::scr clue

[Alex Robinson]

> You are guilty (like pretty much everyone else who ever uses the term=20=

> meme
> of perpetuating the myth that Dawkins invented the concept and name of =
a
> meme.

No, I'm afraid you're wrong. Dawkins definitely coined the word 'meme'.=20=

He chose it because a) it sounded like gene and b) because of the french=20=

word m=EAme (circumflexes munged for some no doubt) meaning same

> In fact as Dawkins points out in "The Selfish Gene" and many
> susequent books is that the idea had been around for a while before.
> Unfortunatly I cant quite remember who did think of it.

Again, I think you're wrong. I don't believe there is a prior attempt to=20=

formulise the units of cultural transmission and I don't recall any=20
attempts by Dawkins to point any out in The Selfish Gene, The Extended=20=

Phenotype or The Blind Watchmaker (sorry I haven't read any of the later=20=

ones as, by all accounts, they're much the same book and Dawkins is by=20=

now much less Dawkins the  Scientist than Dawkins the, er, Meme). What=20=

Dawkins did go to great lengths to point out is that the selfish gene=20
was not his idea alone but actually reflected the "synthesis", basically=20=

what had at the time just become orthodox evolutionary biological=20
thought of which the big daddy was Maynard Smith (still going strong -=20=

http://www.biols.susx.ac.uk/home/John_Maynard_Smith/ )

> On the contrary, the memes described in the book are smaller still to
> closely parallel the size of genes.

Ok, this time you are right.

"Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions,=20
ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate=20
themselves in the gene pool by leading from body to body via sperm or=20
eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from=20
brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called=20
imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passes=20=

it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and=20=

his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate=20
itself, spreading from brain to brain.
Memes should be regarded as living structures, not just metaphorically=20=

but technically. When you plant a fertile meme in my mind, you literally=20=

parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's=20
propagation in just the way that a virus may parasitize the genetic=20
mechanism of a host cell. And this isn't just a way of talking -- the=20
meme for, say, 'belief in life after death' is actually realized=20
physically, millions of times over, as a structure in the nervous=20
systems of people all over the world."
from http://maxwell.lucifer.com/virus/alt.memetics/what.is.html


However the meme is itself just a meme and it no longer belongs to=20
Dawkins. It has become not only an exciting (although as yet unproven)=20=

new academic discipline but also a catchphrase for a generation which=20
depending on your point of view is either memeingfull or memeingless[0].=20=

Does the word in this instance really mean anything more than fad? Is=20
our understanding of the phenomena any deeper for using meme than it=20
would be from just skim-reading a colour supplement synopsis of=20
flimsy-but-self-tipping-point-generating "The Tipping Point"?

[0] copyright Andy McFarland