The Selfish Meme by Kate Distin
Author:Kate Distin [Distin, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2011-02-17T05:00:00+00:00
10
Early Cultural Evolution
Evolution cannot create something out of nothing, and it is time to ask where memes came from in the first place. What must the minds of our ancestors have been like, in order to account for the emergence of memetic culture, and what might the early evolution of memes have been like?
The Emergence of Genes
It will be useful to look first at the significant elements of the emergence of physical life on our planet. Before the emergence of replicators, there was physical material in abundance but no consistent or complex organisation. In addition to the plethora of simple matter, there were also various energy sources (e.g., the ultraviolet rays from the sun, or lightning).
This energy stimulated the combination of simple matter into more complex forms. The forms that persisted would, of course, be those that were stable.
There are several theories about the type of matter that was involved in this primeval combination. Here I stick with the standard “soup” hypothesis which claims that the initial material consisted of organic molecules, but in fact it is irrelevant to the gene thesis which of the options is actually true. The important element of any such theory is that the most significant occurrence was the appearance of a stable form that was also able to make copies of itself. By “stable” it is meant that a particular combination of molecules will persist, if it occurs at all. If it is unstable, then it will not last for long. The result will be that some molecules (those whose combination is stable) will appear to “attract” each other. It should be 116
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker(6868)
A Journey Through Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts (Harry Potter: A Journey Through…) by Pottermore Publishing(4719)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot(4248)
A Journey Through Divination and Astronomy by Publishing Pottermore(4245)
Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance(3851)
Origin Story: A Big History of Everything by David Christian(3470)
COSMOS by Carl Sagan(3346)
Alchemy and Alchemists by C. J. S. Thompson(3292)
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker(3269)
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness(3169)
Inferior by Angela Saini(3146)
A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) by Barbara Oakley(3102)
Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre(3091)
Origin Story by David Christian(2990)
Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design by Stephen C. Meyer(2875)
The Code Book by Simon Singh(2853)
The Elements by Theodore Gray(2851)
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking(2819)
A Journey Through Potions and Herbology (A Journey Through…) by Pottermore Publishing(2769)
