Mem
Evolution
Basiswissen
Melodien, Gedanken, Schlagworte, Kleidermoden oder die Art Töpfe und Bögen zu bauen: dem Evolutionsbiologen Richard Dawkins zufolge können Produkte der menschlichen Kultur sich wie Gene in einem Genpool verbreiten. Die Memen springen dabei zunächst durch reine Imitation von Gehirn zu Gehirn. Die Gehirne sind Dawkins zufolge dann Vehikel zur Verbreitung des Mems. Das Mem von einem Gott, so Dawkins, sei durch Mutation mehrfach unabhängig entstanden. Meme sind ein Beispiel für Analogien zwischen einer biologischen und einer darwinistisch gedeuteten kulturellen Evolution, das Mem ist dabei eine neue Art von Replikator[3][4], es gibt jedoch wesentliche Unterschiede zum Gen[5]. Als Überbegriff wurde das Zeichen im Sinne der Semiotik vorgeschlagen[7][8]. Siehe auch kulturelle Evolution ↗
Fußnoten
- [1] Das Mem im Sinne von Dawkins erster Definition: "I think that a new replicator has recently emerged on this very planet … It is still in its infancy, still drifting clumsily about in its primeval soup … of human culture. We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. ‘Mimeme’ comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like ‘gene’. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to “memory,” or to the French word même." Eine deutsche Beschreibung findet sich in: Richard Dawkins: 1976: Das egoistische Gen. Spektrum, Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg/Berlin/Oxford, 1994 (englischer Originaltitel: The Selfish Gene). ISBN 3-86025-213-5. Hier das Kapitel 11. Meme. Die neuen Replikatoren. Seite 304 ff. Siehe auch Das egoistische Gen ↗
- [2] Alistair Sutcliffe, Di Wangb: Investigating the Relative Influence of Genes and Memes in Healthcare. In: Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 15 (2) 1. 2012. DOI: 10.18564/jasss.1944
- [3] "In this article we examine the effects of the emergence of a new replicator, memes, on the evolution of a pre-existing replicator, genes." In: L. Bull, O. Holland, S. Blackmore: On meme--gene coevolution. In: Artif Life. 2000 Summer;6(3):227-35. doi: 10.1162/106454600568852. Online: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11224917/
- [4] "Memes are the smallest recognizable pieces of cultural information—the building blocks of ideas. Dawkins, who invented the term, argues that memes are independent replicators subject to mutation and natural selection closely analogous to genes. This note points out some of the consequences of this hypothesis by taking several well-known genetic phenomena and translating them into memetic language." In: John A. Ball: Memes as replicators. In: Ethology and Sociobiology. Volume 5, Issue 3. 1984. Dort die Seiten 145 bis 161. ISSN 0162-3095. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(84)90020-7.
- [5] Zum Unterschied von Memen und Genen: "Analog zum Gen als replizierte Einheit der genetischen Evolution hat der Verhaltensbiologe R. Dawkins als Einheit der kulturellen Evolution das Mem (Idee, Gedanke oder die Art und Weise, etwas zu tun, die durch Imitation weitergegeben wird) vorgeschlagen. Den Memen entspricht jedoch, anders als bei Genen, kein replizierbares Substrat wie die DNA." In: Spektrum Lexikon der Biologie. 2001. Dort der Artikel "kulturelle Evolution". Online: https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/biologie/kulturelle-evolution/37630
- [6] Das Konzept der Meme blieb im Metaphorischen: "The works of Dawkins and of some other enthusiasts had contributed to a rise in popularity of the concept of memetics (“study of memes”), but the interest to this new field started to decline quite soon. The conceptual apparatus of memetics was based on a number of quasi-biological terms, but the emerging discipline failed to go beyond those initial metaphors." In: Ivan Fomin: Memes, genes, and signs: Semiotics in the conceptual interface of evolutionary biology and memetics. Semiotica. 2019. 327–340. 10.1515/sem-2018-0016. Online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334597888_Memes_genes_and_signs_Semiotics_in_the_conceptual_interface_of_evolutionary_biology_and_memetics
- [7] Als Überbegriff für Gene und Meme wird der Begriff des Zeichens (signs) vorgeschlagen: "The concept of sign is used as the meta-lingual equivalent for both the concepts of gene and meme. In the most general understanding, sign is a thing which stands for another thing. In genetics, this translates into gene that is a section of DNA that stands for the algorithm of how a particular biomolecule is built. In memetics, the similar principle works in meme that is a thing that stands for the rules of how a particular cultural practice is performed." In: Ivan Fomin: Memes, genes, and signs: Semiotics in the conceptual interface of evolutionary biology and memetics. Semiotica. 2019. 327–340. 10.1515/sem-2018-0016. Online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334597888_Memes_genes_and_signs_Semiotics_in_the_conceptual_interface_of_evolutionary_biology_and_memetics_.pdf
- [8] Zeichen im Sinn der Semiotik als Gene: "The fundamental property of life belongs inalienably to signs, as ‘every symbol is a living thing in a very strict sense that is no mere figure of speech’ … Replicators – Dawkins’s name for genes – are, in the last analysis, but signs that construct for themselves survival machines (containers, vehicles) to assure their continued existence." In: Sebeok, Thomas Albert. 1979. The sign and its masters. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
- [9] Meme als als Substrat von Information: " memes are sign vehicles, that means they are “not some intangible essence that is passed from brain to brain,” but rather concrete things or events that represent some information." Sowie: "the concept of sign is the metalingual equivalent for both the concepts of gene and meme". In: Ivan Fomin: Memes, genes, and signs: Semiotics in the conceptual interface of evolutionary biology and memetics. Semiotica. 2019. 327–340. 10.1515/sem-2018-0016. Online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334597888_Memes_genes_and_signs_Semiotics_in_the_conceptual_interface_of_evolutionary_biology_and_memetics_.pdf
- [10] Meme als Substrat von Information: "Genes and memes are not the locus of the replication process, nor are they somehow the functional unit of information. They are replicas not replicators. They are rather more like the concretion of information bottlenecks in a system. " In Deacon, Terrence W. 1999. Editorial: Memes as signs. Semiotic Review of Books 10(3). 1–3.
- [11] Mem als Bauanleitung für kulturelle Praktiken, ein Mem ist: "a thing that stands for the rules of how a particular social and cultural practice is performed. It is crucial to point out here that the word thing in this definition of meme must be understood in the broadest meaning, including all possible modes in which various social regulations can be transmitted, including events from which particular practices can be copied." Solche können wirken dann als Gesetze (laws), Blaupausen (blueprints) oder Anweisungen (instructions). In: Ivan Fomin: Memes, genes, and signs: Semiotics in the conceptual interface of evolutionary biology and memetics. Semiotica. 2019. 327–340. 10.1515/sem-2018-0016. Online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334597888_Memes_genes_and_signs_Semiotics_in_the_conceptual_interface_of_evolutionary_biology_and_memeticss_.pdf
- [12] Drei Arten von Memen: iconic, indexical, and symbolic. Wenn ein Sporttrainer einen Sportler anleitet, können alle drei Arten von Memen in Betracht kommen: "verbal instructions (symbolic memes) are combined with demonstrations (iconic memes) and trainer’s bodily actions adjusting trainee’s movements (indexical memes)" In: In: Ivan Fomin: Memes, genes, and signs: Semiotics in the conceptual interface of evolutionary biology and memetics. Semiotica. 2019. 327–340. 10.1515/sem-2018-0016. Online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334597888_Memes_genes_and_signs_Semiotics_in_the_conceptual_interface_of_evolutionary_biology_and_memetics_.pdf