X-Message-Number: 11948
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 10:18:45 +0100
From: (John de Rivaz)
Subject: Book Review: The Meme Machine
Book Review: The Meme Machine, by Dr Susan Blackmore
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Cryonics enthusiasts cannot understand why the idea is not obvious to
everyone, not just themselves. Robert Ettinger thought circulating a copy of
a paper to a few influential people would have companies like Frigidaire
taking up the concept. When this didn't work, publishing a book didn't have
a beneficial effect either. Theories about whether it is too expensive, too
disgusting, too intrusive, or too peculiar abound.
What follows is a review of a book that discussed memes in great detail.
This book may help to explain the place of cryonics in the collective human
consciousness. I hope that many cryonicists read it and comment on it in
Cryonet and perhaps from the discussion some useful ideas can emerge that
will strengthen the movement.
The idea of memes is not new, but The Meme Machine gives a fresh and
readable perspective to the concept, and certainly adds many new ideas. It
gets really interesting from chapter 7 onwards, but do not skip the early
chapters. The book will give you a fresh perspective on the world you live
in.
Understanding is easier if you choose the right view point. It is no more
true to say that the Earth goes round the sun as visa-versa, but if you
insist on putting the Earth at the centre then it is very difficult to
understand and have a mental model of the solar system or indeed the rest of
the universe. The theory of memes as self replicating ideas in the substrate
of human minds and co-existing with self replicating genes in the substrate
of human bodies makes it easier to understand many baffling phenomena of
life, from seemingly irrational religious beliefs through why people are
altruistic and to which pop tunes, films, and toys sales at Christmas are
the most successful.
Dr Blackmore goes on to say that physical objects (eg computers) can be
considered as physical objects which self replicate by using human labour
motivated by memes. She fails to make the connection between this and the
peculiar behaviour of shares on the stock market in companies like Intel and
Microsoft. But these sorts of links will fill the minds of readers of her
book who have expertise in other areas. (No financial professional predicted
the long term rise and rise of these shares - most booms end in bust. Once
you understand how memes affect physical objects, and couple this with an
understanding of how computers design newer and bigger computers and you can
see why these stocks really are different from food retailers, hospitality
stocks and even car and white goods manufacturers, taking the point of view
of a long term investment strategy.)
Dr Blackmore introduced a plausible theory of altruism which seemed very
logical to me, but disappointing no doubt to the "sack cloth and ashes"
brigade motivated by The Parable of the Widows Mite. Incidentally she did
have things to say about the motivation of people like Bob "give till it
hurts" Geldorff,. Mother Teresa, and Diana, Princess of Wales, that may
offend some. However any sensible person will see the comments not as
personal criticism or insults, but an honest attempt to explain the
phenomena of certain world figures in a scientific manner.
Her discussion of the subject of scientific and artistic creativity and the
cult of the inventor agrees with what I and some inventors already know
about the process of invention. [AH Reeves, the inventor of PCM, said
something similar a public lecture in 1962 about the equilibrium process (a
sort of one dimensional neural network). Invention is like seeing paintings
in a gallery - you may tell your friends that you have seen a nice painting,
but you don't pat yourself on the back for painting it. I think what he
meant is that the ideas that make up an invention exist outside individuals,
the individual credited with "making an invention" just points them out to
the rest of humanity.] But there is a world of difference between a gut
reaction and a carefully worded argument with references. Dr Blackmore gives
us this argument. Intellectual property rights enthusiasts and patent and
copyright lawyers will have cause for thought at the ideas in this book. If
shares could be bought in legal institutions, I would not regard these areas
of law as one for long term investment if Dr Blackmore's work gets
incorporated into the way our modern civilisation functions. Linux is a very
relevant phenomenum.
However in the face of these superlatives, I did feel let down by the final
two chapters when she went on to discuss the nature of self and the nature
of consciousness. She tried to cram too much into a short section - these
need further thought and work and certainly one or more whole books. She
produced a theory of self, expressed in terms of "memeplexes", and then went
on to discuss how to thwart the self and switch it off, which I must say I
found a non-sequitur. (Or maybe I totally misunderstood what she is getting
at.) You don't after all, discover a useful mechanism to describe the
behaviour of something and then immediately try to exterminate it.
Memetics is undoubtedly a useful too to understand humanity, but just
because we understand ourselves better is no sensible reason to deny
ourselves existence. It should be a tool to enable people to lead more
fulfilling lives and live in better harmony. The fact that it is yet another
scientific finding that denies the existence of a personal god is not a
reason to deny the self, by whatever means the concept of self actually
works.
But these final moans aside, I would say that if you read one science fact
book this year, chose this one - you will never see yourself or anyone else
in quite the same way again, and if you read it late at night be prepared
for some strange dreams.
To read further reviews and possibly by The Meme Machine
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0198503652/longevityreport
Rest of World:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0198503652/longevitybooksA/
--
Sincerely, John de Rivaz
Homepage: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JohndeR
Longevity Report: http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Sauna/3748/lr.htm
Fractal Report: http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/fr.htm
PCS - a Singles listing sheet for people in Cornwall
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JohndeR/pcs.htm
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