Memes

The concept of memes was first proposed by Richard Dawkins in a book called "The Selfish Gene". Dawkins, a biologist, stated that even in the actions of a living thing appear to be alcruistic... Each of its genes is still engaging in selfish behavior ーー purely as a matter of survival. He went on to define memes as a different kind of self-replicating unit. They're the genes of a culture, from fashion to chord progressions in music... even political expression. And just like normal genes, they replicated. They grow, infecting more and more people. You buy a shirt you like, and put it on; other people see you wearing it, then buy it for themselves. "The gene of culture" makes it all sound pretty lofty... Memes can also transmit worthless things, even the bad parts of a culture. Fashion's one thing, but value-related memes can put huge restraints on people's lives. Once you're aware of your own memes, you can train yourself to identify and replicate the "good" ones... And kill the bad ones.