The topic of this lecture is “Memetics” and it explores what the domain may have to offer about understanding ourselves as cultural beings. Memetics has been defined as “the theoretical and empirical science that studies the replication, spread and evolution of memes” (Moritz). There are many who do call it a curious science, some consider it a pseudo-dogmatic science. Yet others feel that memetics is of considerable significance for understanding ourselves since it raises evolutionary models of information transfer. Many consider memes (or ideas) as external observable cultural artifacts and behaviours. For our purposes here we shall look at chapter 11 of Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene entitled “Memes: the New Replicators” to understand memetics.

[link: http://www.rubinghscience.org/memetics/dawkinsmemes.html ]