Traits were recognized as inherited before genes were discovered. Ideas don’t change over time in a manner analogous to genes- they change in a manner analogous to traits.
The current generation of ideas consists of those ideas which were passed down from the previous generation, plus those which arose spontaneously- just like the current generation of other inheritable traits.
Ideas don’t change over time in a manner analogous to genes- they change in a manner analogous to traits.
That sounds rather dogmatic to me, I’m afraid. Ideas are associated with heritable cultural information, which many call “memes”. Similarly, DNA strands have associated heritable cultural [*] information, which some—following G. C. Williams—call “genes”. So, memes are the cultural equivalent of DNA genes—in this precise sense.
The term “meme” was coined to sound like “gene”. It was intended to be the cultural equivalent of a gene. If you are claiming otherwise, you simply aren’t using the word in the way in which it was originally intended.
You are using a different definition of ‘cultural information’ than everyone else in the world. Genes code for proteins; proteins combined with other environmental factors cause traits to be exhibited.
Genes are the underlying mechanism by which genetic traits are transferable, just as ‘memes’ (original definition) are the mechanism by which ideas and ways of thought are transferable.
However, a meme (such as ‘expected results inform present decisions’) by itself is about as meaningful as a strand of RNA without a cell. An idea (such as Bayesian Rationality), on the other hand, is comparable to a protein (e.g. procollagen), in that the memes determine how the idea is expressed.
You are using a different definition of ‘cultural information’ than everyone else in the world.
Not so. Dawkins listed “ideas” in 1976 - in his examples. Most in the area accept that ideas qualify as memes.
Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.” (Dawkins, 1976, p 192).
Traits were recognized as inherited before genes were discovered. Ideas don’t change over time in a manner analogous to genes- they change in a manner analogous to traits.
The current generation of ideas consists of those ideas which were passed down from the previous generation, plus those which arose spontaneously- just like the current generation of other inheritable traits.
That sounds rather dogmatic to me, I’m afraid. Ideas are associated with heritable cultural information, which many call “memes”. Similarly, DNA strands have associated heritable cultural [*] information, which some—following G. C. Williams—call “genes”. So, memes are the cultural equivalent of DNA genes—in this precise sense.
The term “meme” was coined to sound like “gene”. It was intended to be the cultural equivalent of a gene. If you are claiming otherwise, you simply aren’t using the word in the way in which it was originally intended.
You are using a different definition of ‘cultural information’ than everyone else in the world. Genes code for proteins; proteins combined with other environmental factors cause traits to be exhibited.
Genes are the underlying mechanism by which genetic traits are transferable, just as ‘memes’ (original definition) are the mechanism by which ideas and ways of thought are transferable.
However, a meme (such as ‘expected results inform present decisions’) by itself is about as meaningful as a strand of RNA without a cell. An idea (such as Bayesian Rationality), on the other hand, is comparable to a protein (e.g. procollagen), in that the memes determine how the idea is expressed.
Not so. Dawkins listed “ideas” in 1976 - in his examples. Most in the area accept that ideas qualify as memes.
DNA strands, on the other hand, do not contain cultural information in any serious sense, any more than adrenaline or other hormones do.
Oops! I should apologise for my writing mistake. I meant to write:
...rather than:
Obviously, cultural information is in bibles, DVDs, brains and hard disc drives—not DNA.