Richard Dawkins | Memes | Oxford Union

Summary

In 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

00:00

🌍 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.

05:00

🧬 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.

Keywords

💡Genes

Genes are segments of DNA that carry hereditary information, passed down from generation to generation. In the video, genes are discussed as the primary units of biological inheritance, and their accurate replication is highlighted as a key reason why evolution is often explained in terms of changes in gene frequencies.

💡Replication

Replication refers to the process by which something is exactly or nearly exactly copied. The video emphasizes that genes replicate with high fidelity, making them important for evolution. The concept is also extended to memes, which are cultural ideas or practices that replicate through imitation.

💡Memes

Memes are units of cultural inheritance, akin to genes in biology, that are passed from one person to another through imitation or communication. The video introduces memes as ideas, behaviors, or styles that spread within a culture, such as whistling a tune or adopting a fashion trend. Memes can replicate similarly to genes, but they do not always do so with the same precision.

💡Natural selection

Natural selection is the process by which certain traits become more common within a population because they provide a survival or reproductive advantage. The video draws an analogy between natural selection in biological evolution and cultural evolution, where some memes spread because they are 'catchier' or more appealing, just as some genes become more common because they confer an advantage.

💡Cultural inheritance

Cultural inheritance refers to the transmission of cultural knowledge, practices, or values from one generation to another. The video explains that memes are a form of cultural inheritance, with ideas and behaviors passed down in a manner similar to genetic inheritance, though often with more variation.

💡Chinese Whispers

Chinese Whispers is a game used to illustrate how information can become distorted as it is passed from person to person. In the video, this game is used to highlight the difference between genetic replication and meme replication, as memes are often less accurately copied and more prone to mutation or alteration.

💡Mutation

A mutation is a change or alteration in something that is being copied, such as a genetic sequence or a meme. In the video, mutations are described as relatively rare in genes due to their precise replication, but more common in memes because cultural transmission often involves variation, like in the game of Chinese Whispers.

💡Darwinian life

Darwinian life refers to a form of life that evolves through natural selection, with traits that enhance survival and reproduction becoming more common over generations. The video speculates that if life exists on other planets, it would likely follow Darwinian principles, with some form of genetic-like replicators driving evolution.

💡Catchy

The term 'catchy' is used in the video to describe memes that spread easily due to their appeal. Just as certain tunes are more likely to be remembered and whistled by others, catchy memes are more likely to be replicated and spread within a culture, highlighting a parallel to natural selection.

💡Generations

Generations, in the video, refer to the passing of information from one individual to another, not just in the biological sense but also in a cultural context. For memes, each act of replication (such as passing on a tune or idea) is considered a new generation, analogous to the way genes pass from parents to offspring.

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

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