Richard Dawkins | Memes | Oxford Union
Summary
TLDRIn this lecture, the speaker explains the concept of evolution and gene replication, emphasizing that genes make near-perfect copies across generations, leading to natural selection. He introduces the concept of 'memes'—units of cultural inheritance that replicate like genes, such as tunes or ideas passed from person to person. The speaker highlights the analogy between meme replication and natural selection, despite objections regarding mutation rates. He uses examples like the game 'Chinese Whispers' to illustrate how some memes remain intact, while others change due to misunderstanding or language barriers.
Takeaways
- 🧬 Genes make exact copies of themselves through generations, which is why we explain evolution in terms of changes in gene frequencies.
- 🌍 If life exists on other planets, it would likely follow Darwinian principles with some form of replicator similar to DNA, even if it isn't DNA itself.
- 🧠 The concept of memes was introduced to show that anything capable of replicating itself, like genes, could be subject to natural selection.
- 🎶 Memes in human culture are ideas, behaviors, or styles passed from one brain to another, like whistling a tune or copying a style of dress.
- 📊 Memes, like genes, are subject to a form of natural selection where some are more likely to be copied and spread because they are more 'catchy.'
- 📖 The meme concept was initially introduced to illustrate that natural selection doesn't have to only apply to genes—it could apply to other replicators.
- 🗣️ Objections to meme theory include high mutation rates since memes are not always copied as accurately as genes.
- 📞 The 'Chinese Whispers' or 'telephone' game illustrates meme mutation, but simple, easily remembered memes can be transmitted with little or no change.
- 🗣️ Changes in accents, voice pitch, or tone when transmitting memes are usually trivial and don't significantly alter the original message.
- 🌍 Cultural transmission of ideas (memes) may vary depending on shared understanding, as seen in the example of a rhyme passed in a familiar language versus an unfamiliar one.
Q & A
What is the primary reason evolution is explained in terms of gene frequencies?
-Evolution is explained in terms of gene frequencies because genes make exact copies of themselves through generations, allowing for significant differences between successful and unsuccessful genes.
What analogy does the speaker use to explain the concept of memes?
-The speaker uses the analogy of a tune being whistled, passed from one person to another like a virus, to explain how memes spread through cultural inheritance.
How does the speaker define a meme?
-A meme is defined as a unit of cultural inheritance that behaves like a gene, being copied from one brain to another, much like the way genes are passed from generation to generation.
Why does the speaker believe that life on other planets would likely be Darwinian?
-The speaker predicts that if life exists on other planets, it would likely be Darwinian because any form of life capable of copying itself would require some equivalent of genes, allowing for natural selection.
What are some examples of memes provided by the speaker?
-Examples of memes include whistling a tune, styles of dress, accents, favorite words, pottery styles, and wood carving techniques.
What is the role of natural selection in the context of memes?
-Natural selection applies to memes in the sense that some memes, like catchy tunes or popular styles, are more likely to be copied and spread, similar to how certain genes are more successful in reproduction.
What is the main objection raised against the theory of memes?
-A major objection to the theory of memes is that the mutation rate for memes is too high compared to genes, which are copied with high accuracy, whereas memes can change or mutate more easily.
How does the speaker address the issue of meme mutation, using the example of the telephone game?
-The speaker explains that in the game of 'telephone' (or 'Chinese whispers'), mutations in the message occur, but if the message is simple and short, it can survive through multiple generations intact, just as certain memes can remain stable.
How does the speaker distinguish between trivial mutations and significant ones in the transmission of memes?
-Trivial mutations, such as changes in accent or voice pitch, do not alter the core message of a meme, whereas significant mutations, like word changes, can alter the meme and be noticeable in transmission.
What point does the speaker make by comparing memes transmitted in familiar versus unfamiliar languages?
-The speaker highlights that memes transmitted in a language familiar to the recipients (like English speakers) are more likely to survive intact, while memes in unfamiliar languages (like Bulgarian) are more likely to mutate or become garbled.
Outlines
🌍 Understanding Evolution and the Concept of Memes
This section explores how evolution is explained through changes in gene frequencies, emphasizing that only genes are copied exactly across generations. The author introduces the idea that any replicator, even beyond Earth, would behave similarly. He then explains how cultural replicators, or 'memes', function like genes in spreading ideas, songs, or skills across populations.
🧬 The Accuracy of Meme Replication and Mutation
This section discusses the differences between gene and meme replication, particularly the high mutation rate in memes. Using the game of Chinese Whispers as an analogy, the speaker explains how ideas can become garbled over time, but simple, familiar ideas may survive unchanged. The distinction between trivial changes, like accent or voice, and significant mutations is highlighted.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Genes
💡Replication
💡Memes
💡Natural selection
💡Cultural inheritance
💡Chinese Whispers
💡Mutation
💡Darwinian life
💡Catchy
💡Generations
Highlights
Genes are emphasized as they make exact copies of themselves, making them important in evolution.
The Selfish Gene book introduces the idea that anything with the property of making exact copies of itself can be a replicator.
On other planets, if life exists, it is likely to be Darwinian, with something equivalent to genes for replication.
The meme is introduced as a unit of cultural inheritance, which behaves like a gene in human culture by replicating ideas.
Memes are transferred from one brain to another, similar to genes passing through generations.
Cultural transmission can occur through examples like whistling a tune, spreading through multiple people.
Memes, like genes, are subject to natural selection, where certain ideas spread because they are more 'catchy.'
The meme concept was introduced to illustrate that natural selection does not only act at the level of genes.
Although memes aren't copied as accurately as genes, they can still spread through culture with minimal mutations.
The game 'Chinese Whispers' demonstrates how memes may mutate as they pass through individuals, but some ideas remain intact.
Small changes like accent or voice pitch during cultural transmission do not affect the core message of a meme.
Memes that survive without significant mutation are similar to well-preserved cultural ideas like language or idioms.
Cultural replication is not always perfect, especially if the language is unfamiliar, which leads to rapid mutations.
The persistence of memes depends on the simplicity and familiarity of the idea being replicated.
The test for meme accuracy is that an independent observer should not be able to detect which message came from which generation if there is no significant mutation.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Applause]
when I said that uh the reason why we
explain evolution in terms of changes in
gene frequencies I said the reason for
that was that only genes make exact
copies of themselves through generations
and therefore only
genes have a really significant
difference between the successful ones
and the unsuccessful ones now in order
to dramatize that point in the last
chapter of the first edition of The
Selfish Gene I wanted
to make the point that actually anything
which has that property that genes have
of making exact copies of themselves
anything that has that property would do
and I pointed out that uh if on some
other planet if on Mars there is life
then I put my shirt on uh the prediction
that it will be found to be darwinian
life and that there will be something
equivalent to genes there'll be
something equivalent to DNA which is
very very exactly copied not not
absolutely exactly but usually exactly
copied there'll be something equivalent
to DNA and it may well not be DNA may be
nothing like
DNA but of course we we haven't been to
to to distant planets to find other
forms of life and so I instead said
maybe there's another kind of
replicator on this
planet that potentially could be doing
the same job as DNA and that's where the
meme came from the meme is the unit of
cultural
inheritance it's anything that behaves
like a gene in human
culture uh the equivalent of uh the act
of reproduction at the genetic level
would be the act of
copying an idea from one brain to
another and I used examples like
whistling a
tune uh and the and somebody else
catches the tune almost like catching a
virus and they whistle the tune and they
walk off into the street whistling the
same tune and somebody else catches it
uh and whistles the same tune and so
potentially you can have the same tune
spreading throughout throughout the town
or if not a tune it could be a style of
dress um it could be an accent it could
be a a favorite word uh it could be um a
a a style of pottery or wood carving or
anything like that W which is copied
from one person to another you could
imagine a style of carpentry a style of
wood carving that is copied from a
master to an apprentice and then The
Apprentice becomes a master of the Next
Generation and passes on his skill to an
apprentice of the Next Generation
anything like that provided that
something is accurately
copied down generations and where I use
the word generation in a metaphorical
way you you now understand generation
could mean I whistle a tune and then you
pick it up and whistle the same tun
that's one
generation so I'm using generation in
that in that metaphorical sense wherever
you
have memes that are copied from one
brain to another you potentially have
the possibility of a kind of natural
selection now it's a big step from that
to say they're actually is natural
selection presumably if we go with the
analogy of the tunes some some tunes are
more likely to be whistled and copied
than others because they're just better
Tunes they're more catchy we we actually
use the word
catchy um so there is a kind of natural
selection that we all sort of know
about um various objections have been
raised to the theory of memes and by the
way I should add that I I only ever
proposed it in order to downplay the
gene as the only unit of natural s
section I wanted to say look you've just
read this book The Selfish Gene which is
all about genes as the level at which
natural selection acts it doesn't have
to be that way the level of natural
selection is certainly not the
individual organism nor is it the
group but it could be some other kind of
molecule on another planet or it could
be the meme on this planet um I I wasn't
intending it to be a contribution to the
theory of human culture others have
tried to make it so which is all which
is fine I'm delighted that they have I
mean Dan dennit and Susan Blackmore for
example um objections have been raised
to it like the mutation rates too high
uh the thing about genes is that they
are exceedingly accurately copied memes
are not um if if I let let's let's
imagine the game of that Americans call
telephone and we here call Chinese
Whispers where you have a line of people
and I
whisper a rhyme into the ear of the
first person who Whispers the rhyme into
the ear of the next person who Whispers
it into the next one and so on and the
the funny part of the game is that
usually the rhyme becomes completely
garbled by the time it reaches it
reaches the other
end but if the rhyme was sufficiently
short and easy to remember if it were
just something very short uh like too
many cooks spil the broth that would
probably get to the end of 20 people
without without
mutating um so we all know that it's
perfectly possible for unmutated memes
to survive but we all know it because we
all speak English we all learn an
English vocabulary and we can all repeat
what other people have said in our
native language and it doesn't matter
that some of us say in an English accent
and some in a Scottish accent and some
in an American accent some in a female
voice some in a male voice these are all
um trivial mutations and they're trivial
in exactly the sense in precisely the
sense
that they don't get copied from one end
from one generation of the game of
Chinese Whispers to the other I mean
let's persist with this exact
example I whisper into the ear of the
first person a
rhyme the this first
person Whispers the same rhyme into the
air of the next person but she does it
in a female voice but it doesn't matter
the message
survives uh the next person does it in
an Irish accent it doesn't matter the
message survives the exact words survive
and there's a perfectly good operational
test of this you take 20 people and play
Chinese
Whispers and you then make
a take a take a tape
recording of each person's
whispering and you've got 20 tapes now
20 tape
recordings and you then find an
independent Observer and you say here
are these 20 tape recordings put them in
order just listen to them and see if you
can work out which was the first
generation which the second generation
which the third and so on they won't be
able to do do it unless there's a
definite
mutation of a word changes then they'll
do it but if it's just a change of
accent a change of pitch of
voice there will be nothing there'll be
no consistent change as you go down the
generations Generation 3 and generation
17 will be indistinguishable as far as
the actual words are are concerned
now that would probably be true it's a
very simple rhyme in a language that all
the people in the line understand but if
they're English speakers and the rhyme
is a rhyme in in in
Bulgarian then what will pass down the
line will mutate very rapidly because
all that the people can possibly do is
repeat it phonetically and it'll come
out completely garbled by the time it
gets to the other end that's a bad
mean but the mere fact that it's I I I
don't think anybody will dispute that
it's obvious that uh provided that the
the rhyme is short and in in language
that everybody in the in the line
understands in in most cases or in many
cases at least it's sufficient to say in
many cases it will survive intact and
the important point is that you will not
be able to
tell the order in which those messages
were uh were
enunciated
[Music]
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