Mental hygiene
October 10, 2007
Today, I’d like to talk a little bit about ideas and how to handle, generate and select ideas. But for that, I’d like to start somewhere else: genes and evolution. Most people nowadays believe that evolution by natural selection exists, and genes are completely accepted facts. Evolution simply means that genes replicate, they do that imperfectly (some random abberation occur) and they are mixed because the genes of our parents are mixed. These random abberations are significant, because they can lead to disadvantages or advantages to the bearer of that gene. Over time, the carriers of the advantageous trait are more likely to procreate, and so slowly more and more offspring will have that trait.
But as Richard Dawkins points out, why should this principle only work for genes? Why couldn’t it work for anything else that evolves based on imperfectly self-replicating things? Why wouldn’t work for culture for instance? Culture is based on building blocks like ideas, fashions etc. In “The Selfish Gene” he proposed the term: “meme”, which is now actually empirically studied in “memetics”. A meme is nothing more or less than an idea or concept that can be replicated between us.
The very cool thing about this theory, is that you can apply a whole lot of principles of evolution to explain how ideas (memes) are transmitted. And since there are very few limits on the capacity of ideas to ‘procreate’, we get to see very viral/parasitic patterns. Please think about the implications of this! (Then, click on the More link… :-) )
So let’s look at a meme:
- Memes are transmitted through human communication (social intercourse)
- Memes are generally transmitted very imperfectly in viral patterns
- Memes are not just concepts or an analogy for genes, they are physical things (every thought we have, and thus every idea we hold creates physical connections in the brain)
- Like with genes the imperfections in replications can be beneficial or detrimental
- Memes can be active (being spreaded) or dormant (waiting to be activated by the right circumstances)
When I found out about memes I was quite skeptical (I felt it might an analogy gone awry), but when you think about it and you look at the way marketing works or how religious believes spread and mutate, it’s hard not to see the point.
But this means that, in a way, it is possible to actually be infected by unwanted means that become a part of your system (and colour or change your ideas). This sounds more scary than it is (after all, I just infected you with the meme ‘memes’, and I presume you didn’t just became terminally ill) but it does show why you might simply want to protect you from bad memes :-)
What to do?
- Avoid people who hang around with only a small group of others, with questionable memes;
- Use precautionary defenses like skepticism;
- Find challenging people;
- Apply relativism , don’t let a new meme dominate your world;
- Apply logic, discuss;
- Regularly go out of your mental comfort zone
Let’s discuss! ;-)
Sources:
Dawkins, R: 1977. The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press, Oxford UK (1989 edition)
Hale-Evans, R., (2006). Mind Performance Hacks : Tips & Tools for Overclocking Your Brain. Sebastopol: O’Reilly Media, Inc.
Image by Maulleigh on flickr
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