The terms "viral load" and "parasite load" exist, and I feel there is a significant need for corresponding memetic terminology. I proposed "meme load" in my 2011 article Meme terminology compared with gene terminology.The term "genetic load" exists and refers to mutational load - a very different concept. We can't use "memetic load" as the cultural equivalent of "parasite load" without causing a great deal of confusion.
So: "meme load" is my proposed cultural equivalent of "parasite load". It is terminology inspired by epidemiology - along with "mind virus", "meme shedding", "viral video" and "contagious idea". There's no corresponding "gene load", but at least you can say things like: "he was laboring under a heay load of memes he had picked up as a child".
Assuming that memes are bad is something that critics have ticked meme enthusiasts off for. However, that is a weak criticism of borrowing terminology from epidemiology. The evidence says that the more memes you have, the fewer children you have - at least after a point. That tendency holds especially strongly if you are female, and it isn't adaptive - there's no way that South Korean women having an average of one child is good for their DNA genes. So, more memes are bad for your genes. That's pretty much how the distinction between mutualism and parasitism is typically drawn. Memes are - on average - parasites, not mutualists.
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Hi. Memes may reduce our reproductive success, but that doesn't mean they are bad. Genes and memes both determine us, including our valuations, which is what we use to judge that something is bad. Do you agree with this? J.
ReplyDeletePretty much. "Good" and "bad" make a lot of sense with respect to the preferences of some agent (who may be hypothetical or idealized). Without reference to a particular agent, there's not really any consensus meaning, and there is certainly considerable divergence between agents - e.g. catholic, islamist and atheist might disagree considerably on what joint course of action is best.
ReplyDeleteHuman preferences are typically jointly determined by genes, memes and some individual learning. Historically, human nuclear genes have played a fairly dominant role, but that has been changing over recent centuries, as memes have been growing in power and significance - due partly to their more rapid evolution.
However, none of this affects the definition of parasitism in evolutionary biology. As I understand it, that is all about costs and benefits to host genes. It doesn't and IMO shouldn't reference preferences. Preferences can be hidden. It would be bad to have the definition of "parasitism" depending on something which is so hard to measure.
The definition from evolutionary biology also assumes the parasite is an organism, distinct from the host organism. Cultural on the other hand is constitutive of what we are. Granted, some of it is trash, and there may be too much of it, whether in our heads or elsewhere. But that's our personal or collective circumstances, not the general character of culture. J.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm not sure I understand your exact train of thought in:
ReplyDelete"Assuming that memes are bad is something that critics have ticked meme enthusiasts off for. However, that is a weak criticism of borrowing terminology from epidemiology. The evidence says that the more memes you have, the fewer children you have - at least after a point."
Maybe it's because I'm not of English mother tongue. Could you possibly rephrase just the two first sentences with different words and grammatical structures? (I understand the third one.) J.