Sunday, April 28, 2013

Response to "Memes to Genes?" by Corbin Brassard

In this post, I will be responding to Corbin Brassard's post, entitled "Memes to Genes?"
http://corbinbrassard.blogspot.com/2013/04/memes-to-genes.html?showComment=1367204638809#c265019588609016359

In his post, Corbin ponders whether memes facilitate natural selection. He asks, "Are those who don't follow memes weeded out?" Although I am also not positive what the answer is to this question, I do feel like memes can at least somewhat facilitate natural selection. I feel like there are some memes that could cause people to be "weeded out" if they do not follow them. For example, say there's a group of people living together in the same community. If every person in this group spoke a common language, except for one person, that one person would probably have a much harder time surviving. If the person cannot learn this language, and they cannot communicate with the rest of the group, they have a greater chance of dying, and therefore not passing on their genes to offspring. This would also be true if the group were in a life or death situation in which the group could not save everyone, because the group would be more likely to save the people who they can easily communicate with. Therefore, the people who do not speak the common language of the group, or do not follow the meme, die and do not pass on their genes. As previously stated, I  am in no way claiming to have the right answer to this question; however, I do believe that memes can, at least somewhat, facilitate natural selection.

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