richard_dawkins_-_the_god_delusion
T H E ROOTS OF RELIGION 193the problem is illusory. Think of a master carpenter, or a prehistoricflint-knapper, demonstrating a particular skill to a youngapprentice. If the apprentice faithfully reproduced every handmovement of the master, you would indeed expect to see the mememutate out of all recognition in a few 'generations' ofmaster/apprentice transmission. But of course the apprentice doesnot faithfully reproduce every hand movement. It would be ridiculousto do so. Instead, he notes the goal that the master is trying toachieve, and imitates that. Drive in the nail until the head is flush,using as many hammer blows as it takes, which may not be thesame number as the master used. It is such rules that can passunmutated down an indefinite number of imitation 'generations';no matter that the details of their execution may vary fromindividual to individual, and from case to case. Stitches in knitting,knots in ropes or fishing nets, origami folding patterns, useful tricksin carpentry or pottery: all can be reduced to discrete elements thatreally do have the opportunity to pass down an indefinite numberof imitation generations without alteration. The details maywander idiosyncratically, but the essence passes down unmutated,and that is all that is needed for the analogy of memes with genesto work.In my foreword to Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine Ideveloped the example of an origami procedure for making a modelChinese junk. It is quite a complicated recipe, involving thirty-twofolding (or similar) operations. The end result (the Chinese junkitself) is a pleasing object, as are at least three intermediate stagesin the 'embryology', namely the 'catamaran', the 'box with twolids' and the 'picture frame'. The whole performance does indeedremind me of the foldings and invaginations that the membranes ofan embryo undergo as it morphs itself from blastula to gastrula toneurula. I learned to make the Chinese junk as a boy from myfather who, at about the same age, had acquired the skill at hisboarding school. A craze for making Chinese junks, initiated by theschool matron, had spread through the school in his time like ameasles epidemic, then died away, also like a measles epidemic.Twenty-six years later, when that matron was long gone, I went tothe same school. I reintroduced the craze and it again spread, likeanother measles epidemic, and then again died away. The fact that
194 T H E GOD D K I, U S 1 O Nsuch a teachable skill can spread like an epidemic tells us somethingimportant about the high fidelity of memetic transmission. We maybe sure that the junks made by my father's generation of schoolboysin the 1920s were in no general respect different from those madeby my generation in the 1950s.We could investigate the phenomenon more systematically bythe following experiment: a variant of the childhood game ofChinese Whispers (American children call it Telephone). Take twohundred people who have never made a Chinese junk before, andline them up in twenty teams of ten people each. Gather the headsof the twenty teams around a table and teach them, by demonstration,how to make a Chinese junk. Now send each one off tofind the second person in his own team, and teach that personalone, again by demonstration, to make a Chinese junk. Eachsecond 'generation' person then teaches the third person in her ownteam, and so on until the tenth member of every team has beenreached. Keep all the junks made along the way, and label them bytheir team and 'generation' number for subsequent inspection.I haven't done the experiment yet (I'd like to), but I have a strongprediction of what the result will be. My prediction is that not allof the twenty teams will succeed in passing the skill intact down theline to their tenth members, but that a significant number of themwill. In some of the teams there will be mistakes: perhaps a weaklink in the chain will forget some vital step in the procedure, andeveryone downstream of the mistake will then obviously fail.Perhaps team 4 gets as far as the 'catamaran' but falters thereafter.Perhaps the eighth member of team 13 produces a 'mutant' somewherebetween the 'box with two lids' and the 'picture frame' andthe ninth and tenth members of his team then copy the mutatedversion.Now, of those teams in which the skill is transferred successfully tothe tenth generation, I make a further prediction. If you rank the junksin order of 'generation' you will not see a systematic deterioration ofquality with generation number. If, on the other hand, you were to runan experiment identical in all respects except that the skill transferredwas not origami but copying a drawing of a junk, there woulddefinitely be a systematic deterioration in the accuracy with which thegeneration 1 pattern 'survived' to generation 10.
- Page 142 and 143: W 11 Y '1 11 !•; R I. A I VI () S
- Page 144 and 145: !' R I ALMOST l' I U '[ A I \ I Y i
- Page 146 and 147: W H Y T H !• R E A I. M O S "I" C
- Page 148 and 149: extravagant God hypothesis and the
- Page 150 and 151: W H Y T H K R K A L VI O S I C E R
- Page 152 and 153: W H Y T H H R B A L M O S T C E R T
- Page 154 and 155: WHY T H E R K A L. M O S T C R R T
- Page 156 and 157: W H V T H t R t A I M O S T C E R T
- Page 158 and 159: WHY THERE ALMOST CERTAINLY IS NO GO
- Page 160 and 161: W H Y T H E R i ; A L M O S T C E R
- Page 162 and 163: T H E R O O T S OF R K 1. i G I ()
- Page 164 and 165: THE ROOTS OF RELIGION 165themselves
- Page 166 and 167: THE ROOTS ()1 ; R fc L I G I O N 16
- Page 168 and 169: T H 1-; R O O T S O F R E I 1 C 1 O
- Page 170 and 171: T H E R O O T S OF R E L I G I O N
- Page 172 and 173: T H I', R O () T S OF R K I. I G I
- Page 174 and 175: THL R O O T S OF R E L I G I O N 17
- Page 176 and 177: T H E R O O T S OF R I: I. I (i I O
- Page 178 and 179: T 11 E R O O T S O F R K L 1 (. 1 O
- Page 180 and 181: THE ROOTS OF RELIGION 181psychologi
- Page 182 and 183: THE R O O T S O F R E L I G I O N 1
- Page 184 and 185: THE R O O T S O F RELIGI O N 185boo
- Page 186 and 187: T H E ROOTS OF RELIGION 187Breakfas
- Page 188 and 189: T H E R O O T S O F R E L I G 1 0 N
- Page 190 and 191: T H E R O O T S O F R E L \ G I O N
- Page 194 and 195: T H E R O O T S O F R E L I G I O N
- Page 196 and 197: T H E R O O T S OF RELIGION 197'mem
- Page 198 and 199: T HE ROOTS OF RELIGION 199ambiguity
- Page 200 and 201: T H E R O O T S OF R E L I G I O N
- Page 202 and 203: T H E ROOTS OF RELI G I O N 203They
- Page 204 and 205: T HE R O O T S O F R E L J G 1 O N
- Page 206 and 207: T H E R O O T S O F R E L 1 G I O N
- Page 208 and 209: THE R O O T S OF M O R A L I T Y :
- Page 210 and 211: T H E R O O T S OF M O R A L ! T Y
- Page 212 and 213: T H H R O O T S O F M O R A L I T Y
- Page 214 and 215: T H K R O O "I S O ! ; M O R A M T
- Page 216 and 217: T H F , R O O T S O F M O R A L I T
- Page 218 and 219: \ I i') K A I I M : \V 1 ! \ A i d
- Page 220 and 221: R (> O I S (i I Y1 O l< A I I I "I
- Page 222 and 223: R O t ' i l s O F M d l t A I I'I'V
- Page 224 and 225: K O O I S O! M O R A I . I H : «
- Page 226 and 227: K O O I S O I V! (> R A 1 1 T Y : W
- Page 228 and 229: 1K O O I \ < ) i VI O K A I . i l >
- Page 230 and 231: HO I s o r M (.> R A ! I ! Y : \\ I
- Page 232 and 233: O O K \ \ i> 'Mil Xi I'H ,\ j / J.
- Page 234 and 235: T H E ' G O O D ' B O O K A N D T H
- Page 236 and 237: H E ' G O O D " B O O K A N D T H E
- Page 238 and 239: THE ' G O O D ' B O O K AND T H E M
- Page 240 and 241: T H E ' G O O D ' B O () K A N D T
194 T H E GOD D K I, U S 1 O N
such a teachable skill can spread like an epidemic tells us something
important about the high fidelity of memetic transmission. We may
be sure that the junks made by my father's generation of schoolboys
in the 1920s were in no general respect different from those made
by my generation in the 1950s.
We could investigate the phenomenon more systematically by
the following experiment: a variant of the childhood game of
Chinese Whispers (American children call it Telephone). Take two
hundred people who have never made a Chinese junk before, and
line them up in twenty teams of ten people each. Gather the heads
of the twenty teams around a table and teach them, by demonstration,
how to make a Chinese junk. Now send each one off to
find the second person in his own team, and teach that person
alone, again by demonstration, to make a Chinese junk. Each
second 'generation' person then teaches the third person in her own
team, and so on until the tenth member of every team has been
reached. Keep all the junks made along the way, and label them by
their team and 'generation' number for subsequent inspection.
I haven't done the experiment yet (I'd like to), but I have a strong
prediction of what the result will be. My prediction is that not all
of the twenty teams will succeed in passing the skill intact down the
line to their tenth members, but that a significant number of them
will. In some of the teams there will be mistakes: perhaps a weak
link in the chain will forget some vital step in the procedure, and
everyone downstream of the mistake will then obviously fail.
Perhaps team 4 gets as far as the 'catamaran' but falters thereafter.
Perhaps the eighth member of team 13 produces a 'mutant' somewhere
between the 'box with two lids' and the 'picture frame' and
the ninth and tenth members of his team then copy the mutated
version.
Now, of those teams in which the skill is transferred successfully to
the tenth generation, I make a further prediction. If you rank the junks
in order of 'generation' you will not see a systematic deterioration of
quality with generation number. If, on the other hand, you were to run
an experiment identical in all respects except that the skill transferred
was not origami but copying a drawing of a junk, there would
definitely be a systematic deterioration in the accuracy with which the
generation 1 pattern 'survived' to generation 10.
Change language