your job

The man who gave birth speaks for the firs...

Sudan Would Be Obama's Iraq; Elitest Forei...

Larry Craig & David Vitter: Can You Spell ...

Photographs and Meditations on Death

More clips from abailart

Barack Rhetoric Rocks Berlin

P-P-Pick up a Penguin

Scottish Earthquake Stuns Labour

Today's Top Clips

visit the Top Clips page

View the Top Clips from March 25, 2008

Embed This Clip In Your Site...

<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/1b6fd753-dcbf-429c-9f26-56ffd5f9294e/C30FFD99-65EF-4647-8817-ACE86A457463/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/cas01.html" href="http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/cas01.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.susanblackmore.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/cas01.html"><P class="NormalJustified">The meme is an evolutionary replicator, 
              defined as information copied from person to person by imitation. 
              I suggest that taking memes into account may provide a better understanding 
              of human evolution in the following way. Memes appeared in human 
              evolution when our ancestors became capable of imitation. From this 
              time on two replicators, memes and genes, coevolved. Successful 
              memes changed the selective environment, favouring genes for the 
              ability to copy them. I have called this process memetic drive. 
              Meme-gene coevolution produced a big brain that is especially good 
              at copying certain kinds of memes. This is an example of the more 
              general process in which a replicator and its replication machinery 
              evolve together. The human brain has been designed not just for 
              the benefit of human genes, but for the replication of memes. It 
              is a selective imitation device.</p> <P class="NormalJustified"></P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/cas01.html">Most simply 
              put, we have coevolution between replicators and their copying machinery</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/C30FFD99-65EF-4647-8817-ACE86A457463/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

Clipmarks: Home; New Clips; Top Clips; Dashboard

Popular Topics: News; Life; Science; Technology; Entertainment

Get Started: Sign Up; Install Clipping Tool; How Clipping Works; Clip-to-Blog™; ClipSearch

Tools and Resources: FAQ; ClipWeek; Top Clippers; Top Tags; Site Map

About Clipmarks: About Us; Contact; Blog; Copyright; Privacy; EULA

Search Options

Related Clips

More clips from abailart

Today's Top Clips