topics: |  evolution | sociology | language | algorithm

Memes are units of cultural information or info-genes like "tunes, ideas,
catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches"
[Dawkins].  Any idea, behavior, or skill that can be transferred from one
person to another by imitation is a meme: stories, fashions, inventions,
recipes, songs, ways of plowing a field or throwing a baseball or making a
sculpture.

The book deals with questions such as how to spot a meme, the meme as an
universal replicator (of which the gene is but an example) - universal
replicators must have three attributes: high fidelity replication, high
fecundity (lots of copies) and longevity.  Today, genes may be more effective
on these aspects, but memes are in their infancy yet.

[A well-known trick meme: a couple of colluders stand in the street
pointing at some area of interest and gesticulating, soon attracting a crowd
around them.  One person's looking behaviour triggers another's.]  - AM

Quotes

The human language faculty primarily provided a selective advantage to
memes, not genes. The memes then changed the environment in which the genes
were selected, and so forced them to build better and better meme-spreading
apparatus. In other words, the function of language is to spread memes.  (p. 99).
    Just as the design of our bodies can be understood only in terms of
natural selection, so the design of our minds can be understood only in terms
of memetic selection. - p.171

Contents:
    * Foreword by Richard Dawkins
    * Preface
    * Strange creatures
    * Universal Darwinism
    * The evolution of culture
    * Taking the meme's eye view
    * Three problems with memes
    * The big brain
    * The origins of language
    * Meme-gene co-evolution
    * The limits of sociobiology
    * An orgasm saved my life
    * Sex in the modern world
    * A memetic theory of altruism
    * The altruism trick
    * Memes of the New Age
    * Religions as memeplexes
    * Into the Internet
    * The ultimate memeplex
    * Out of the meme race
    * References
    * Index

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Meme_Machine:

Some(memes):
    * Copy-the-product e.g. make a copy of the soup. This is more prone to
      error since it requires an analytic capability of the soup itself and
      then a synthetic ability to combine the recognised elements. Any
      inserted errors will be passed on in the event of this copy of a soup
      being copied.
    * Copy-the-instructions e.g. make a copy of the soup recipe. This is less
      error prone since the important elements of the soup are identified and
      the synthetic method explained. Any errors in using the recipe will not
      be passed on to future copiers since they will receive the recipe
      itself.
    * Meme Fear The fear that the idea we are vessels for memes unacceptably
      undermines the popular understanding of free will and
      autonomy. (Blackmore 8-9).
    * Memeplex Memes that are replicated together, such as religions and
      cultures. (Blackmore 19-24).
    * Memetic Theory of Altruism She proposes that meme theory explains
      altruism better than genetic. That other things being equal, more
      people will observe altruistic behavior than selfish behavior, will
      like the altruistic person better than the selfish one, and will be
      more likely to adopt the behaviors of the altruistic person than the
      selfish one. (Blackmore 154-158).