Memes Susan Blackmore\'s \"Strange Creatures\"

Memes

Susan Blackmore's "Strange Creatures" posits that most of life's functions and processes can be attributed to the replication of cultural information which she calls a meme. The author believes that memes are responsible for the propagation of ideas and of virtually all learned behavior. She also believes that there are far reaching consequences to her meme theory, which calls for a reassessment of what it means to be human and of what all life actually is. Alan de Button's essay entitled "On Habit" posits that by actuating a traveling mindset (in which one views common surroundings as though he or she has not seen them before) people can actually be more productive, more happy, and more useful to themselves. The essay details the history of this mindset and finishes with the author attempting to adopt such a perspective. It can be sufficiently argued that a traveling mindset is actually a meme which can have far reaching consequences in the conception of life of earth, due to the degree of awareness which it affords people.

Essentially, Blackmore defines memes as the means of replicating virtually anything, which is then repeated by other people in a relatively endless cycle of repetition that is responsible for the production of ideas and behavior, which the following quotation demonstrates. "Everything that is passed from person to person…is a meme. This includes all the words in your vocabulary, the stories you know, the skills and habits you have picked up from others…" (37). This definition certainly applies to conception of the traveling mindset, which de Button became aware of by reading a book from Guy De Maistre on this subject. Before long, the latter was attempting to utilize this traveling mindset on his own, as the following quotation readily demonstrates. "However, following De Maistre, I tried to reverse the process of habituation, to disassociate my surroundings from the uses I had found for them until then, I forced myself to obey a particular kind of mental command: to look around me as though I had never been in this place before" (63). This quotation indicates that a meme was involved in the author's behavior, since he was imitating, or "following," De Maistre. It also demonstrates the power in this particular meme, since if society as a whole adopted it there would be a lot more complacency and less need to start conflicts for the sake of novelty, which frequently occurs.

The possibilities for using this particular meme are manifold, and have the potential to transform society for good. For instance, it can help people to connect with one another and to improve human nature, as the following quotation alludes to. "I got on a bus and…tried to connect imaginatively with other passengers. I thought of the similarities of complaints -- always selfishness, always blindness -- and…what we complain of in others, others will complain of in us" (64). The effectiveness of passing along means should not be underestimated either, a point which can be underscored by the following quotation from Blackmore. "Take the song 'Happy Birthday To You'…Those words affect you, probably quite without any conscious intention on your part, by stirring up a memory you already possess" (37). If the traveling mindset referenced by de Buton could be even half as ubiquitous as the song of Happy Birthday, the possibility of people being aware of their blindness and selfishness would be substantially increased -- to the point where that awareness could even eliminate such negative qualities.