Transcript Perspectives on Memetics -Cultural Transmission as a

Perspectives on Memetics
-Cultural Transmission as a Darwinian Selection Process-
Aaron Lukaszewski
Lindsey Stevenson
Hutson Olsen
Dawkins Pioneered Memetics
 Memes are analogous to genes
Genes: instructions for making proteins
Memes: instructions for carrying out behavior
 3 ingredients of natural selection (the
“evolutionary algorithm”)
Variation
Inheritance
Selection
Dawkins, Continued
 Memes seem to meet all three requirements
 3 attributes of a “successful replicator”
Fidelity: copying-accuracy
Fecundity: copying frequency
Longevity: the characteristic of remaining distributed
in the population long enough for selection pressures
to act
Blackmore’s Book: The Meme
Machine

Recently, Blackmore has become an outspoken and
extreme proponent of memetic theory
Millions 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 essence
Only the most successful memes (the ones that are most
attractive to imitators) survive
Blackmore, Susan (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Imitation

Blackmore (and Dawkins) defines memes as units of
imitation
Imitation: the transmission of a meme from one brain to
another, even if only the “gist” is transmitted

Memes can be
Songs
Stories
A way of performing a specific task
– Fashioning a hand-axe
Blackmore, Susan (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Blackmore 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 longwinded explanation of perceptual biases)
The nature of the memes themselves
– The ways them combine and tag along with one another
Blackmore, Susan (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
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, Susan (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Blackmore 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
Blackmore, Susan (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Memetic Drive, continued

Imitation led to an increase in brain size because it
required three skills:
Making decisions about what to imitate
Complex transformations from one point of view to another
Production of matching bodily actions

Initially, the selection pressure was biological: the best
imitators were able to learn useful skills that facilitated
survival
Blackmore, Susan (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Memetic 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 replicate

Blackmore’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…………….
Blackmore, Susan (1999). The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Gil-White

Argues that memes lack the copying fidelity to be
considered selfish replicators
Memes 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, 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 replica
Some produce a less effective replica
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, continued
 Cumulative adaptation requires:
“Sufficient accuracy in production of descendents
such that superior variants can occasionally emerge
Sufficient 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, continued

Against Memetic Drive: “A meme cannot select for a
gene unless is
Widespread (meta-populationally) and
Stable (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, 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, 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.
Strengths
 It appears that cumulative adaptation does
happen at the cultural level (as discussed by GilWhite)
 Memetics provides an excellent metaphoric
framework for the discussion of cultural
phenomena
Weaknesses
 Memetic Drive: Blackmore, though entertaining,
is ultimately certifiable