I don’t think that we have any memetic emotions—I could be wrong but it’s a scary thought. Memes exist in a framework determined by evolved brains; see Tooby and Cosmides’s “The Psychological Foundations of Culture”. I had thought I discussed this in the course of tracing back morals through arguments that appealed to built-in emotions.
‘Emotions’ are a qualitatively and physiologically distinct set of cognitive algorithms that can be felt particularly strongly from the inside (because they have large effects on muscle tension and homeostasis); but we can definitely build strong qualia for the subjective experience of other cognitive algorithms, especially when they draw on emotions or parts of emotions as subcomponents of themselves. Briefly querying my brain I can’t think of an obvious clear example, but there are contenders, and because human mindspace is big I don’t doubt that some people have memetic emotions (that is, cognitive algorithms with strong qualia that have physiological/homeostatic correlates, or are particularly strong despite the lack of them, that are not evolutionarily programmed but are programmed via powerful memetic transmission).
There are also ‘genetic’ emotions you might never have experienced but for memes. (The jhanas from vipassana meditation come to mind.)
‘Emotions’ are a qualitatively and physiologically distinct set of cognitive algorithms that can be felt particularly strongly from the inside (because they have large effects on muscle tension and homeostasis); but we can definitely build strong qualia for the subjective experience of other cognitive algorithms, especially when they draw on emotions or parts of emotions as subcomponents of themselves. Briefly querying my brain I can’t think of an obvious clear example, but there are contenders, and because human mindspace is big I don’t doubt that some people have memetic emotions (that is, cognitive algorithms with strong qualia that have physiological/homeostatic correlates, or are particularly strong despite the lack of them, that are not evolutionarily programmed but are programmed via powerful memetic transmission).
There are also ‘genetic’ emotions you might never have experienced but for memes. (The jhanas from vipassana meditation come to mind.)