The Meme Machine
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The Meme Machine
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Narrated by:
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Esther Wane
About this listen
First coined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene, a meme is any idea, behavior, or skill that can be transferred from one person to another by imitation: stories, fashions, inventions, recipes, songs, ways of plowing a field or throwing a baseball or making a sculpture.
Susan Blackmore shows that once our distant ancestors acquired the crucial ability to imitate, a second kind of natural selection began, a survival of the fittest amongst competing ideas and behaviors. Ideas and behaviors that proved most adaptive-making tools, for example, or using language - survived and flourished, replicating themselves in as many minds as possible. These memes then passed themselves on from generation to generation by helping to ensure that the genes of those who acquired them also survived and reproduced.
Applying this theory to many aspects of human life, Blackmore offers brilliant explanations for why we live in cities, why we talk so much, why we can't stop thinking, why we behave altruistically, how we choose our mates, and much more. With controversial implications for our religious beliefs, our free will, our very sense of "self", The Meme Machine offers a provocative theory everyone will soon be talking about.
©1999 Susan Blackmore; foreword copyright 1999 by Richard Dawkins (P)2019 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Meme Machine
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Kunde
- 12-05-24
Truth about who we are
If you want to understand why you and others think what you think - this is a book to go
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonhcc
- 08-02-24
Thought provoking and persuasive
A comprehensive argument for the recognition of a second replicator in addition to the gene. The meme theory explains a lot and the explanation is entertaining and challenging.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Xander
- 18-02-20
important insights
Memetics is an important concept. Having read "the selfish gene" that was already very clear to me. If you properly understand what is said in that book, the first 60% of this book will not he very new to you. otherwise it is a decent clarification.
The last 20% is very good and adds to understanding. but this book needs an update. given the way our digital world has changed in the last 20 years.
the author has now coined the term "tremes" for the technical memes and the third replicator. this book could do with an epilog explaining these concepts or (even better) a sequel.
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- George
- 08-03-20
OMG
This is the single most thought provoking book I have ever read! Mind blown! Beautifully read.
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