Susan Blackmore

Did memes drive brain size?

Why do we talk so much?

The limits of sociobiology

Overthrowing the Standard Social Science Model

Memetic driving works like this. Once imitation arose three new processes could begin. First, memetic selection (that is the survival of some memes at the expense of others). Second, genetic selection for the ability to imitate the new memes (the best imitators of the best imitators have higher reproductive success). Third, genetic selection for mating with the best imitators.

The first step means that new ideas and behaviour begin to spread memetically, from making tools and pots, to dancing, singing and speech. The second step means that the people who are best able to pick up the new memes have more offspring who are also able to pick up the new memes. So everyone tends more and more to imitate the successful memes. The third step means that mate choice is also driven by the memes that are prevalent at the time. The consequence of these processes operating together is that the direction taken by memetic evolution affects the direction taken by the genes. This is memetic driving.

Imagine a world full of brains, and far more memes than can possibly find homes. Which memes are more likely to find a safe home and get passed on again?

Looking like altruism

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.

Refraining from thinking is precisely the skill that is taught in meditation. In many traditions too much thinking is discouraged, and with good reason, because people frequently grasp ideas intellectually but fail to put them into practice. They may understand a difficult concept, but not shift their way of seeing the world.