The Meme Machine

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FOREWORD xvii would see them) of individual identity and personhood, yet she comes across as the kind of individual person you would wish to know. As one reader I am grateful for the courage, dedication and skill she has put into her difficult task of memetic engineering, and I am delighted to recommend her book.
Preface This book owes its existence to an illness. In September 1995 I caught a nasty virus, and struggled to keep working until I was finally forced to give up and take to my bed. I stayed there for many months, unable to walk more than a few steps, unable to talk for more than a few minutes, unable to use my computer – in fact unable to do anything but read and think. During this time I began on my pile of ‘urgent books I must read this week’ which has long been oppressing me. One of them was Dan Dennett’s latest book Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. At about the same time one of my PhD students, Nick Rose, wrote me an essay on ‘Memes and Consciousness’. Somehow the meme meme got to me. I had read Dawkins’s The Selfish Gene many years before but, I suppose, had dismissed the idea of memes as nothing more than a bit of fun. Suddenly I realised that here was a powerful idea, capable of transforming our understanding the human mind – and I hadn’t even noticed it. I then read everything I could find on memes. Since I had to refuse all invitations to give lectures, take part in television programmes, go to conferences, or write papers, I could devote myself properly to the study of memes. Most of the ideas in this book came to me while I was lying in bed during those months, especially between January and March 1996. As I gradually got better I began to make extensive notes. Some two years after I first became ill I was well enough to work again, and decided to keep on saying no to all those invitations, and to write this book instead. I would like to thank the illness for making it possible, and my children Emily and Jolyon for not, apparently, minding that their mother was uselessly lying in bed all the time. I would like to thank my partner Adam Hart-Davis for not only looking after me when I was ill, but for encouraging my enthusiasm for memes in every way possible and for putting ‘the book’ first. Dan Dennett was one of the first to hear my ideas and I thank him for his ‘avuncular advice’. Several people helped greatly by reading earlier drafts of all or part of the book. They are Richard Dawkins, Dan Dennett, Derek Gatherer,
Page 2 and 3: The Meme Machine Susan Blackmore 19
Page 4 and 5: Foreword by Richard Dawkins As an u
Page 6 and 7: FOREWORD ix Grinning Idiot Press’
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Page 10 and 11: FOREWORD xiii visiting the school d
Page 12 and 13: FOREWORD xv about genetic selection
Page 16 and 17: xx THE MEME MACHINE Adam Hart-Davis
Page 18 and 19: 2 THE MEME MACHINE human supremacy
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Page 26 and 27: CHAPTER 2 Universal Darwinism Darwi
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48 THE MEME MACHINE learning that i
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50 THE MEME MACHINE already knew ho
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52 THE MEME MACHINE from your persp
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54 THE MEME MACHINE which is a suff
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56 THE MEME MACHINE specialised rep
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58 THE MEME MACHINE that only digit
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60 THE MEME MACHINE affect the gene
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62 THE MEME MACHINE Emily makes wil
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64 THE MEME MACHINE remembers an ac
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66 THE MEME MACHINE memes around wi
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68 THE MEME MACHINE animals, some d
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70 THE MEME MACHINE There is still
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72 THE MEME MACHINE and ability to
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74 THE MEME MACHINE An influential
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76 THE MEME MACHINE The connection
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CHAPTER 7 The origins of language W
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90 THE MEME MACHINE Brain lateralis
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92 THE MEME MACHINE increasing the
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94 THE MEME MACHINE Universal Gramm
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98 THE MEME MACHINE So how and why
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100 THE MEME MACHINE They are now d
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102 THE MEME MACHINE copying machin
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104 THE MEME MACHINE competition to
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106 THE MEME MACHINE of the terms t
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CHAPTER 9 The limits of sociobiolog
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110 THE MEME MACHINE thickness of a
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112 THE MEME MACHINE artificial int
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114 THE MEME MACHINE spread in nume
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116 THE MEME MACHINE approximation)
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118 THE MEME MACHINE is killed off
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120 THE MEME MACHINE and humans hav
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122 THE MEME MACHINE number of our
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124 THE MEME MACHINE kind of behavi
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126 THE MEME MACHINE effort in prod
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130 THE MEME MACHINE the best users
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CHAPTER 11 Sex in the modern world
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134 THE MEME MACHINE genes, and tho
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136 THE MEME MACHINE arguments depe
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138 THE MEME MACHINE Celibacy We ca
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140 THE MEME MACHINE concerned with
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142 THE MEME MACHINE changing and f
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144 THE MEME MACHINE politician int
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146 THE MEME MACHINE possible and,
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148 THE MEME MACHINE (1991) calls
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150 THE MEME MACHINE times in the h
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152 THE MEME MACHINE altruism. Acts
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154 THE MEME MACHINE for avoiding i
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156 THE MEME MACHINE true we should
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158 THE MEME MACHINE cultural relat
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160 THE MEME MACHINE he-best-imitat
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CHAPTER 13 The altruism trick In to
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164 THE MEME MACHINE behaviour and
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166 THE MEME MACHINE stamps. Many p
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168 THE MEME MACHINE help the anima
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170 THE MEME MACHINE persuades its
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172 THE MEME MACHINE do the task th
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174 THE MEME MACHINE now like Janet
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180 THE MEME MACHINE 1977). Some pe
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188 THE MEME MACHINE experiments ha
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198 THE MEME MACHINE the species’
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CHAPTER 16 Into the Internet In our
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210 THE MEME MACHINE forces. The me
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216 THE MEME MACHINE Caught in the
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218 THE MEME MACHINE the net runs,
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222 THE MEME MACHINE on the neurons
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238 THE MEME MACHINE First, by cons
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240 THE MEME MACHINE But, as we hav
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244 THE MEME MACHINE practice. One
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248 THE MEME MACHINE Psychology, (e
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250 THE MEME MACHINE Conlisk, J. (1
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252 THE MEME MACHINE Freeman, D. (1
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254 THE MEME MACHINE Lynch, A., Plu
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256 THE MEME MACHINE bottlenose dol
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258 THE MEME MACHINE Wills, C. (199
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