The Selfish Meme A Critical Reassessment [Hardcover]

This book presents for the first time a fully developed and workable concept of cultural DNA.Kate Distin's highly readable and accessible book presents for the first time a fully developed and workable concept of cultural DNA. She argues that culture develops both through mimetic evolution and human creativity, and that memetic evolution is perfectly compatible with the view of humans as conscious and intelligent.This book should find a wide readership amongts philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and will also interest many non-academic readers.Kate Distin's highly readable and accessible book presents for the first time a fully developed and workable concept of cultural DNA. She argues that culture develops both through mimetic evolution and human creativity, and that memetic evolution is perfectly compatible with the view of humans as conscious and intelligent.This book should find a wide readership amongts philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and will also interest many non-academic readers.Culture is a unique and fascinating aspect of the human species. How did it emerge and how does it develop? Richard Dawkins has suggested that culture evolves and that memes are the cultural replicators, subject to variation and selection in the same way as genes function in the biological world. In this sense human culture is the product of a mindless evolutionary algorithm. Does this imply that we are mere meme machines and that the conscious self is an illusion? Kate Distin extends and strengthens Dawkins's theory and presents a fully developed and workable concept of cultural DNA. She argues that culture's development can be seen both as the result of memetic evolution and as the product of human creativity. Memetic evolution is therefore compatible with the view of humans as conscious and intelligent.1. Introduction; 2. The meme hypothesis; 3. Cultural DNA; 4. The replication of complex culture; 5. Variation; 6. Selection; 7. The story so far; 8. The human mil#»