Memes as cultural replicators:

1
Memes as cultural replicators A necessary
extension of evolutionary theory?

• The new synthesis
• The context of Darwins discovery
• Defining memes
• Competitive replicators genes and memes
• Units of selection
• The meme machine

2
The new synthesis
Why is cultural evolution and the transmission
of memes so important?
3
The new synthesis
Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when
it first works out the reason for its own
existence. If superior creatures from space ever
visit earth, the first question they will ask, in
order to assess the level of our civilization, is
have they disovered evolution yet? Living
organisms had existed on earth, without ever
knowing why, for over three thousand million
years before the truth finally dawned on one of
them. His name was Charles Darwin. (p. 1)
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York
Oxford University Press.
4
Darwins discovery and publication of the the
origin of species in 1859.

• Did the evidence already exist?
• Did Darwin find missing facts?
• Did the idea of evolution exist?
• Why was his theory so revolutionary?

Miller J. Van Loon, B. (1982). Darwin for
beginners. New York Pantheon.
5
What is the definition of a meme?

• from the Greek Mimeme
• from the French Même
• an idea, behavior, style or usage that
  spreads from person to person within a
  culture.
• an idea-meme is an entity which is
  capable of being transmitted from one brain
  to another.

Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York
Oxford University Press.
6
Blackmore, S. (2000). The power of memes.
Scientific American, 283 , 64-73.
7
Competitive replicators genes
Properties of replicators that promote high
survival value 1) longevity (length of time of
existence) 2) fecundity (speed of replication) 3)
fidelity (accuracy of replication)
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York
Oxford University Press.
8
Competitive replicators memes
Dawkins (1976) For over three thousand million
years, DNA has been the only replicator worth
talking about. But it does not necessarily hold
these monopoly rights for all time. Whenever
conditions arise in which a new kind of
replicator can make copies of itself, the new
replicator will tend to take over, and start a
new kind of evolution of their own. (p. 208)
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York
Oxford University Press.
9
Competitive replicators memes
Dawkins (1976) this new evolution will...in no
necessary sense be subservient to the old. The
old gene-selected evolution, by making brains,
provided the soup in which the first memes
arose. (p. 208) "for an understanding of the
evolution of modern man, we must begin by
throwing out the gene as the sole basis of our
ideas on evolution...Darwinism is too big a
theory to be confined to the narrow context of
the gene" (p. 205).
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York
Oxford University Press.
10
Competitive replicators memes
Do memes have the same properties of
a replicator? 1) longevity (length of time of
existence) 2) fecundity (speed of replication) 3)
fidelity (accuracy of replication)
Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York
Oxford University Press.
11
Competitive replicators compared
Are there differences between cultural and
genetical evolution? 1) mode of transmission 2)
rate of change 3) gene dependency
Bonner, J.T. (1980). The evolution of culture in
animals. New Jersey Princeton University Press.
12
What is the unit of selection?
1) individuals 2) groups 3) genes
Drickamer, L.C., Vessey, S.H. Jakob, E. (2002).
Animal behavior mechanisms, ecology,
evolution (5th ed.) New York McGraw-Hill.
13
The power of memes
Memes may offer a solution to the group selection
problem. If memes are selfish, independent
replicators, as Dawkins and Blackmore argue, then
altruism may occur for the good of the memes.
This can explain both benefits and costs to the
genes through co-evolutionary processes.

Drickamer, L.C., Vessey, S.H. Jakob, E. (2002).
Animal behavior mechanisms, ecology,
evolution (5th ed.) New York McGraw-Hill.
14
The meme machine

• Did evolution build big brains simply to imitate
  or copy information from person to person?
• If other animals can imitate, then is the
  difference between humans and other species
  quantitative or qualitative?
• Does our culture reward the manipulation of
  existing memes to create novel memes or
  associations?