Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Religion
In reply to the discussion: Do primates practice religion? [View all]napoleon_in_rags
(3,991 posts)64. Genes are information.
Genes are pure information, they can be encoded on a computer, patented, etc. Just like ideas.
but they are not dependent on the survival of individuals to stay in existence.
Ideas are dependant on the survival of individuals for their existence. The guy who came up with the "arsenic cocktail" never got to spread the word about how good it tasted, but that was for a reason. (The tequila sunrise has fared better.) An idea that's not shaping some ones behaviour has the same status as a gene/DNA sequence that exists only on a computer.
Genes are instruction sets for bio-chemical processes within the cell, memes are instruction sets for human behaviour within a culture. Genes are passed on (in the big picture) through reproduction, memes are mostly passed on through emulation, people doing what they see other people doing.
To me, they are a no brainer. For instance, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard some one say "everybody knows that (insert their political talking point)" in an attempt to influence people, I'd be rich. But why would they say "everybody knows" in an attempt to influence the listener, if the listener were not prone to emulate people others? "Everybody knows" is compelling because the listener wants to be like everybody else, because internally he knows that those things "everybody knows" are good to know. That shows reflective emulation (the means of propagation) and the instinct to embrace memes (behaviors) which have propagated far and wide. People especially want to be like successful or powerful people, and much media exists to brings us information of what they are doing.
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
65 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
OK, the title may miss the point, but the book and the review are not about humans.
cbayer
Jun 2013
#6
Evidently we don't share a common definition of the term "biological evolution"
Fumesucker
Jun 2013
#49
Purpose implies intelligence, evolution certainly has effects but it is not intelligent
Fumesucker
Jun 2013
#28
Purposeful trial and error has a lot higher success rate than does evolution
Fumesucker
Jun 2013
#34
I don't think you can identify an 'optimal state of information' for a species
muriel_volestrangler
Jun 2013
#60
What I'm refering to is units of cultural information acting as genes.
napoleon_in_rags
Jun 2013
#62
Hope you are able to find it. I am on a road trip and would like to find it on audio.
cbayer
Jun 2013
#13
Thinking about religion rationally, and religiousity being innate are not mutually exclusive.
Warren Stupidity
Jun 2013
#10