Lecture Abstracts - Japan 2005
Hokkaido (16.06), Nagoya (20.06), Kyoto (21.06), Tokyo
(22.06), Chukyo (23.06)
We humans are meme machines. So are printers,
telephones, computers and web servers. According to the theory of
memetics, all these machines were designed by memetic evolution.
Memes are habits, skills, ideas, technologies and
stories, that are copied from person to person, or from person to
artefacts. In other words, all of culture is memes. Like genes, memes
are selfish replicators; they are information that is copied with
variation and selection. This means that they evolve for their own
benefit, regardless of their effect on the humans who copy them, or on
the species, or on the planet.
I shall outline the basic theory of memetics, and its
implications for human evolution, including the origins of language,
religion, art, and our uniquely large and complex brains. Today modern
information technology is being designed by memetic evolution. The
internet and the world wide web are inevitable consequences of the
co-evolution between replicators and their replicating machinery.
What will happen now? The process is not under our
control and we cannot make accurate predictions. Nevertheless, by
understanding the processes involved we may better be able to cope
with being meme machines in a fast changing world.
The Evolution of Meme Machines. Meme EXPO
Japan 24-25.06.2005
We humans are meme machines. So are the printing
presses and telephones, and the computers and web servers that we have
built. But why are they developing so fast, and were they really
designed for our benefit? According to the theory of memetics, all
these machines were designed by memetic evolution for the sake of the
memes themselves.
Memes are habits, skills, ideas, technologies and
stories, that are copied from person to person, or from a person to
paper or silicon and back again. In other words, memes make up all of
human culture. Like genes, memes are selfish replicators. That is,
they are information that is copied with variation and selection, and
this means that a new evolutionary process is possible. As with other
evolutionary processes, memetic or cultural evolution happens for the
benefit of the replicators themselves, not for the benefit of
individual humans who copy them, nor for the benefit of the species,
nor for the benefit of the planet.
I shall outline the basic theory of memetics, and
discuss its implications for human evolution, suggesting that our
uniquely large brains and our capacity for language, religion and art,
can all be attributed to memetic evolution. Just as our own brains
were once built by memetic evolution, so is modern information
technology. It is an inevitable consequence of the co-evolution
between replicators (memes) and their replicating machinery. The
internet, the web and all its consequences are just what we should
expect of the rapidly accelerating evolution of meme machines.
The question that remains is what will happen
now. The process is not under our control and we cannot make accurate
predictions. Nevertheless, by understanding the processes involved we
may better be able to cope with living as meme machines in a fast
changing world.
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