Talk:Genes and Memes





As you add comments and suggestions, it is quite helpful if you make use of a heading such as the following:

Comment by (your name of screen name) date
Here is an example:

Comment by David Moursund 1/29/2009
Robert Sylwester is a long time professional colleague and friend of mine. For many years he has been teaching me about brain science and encouraging me in my studies of this area. I believe that all students and all teachers need to understand basic ideas about genes and memes. In brief summary, we are born with genes and genetic intelligence. Informal and formal education helps us develop memes and the "nurture" component of out intelligence.

Article by Susan Blackmore
Blackmore, Susan (7/31/09). Evolution's third replicator: Genes, memes, and now what? New Scientist. Retrieved 8/6/09: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327191.500-evolutions-third-replicator-genes-memes-and-now-what.html?page=1. Quoting from the article:


 * WE HUMANS have let loose something extraordinary on our planet - a third replicator - the consequences of which are unpredictable and possibly dangerous.


 * What do I mean by "third replicator"? The first replicator was the gene - the basis of biological evolution. The second was memes - the basis of cultural evolution. I believe that what we are now seeing, in a vast technological explosion, is the birth of a third evolutionary process. We are Earth's Pandoran species, yet we are blissfully oblivious to what we have let out of the box.


 * … There is a new kind of information: electronically processed binary information rather than memes. There is also a new kind of copying machinery: computers and servers rather than brains. But are all three critical stages carried out by that machinery?


 * … Or think of Google. It copies information, selects what it needs and puts the selections together in new variations - that's all three. The temptation is to think that since we designed search engines and other technologies for our own use they must remain subservient to us. But if a new replicator is involved we must think again. Search results go not only to screens for people to look at, but to other programs, commercial applications and even viruses - that's machines copying information to other machines without the intervention of a human brain. From there, we should expect the system to grow rapidly beyond our control and for our role in it to change. We should also expect design to appear spontaneously, and it does. Much of the content on the web is now designed automatically by machines rather than people.