perspectives on memetics -cultural transmission as a darwinian selection process- aaron lukaszewski...

Perspectives on Memetics-Cultural Transmission as a Darwinian Selection Process-

Perspectives on Memetics-Cultural Transmission as a Darwinian Selection Process-

Aaron LukaszewskiLindsey Stevenson

Hutson Olsen

Dawkins Pioneered MemeticsDawkins Pioneered Memetics Memes are analogous to genes

Genes: instructions for making proteinsMemes: instructions for carrying out behavior

3 ingredients of natural selection (the “evolutionary algorithm”)

VariationInheritanceSelection

Dawkins, ContinuedDawkins, Continued

Memes seem to meet all three requirements 3 attributes of a “successful replicator”

Fidelity: copying-accuracyFecundity: copying frequencyLongevity: the characteristic of remaining distributed in the population long enough for selection pressures to act

Blackmore’s Book: The Meme MachineBlackmore’s Book: The Meme Machine Recently, Blackmore has become an outspoken and

extreme proponent of memetic theoryMillions of memes are created each day

– Memes are created by combination and variation of existing memes inside people’s brains or during transmission (this provides the variation necessary for selection to operate)

Memes hop from brain to brain (sometimes via an intermediary such as film or written word)—thus, they replicate their essenceOnly the most successful memes (the ones that are most attractive to imitators) survive

Blackmore, Susan (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

ImitationImitation Blackmore (and Dawkins) defines memes as units of

imitationImitation: the transmission of a meme from one brain to another, even if only the “gist” is transmitted

Memes can beSongsStoriesA way of performing a specific task

– Fashioning a hand-axe


Blackmore ContinuedBlackmore Continued 2 reasons why some memes succeed and others fail:

The nature of human beings as imitators and selectors– Evolved psychological mechanisms (our interpretation of her long-

winded explanation of perceptual biases)

The nature of the memes themselves– The ways them combine and tag along with one another


Blackmore:Cui Bono? (“Who Benefits?”]

Blackmore:Cui Bono? (“Who Benefits?”] Because memes vary, are inherited, and are selected for, they

are replicators which should be thought of by taking the “meme’s eye view”

Because there is enormous selection pressure, only the “best” replicators will prevail

Memes that most often occupy our incessant trains of thought will survive (may explain why the seemingly energetically wasteful business of the mind came to be)

– Why so hard to meditate? Because memes are competing for mental rehearsal? Are memes “trying” to replicate?


Blackmore in Outer Space: Memetic DriveBlackmore in Outer Space: Memetic Drive “We seem to have a brain surplus to requirements,

surplus to adaptive needs” (p.67) What selection pressure explains this?

Blackmore: “The turning point in our evolutionary history was when we began to imitate each other”This was the birth of a new replicator: the meme


Memetic Drive, continuedMemetic Drive, continued Imitation led to an increase in brain size because it required

three skills:Making decisions about what to imitateComplex transformations from one point of view to anotherProduction of matching bodily actions

Initially, the selection pressure was biological: the best imitators were able to learn useful skills that facilitated survival


Memetic Drive, continuedMemetic Drive, continued Eventually, there may have been sexual selection

pressures as well (“mate with the best imitators”) If this is the case, we are designed in our modern form to

be the hosts for memes to inhabit and replicateBlackmore’s book is called “The Meme Machine”We are the machines!!!! Blackmore may be overextending the reach of the meme; we are not alone in making this assertion…………….


Gil-WhiteGil-White Argues that memes lack the copying fidelity to be

considered selfish replicatorsMemes mutate in every act of transmission (imitation), even by the same person!!!!Meme’s eye view “does more to distort than enlighten our understanding of cultural processes” (p. 1)

Gil-White, Francisco (2004). Common Misunderstandings of memes (and genes). In S. Hurley & N Chater (Eds),

Perspectives on imitation: Form mirror neurons to memes: MIT Press.

Gil-White, continuedGil-White, continued However, memes can nonetheless be involved in a

Darwinian selection process, if the copying distribution is around an average of perfect accuracy

Some produce a more effective replicaSome produce a less effective replica



Gil-White, continuedGil-White, continued

Cumulative adaptation requires:“Sufficient accuracy in production of descendents such that superior variants can occasionally emergeSufficient accuracy such that, at the pop level (x), we can speak of meaningful, directional, change” (p. 10)

Gil-White, Francisco (2004). Common Misunderstandings of memes (and genes). In S. Hurley & N Chater (Eds), Perspectives on imitation: Form mirror neurons to memes: MIT Press.

Gil-White, continuedGil-White, continued Against Memetic Drive: “A meme cannot select for a gene

unless is Widespread (meta-populationally) andStable (inter-generationally)….

But for Blackmore, this is a catch-22, because what puts the meme in the position to select for a gene is the fact that this same gene evolved first”

Thus, it appears that culture is just one of many influential selection pressures that subserves biological evolution



Gil-White, continuedGil-White, continued

Stop Theorizing!! Do Research!!!Memetics will never find secure footing without empirical support.

Gil-White, Francisco (2004). Common Misunderstandings of memes (and genes). In S. Hurley & N Chater (Eds), Perspectives on imitation: Form mirror neurons to memes: MIT Press.

StrengthsStrengths

It appears that cumulative adaptation does happen at the cultural level (as discussed by Gil-White)

Memetics provides an excellent metaphoric framework for the discussion of cultural phenomena

WeaknessesWeaknesses

Memetic Drive: Blackmore, though entertaining, is ultimately certifiable

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