The next topic is the idea of the two primary inheritance channels when it comes to memes in our species. • The Dual Inheritance Theory • The Shared Underlying Principles Theory Dual Inheritance is a widely speculated idea, simply because of how basic and ignoring of other factors it is. Dual Inheritance states that humans have two set ways of passing on information - the biological means of evolution and the cultural means in which memes are passed on and applied. The dynamics of a meme, the evolution of that meme and what is likely to happen to that meme in the future are all decided in the simple act of passing the meme on from creator to follower. The Shared Underlying Principles theory is much more in depth. There have been a number of efforts to identify common principles in both cultural and organic evolution. Both types of evolution exhibit the following: - Heritable Information which persists for extended periods, allowing the transmission of information (memes) down the generations. - Imperfect Copying which results in variation between the original meme and those replicating it. - Differential Reproductive Success, where some copies or variations of memes persist better than others, where some go on to be successful and some die off. The properties of inheritance, variation and selection are the basic ones required for many definitions of evolution - which cements cultural evolution as a definite type of evolution. However, memes also demonstrate cumulative adaptations, and so a meme produces constructive evolution, not merely trivial or degenerative evolution. There are however large differences between biological evolution and meme based cultural evolution, some of which are as follows: Directed Mutations In organic evolution, mutations are usually considered to be undirected and so do not automatically or systematically lead towards improvement. However, in meme based evolution mutations can be highly directed. They can be made and orchestrated using induction, deduction and a full toolbox of intelligent design principles. Lamarckian Inheritance Among organic organisms it is very rare for modifications of the phenotype to be inherited and transmitted to the next generation. However, in cultural evolution - which is still mostly Darwinian in nature - this is not uncommon. For example, if you try something new and incorporate into a meme a set theme of humour or irony that the audience enjoys, that theme may be incorporated the next time around - and as a result it is passed on. The number of differences between organic and cultural (meme) based evolution causes some people to react negatively to comparisons between them. However, many of the common principles they share are important and deep - and much of the value is lost if this common ground is neglected.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 11:26:20 +0000
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