Thanks for that, Maahey.
I first heard of memes, also, when I read The Selfish Gene, way back in my Uni years - early '80s. I think the book came out in '76, didn't it?
The philosopher Daniel Dennett, in Darwin's Dangerous Idea also favours the concept and makes much use of it. In fact Dennett and Dawkins form something of a mutual admiration society - they are both also founder/supporters of the 'brights' idea (a coined word, meant to become a meme, that is supposed to represent atheists, but remove the atheist connotation, just as 'gay' has replaced 'homosexual' and a number of other terms).
Susan Blackmore's book The meme machine is well worth reading, in my opinion. It can be a bit depressing at times, because if your body is built of genes, and your mind of memes, then where's the space left for whatever it is you think of as 'you'? In the end, though, it's a heartening vision of yourself, as a tinkered together machine, home to all these replicators, that has nevertheless managed to create (even if only as an epiphenomenon), a sense of self, of being at one with the stars, and of creating its own meaning in an otherwise meaningless universe.
I'm glad that memes are finding favour, even if some view the idea with disapprobation.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
