The Meme Machine

14 THE MEME MACHINE
questions – what are the criteria for being a replicator? Does the meme fulfil
those criteria?
Memes as replicators
For something to count as a replicator it must sustain the evolutionary algorithm
based on variation, selection and retention (or heredity). Memes certainly come
with variation – stories are rarely told exactly the same way twice, no two
buildings are absolutely identical, and every conversation is unique – and when
memes are passed on, the copying is not always perfect. As the psychologist,
Sir Frederic Bartlett (1932) showed in the l930s, a story gets a bit embellished or
details are forgotten every time it is passed on. There is memetic selection –
some memes grab the attention, are faithfully remembered and passed on to
other people, while others fail to get copied at all. Then, when memes are
passed on there is retention of some of the ideas or behaviours in that meme –
something of the original meme must be retained for us to call it imitation or
copying or learning by example. The meme therefore fits perfectly into
Dawkins’s idea of a replicator and into Dennett’s evolutionary algorithm.
Let us consider the example of a simple story. Have you heard the one about
the poodle in the microwave? An American lady, so the story goes, used to
wash her poodle and dry it in the oven. When she acquired a brand new
microwave oven, she did the same thing, bringing the poor dog to a painful and
untimely death. Then she sued the manufacturers for not providing a warning
‘Do not dry your poodle in this oven’ – and won!
This story has spread so widely that millions of people in Britain have heard
it – but they might have heard another version, like the ‘cat in the microwave’
version, or the ‘Chihuahua in the microwave’. Perhaps Americans have an
equivalent version in which the woman is from New York or Kansas City. This
is an example of an ‘urban myth’, a story that takes on a life of its own
regardless of its truth, value or importance. This story is probably untrue but
truth is not a necessary criterion for a successful meme. If a meme can spread, it
will.
Stories like this are clearly inherited – millions of people cannot have
suddenly made up the same story by chance, and the way the changes creep in
can be used to demonstrate where a story originated and how it spread. There is
clearly variation – not everyone has heard the same version even though the
basic story is recognisable. Finally, there is selection – millions of people tell