The Meme Machine

18 THE MEME MACHINE
evolution” would drop from use’ (Gould 1996a, pp. 219–20), but I do not think
that it will, because culture does evolve.
Gould seems to think that because memes and genes are related by analogy
or metaphor we would somehow be doing a disservice to biological evolution by
making the comparison. Again, he has missed the point that both are replicators
but they need not work in the same way.
My own view is that the idea of memes is an example of the best use of
analogy in science. That is, a powerful mechanism in one domain is seen to
operate in a slightly different way in an entirely new domain. What begins as an
analogy ends up as a powerful new explanatory principle. In this case, the most
powerful idea in all of science – the explanation of biological diversity by the
Simple process of natural selection – becomes the explanation of mental and
cultural diversity, by the simple process of memetic selection. The overarching
theory of evolution provides a framework for both.
With Campbell’s Rule in mind we can now go on to the task of trying to
understand the evolution of memes. We may use the gene as an analogy but
must not expect too close a comparison. Instead, we must rely on the
fundamental principles of evolutionary theory to guide us in understanding just
how memes work.
Copy me!
What is special about the sentence ‘Say me!’ – or ‘Copy me!’ – or ‘Repeat
me!’?
They are simple (perhaps the simplest possible) examples of self-replicating
sentences. Their whole point is to get themselves copied. These sentences are
certainly memes – but probably not very effective ones. I doubt you will now
go around shouting ‘Say me!’ to all your friends, but there are tricks that can be
added to the simpler sentence to improve its covering potential. Hofstadter
(1985) wrote about such ‘viral sentences’ in his monthly column in the magazine
Scientific American called ‘Metamagical Themas’, and readers wrote in with
many more examples.
Take: ‘If you copy me, I’ll grant you three wishes!’ or ‘Say me or I’ll put a
curse on you!’ Neither of these is likely to be able to keep its word and few
people over the age of five are likely to fall for such simple-minded threats and
promises. Unless – Hofstadter adds – you simply tack on the phrase ‘in the
afterlife’.
In fact, it is often at about the age of five that many of us meet such sentences
for the first time. I well remember being excited when I received in the post a