The greatest of Bachs 224 cantatas is BWV 109, Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben. Its subject the title translates as Mark 9:24, I believe, dear Lord, help my unbelief is that strange cognitive dissonance of believing something yet not believing it at the same time. Daniel Dennetts new book, From Bacteria to Bach and Back, is aimed at those who suffer from this intermittent unbelief, though not about God Dennett is, after all, one of modern philosophys most prominent atheists but about his specialist subject: evolution by natural selection.
Of course, most educated people nowadays accept Darwins great insight. But, Dennett argues in his typical avuncular style, they only do so up to a point: the point at which anyone applies it to the human mind. Even the most rational among us feel the pull of Cartesian Gravity, the force that warps our scientific intuitions whenever we get close to thinking about our own minds, drawing us towards dualism and other philosophically naive notions. Surely, so the faulty reasoning goes, there must be something special about our intellects that doesnt admit of a purely Darwinian analysis?
Dennett treats this confusion with a dose of immersion therapy, applying Darwinism universally and far more liberally than most would dare. He goes so far as to encourage scientists to talk about design in evolution despite the lack of a designer, to think about reasons even though there is no reasoner (Dennett calls these free-floating rationales), and to consider competence without comprehension: like a computer, evolution can perform tasks competently, but without any need to understand what it has done.
This uncompromising adaptationism treating no feature of life as immune to evolutionary logic leads Dennett on to his Darwinian theory of human culture. Over thousands of years, culture has moved from bottom-up to top-down; from the mindless generating and testing of multiple ideas some of which happened to be successful and were thus replicated, often uncomprehendingly, by other people to the mindful, directed design we see in art, architecture, science and music. Similar to Dennetts notion of free will, expounded in his book Freedom Evolves, culture exists on a continuum of complexity; in a strangely satisfying inversion, as culture has evolved via Darwinian processes, it has effectively de-Darwinised itself (though not completely: even the greatest designers like Bach didnt create ex nihilo, often going through immense Dennett would say evolutionary drudgery, trial and error before their masterpieces emerged).
Can culture really be unconscious? This is where memes come in. By this I dont just mean those pictures of cats and frogs on the internet although those are memes in Dennetts conception. For Dennett, a meme is essentially any piece of information that spreads from person to person: indeed, even individual words are memes, and (by analogy with genes) we can study their fitnessby seeing whether they reproduce themselves into different peoples minds (again, often without those people making any conscious effort). This might seem like mission creep: Richard Dawkinss original conception of memes included fads, chain letters and other viral phenomena, not language itself. But Dennett extends memes along another continuum, from single words all the way to the complex cultural ideas that have shaped civilisation by infesting our minds. Memes are the handholds on the climbing wall of culture, allowing us to move towards ever more purposeful, ever more conscious design.
Dennett is well aware of the scepticism that the idea of memes engenders. Indeed, he spends a chapter fending off the various criticisms that have accumulated over the decades since Dawkins suggested it. Perhaps ironically given its focus on virality, memetics has never really caught on as a science, and I rather doubt whether Dennetts case here will convince the non-believers. I found myself wondering what a would-be memeticist would do with their day. Which scientific hypotheses would they be testing? Where would they gather their data? How would they analyse it? The memes-eye-view is an intriguing perspective on cultural evolution, but the concept seems too woolly to inspire hard science (history bears out this concern: the Journal of Memetics, which had its first issue in 1997, closed down in 2005 for want of research papers).
From Bacteria to Bach and Back is one long argument, employing Darwinian logic with often counterintuitive results. Decades of developing his theory has allowed Dennett to anticipate most of the objections readers might have, and he works methodically to defuse their concerns. Those who stick with him will find the books strange inversions of reasoning beguiling and its vast scope enthralling, even if theyre less than compelled by its payoff. Ultimately, philosophical thought experiments arent enough to buttress Dennetts memetic view of life and culture: perhaps Im still suffering the ill effects of Cartesian Gravity, but a little more empirical evidence would have helped my unbelief.
Read the original here:
Do Daniel C. Dennett's memes deserve to survive? - Spectator.co.uk
- Memetics - Wikipedia - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- Mind - Wikipedia - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
- Spiral Dynamics - Wikipedia - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
- Whats in a Meme? - Richard Dawkins - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- What is a meme? What you need to know about the cultural phenomena - USA TODAY - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- The Science fiction horror story that came true and we're living in now. - Daily Kos - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- What is Memetics? | Virtusa - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Memetics | Psychology Wiki | Fandom - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Memetics. Meme means copy. Bio means two. | by Ilexa Yardley | The ... - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Memes: What are They and Why They Are Important - July 9th, 2022 [July 9th, 2022]
- Antisemitism on the rise in America: An explainer and research roundup - Journalist's Resource - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- GameStop stock split: What you need to know - finder.com.au - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea - Wikipedia - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- Francis Heylighen - Wikipedia - March 11th, 2022 [March 11th, 2022]
- Social Cohesion | Healthy People 2020 - March 11th, 2022 [March 11th, 2022]
- AMC Dips 4% Despite Strongest Earnings in 2 Years - The Tokenist - March 11th, 2022 [March 11th, 2022]
- The Rise of MemeCoins: Will They Survive 2022? - International Business Times - January 24th, 2022 [January 24th, 2022]
- The Department Of Transportation Should Leave Advertising To The Kardashians - Above the Law - December 3rd, 2021 [December 3rd, 2021]
- Power of memes - The Manila Times - November 23rd, 2021 [November 23rd, 2021]
- An Interview With The World-Famous Artist Who Created The Internet's Favourite Fake Lineup Shot - Wavelength Magazine - November 21st, 2021 [November 21st, 2021]
- Meme sounds JAYUZUMI SOUNDBOARDS - November 11th, 2021 [November 11th, 2021]
- Hideo Kojimas The Creative Gene is a heartfelt tribute to pop culture - The A.V. Club - October 17th, 2021 [October 17th, 2021]
- TikTok memetics: Gen Z is reshaping the world, and fast - Geektime - October 7th, 2021 [October 7th, 2021]
- meme | Definition, Meaning, History, & Facts | Britannica - September 12th, 2021 [September 12th, 2021]
- MINDFULNESS | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary - September 12th, 2021 [September 12th, 2021]
- Why Ethereum's Price Is Built on Firmer Ground Than Bitcoin - CoinDesk - CoinDesk - June 28th, 2021 [June 28th, 2021]
- Are Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey Working in Tandem to Spread BTC FUD? - The Tokenist - June 28th, 2021 [June 28th, 2021]
- The pandemic dividend: The other two viruses we dont think about - Deccan Herald - December 30th, 2020 [December 30th, 2020]
- Army Of Contact-Tracing Workers Being Recruited To Help Combat Coronavirus Pandemic - CBS San Francisco - May 22nd, 2020 [May 22nd, 2020]
- Controlling the Narrative? - Church Militant - February 10th, 2020 [February 10th, 2020]
- Snow Crash TV Series Adaptation is Coming to HBO Max - Epicstream - December 22nd, 2019 [December 22nd, 2019]
- 'Snow Crash' TV Series in the Works at HBO Max - /FILM - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- Book That Inspired Facebooks Chief VR Researcher And Coined Metaverse To Get HBO Series - UploadVR - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- Celebrate the Arts at Blackout Black Friday - Memphis Flyer - November 30th, 2019 [November 30th, 2019]
- The Hi-Tech Traditionalist: From Samizdat To Memetics What Is Similar And What Is Different Between Soviet And American Dissidents - Tsarizm - November 15th, 2019 [November 15th, 2019]
- Who Elected Zuckerberg Head of the Thought Police? - The Real News Network - November 4th, 2019 [November 4th, 2019]
- Memes, memes everywhere | SunStar - Sun.Star - August 22nd, 2017 [August 22nd, 2017]
- The matter with memes - The GUIDON - August 20th, 2017 [August 20th, 2017]
- Keywords nolvadex - Can you buy nolvadex over the counter - The Santa Clara - August 20th, 2017 [August 20th, 2017]
- Ajanta pharma kamagra soft tabs picture - Kamagra soft tablets - Filipino Express - August 16th, 2017 [August 16th, 2017]
- Skin care specialist school - Does cialis require a prescription in usa - Bournville Village - August 16th, 2017 [August 16th, 2017]
- Alt-Right? No, the Far Right. - Patheos (blog) - August 14th, 2017 [August 14th, 2017]
- Female viagra pills name - Buy female viagra online cheap - Bournville Village - August 9th, 2017 [August 9th, 2017]
- Red viagra - Viagra and red bull safe - Bournville Village - August 8th, 2017 [August 8th, 2017]
- The Most Influential Memes on the Internet - Fox Weekly - July 28th, 2017 [July 28th, 2017]
- The Pro-Trump Media Is Full Of Offensive Memes And Trolls, But Is It A Hate Group? - BuzzFeed News - July 26th, 2017 [July 26th, 2017]
- Lasix g6pd deficiency - Salix lasix furosemide - The Village Reporter and the Hometown Huddle - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- Dangers of drugs - Side effects of long term use of sodium valproate - The Village Reporter and the Hometown Huddle - July 15th, 2017 [July 15th, 2017]
- Internet Memes Are Changing The Way We Communicate IRL - HuffPost UK - July 14th, 2017 [July 14th, 2017]
- The Meme-ing of Life - Aitkin Independent Age - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Memefacturing dissent! Breaking down the 'science' of memes in India - Mid-Day - July 1st, 2017 [July 1st, 2017]
- Meme-Gene Coevolution - Susan Blackmore - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Editorial: Circumspect, respect - Sun.Star - June 3rd, 2017 [June 3rd, 2017]
- Harambe one year on: How the gorilla became an internet meme - The Independent - May 28th, 2017 [May 28th, 2017]
- Here's one reason why people are fighting on planes so much - New York Post - May 18th, 2017 [May 18th, 2017]
- American Arrested After Airplane Brawl in Tokyo - NEWS.com.au - May 17th, 2017 [May 17th, 2017]
- Science explained: Viral memes for Boar reading teens - The Boar - May 17th, 2017 [May 17th, 2017]
- What Are Billbugs And How Do I Get Rid Of Them? | MeMetics - May 13th, 2017 [May 13th, 2017]
- TruthHawk - Memetics, Information, Society - May 2nd, 2017 [May 2nd, 2017]
- The Skeptical Zone | "I beseech you, in the bowels of ... - April 19th, 2017 [April 19th, 2017]
- Film: Ghost in the Shell - The Yale Herald - April 17th, 2017 [April 17th, 2017]
- Can NATO Weaponize Memes? - Foreign Policy (blog) - April 13th, 2017 [April 13th, 2017]
- Memes could be the key to predicting the future | Digit.in - Digit - April 7th, 2017 [April 7th, 2017]
- Memeology: Where did memes begin? - Dailyuw - March 29th, 2017 [March 29th, 2017]
- What is a Meme? | The Daily Meme - March 23rd, 2017 [March 23rd, 2017]
- On Memetics and the Transfer of Cultural Information - Paste Magazine - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- The Meme Culture of America is Taking Over - TrendinTech - February 26th, 2017 [February 26th, 2017]
- Row erupts as East London gallery accused of showing 'alt-right' and 'racist' art - Art Newspaper - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Is America Prepared for Meme Warfare? - Motherboard - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The scientific controversy behind memes - Varsity Online - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Thagomizer and Four Other Invented Words - Big Shiny Robot! - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Cognitive science: Dennett rides again - Nature.com - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Mem Wikipedia - December 7th, 2016 [December 7th, 2016]
- Philosophy of Religion Religion and Memetics - November 23rd, 2016 [November 23rd, 2016]
- Memetics Story - November 23rd, 2016 [November 23rd, 2016]
- Applied Memetics LLC - Jobs - November 21st, 2016 [November 21st, 2016]
- Memetics - Chielens - November 16th, 2016 [November 16th, 2016]
- Meme - Wikipedia - October 19th, 2016 [October 19th, 2016]
- MeMetics - Your Trusted Online News and How-to Site - September 20th, 2016 [September 20th, 2016]
- Memetics and Infohazards Division Orientation - SCP Foundation - August 23rd, 2016 [August 23rd, 2016]