Books › The meme machine
The meme machine
First published 1999 · 416 pages
A paradigm-shifting exploration that will make you question whether your thoughts are truly your own or just viral replicators using your brain as a host.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like putting on a pair of glasses that suddenly reveals the hidden matrix of human culture. It is a steady, intellectually provocative journey that takes a simple concept and stretches it to explain everything from why we gossip to why we believe in a conscious self. The prose is remarkably clear and persuasive, guiding you through complex evolutionary logic without ever feeling bogged down in academic jargon. There is a distinct thrill, mixed with a touch of existential vertigo, as you realize the implications for free will and personal identity. It is perfect for armchair philosophers and science enthusiasts who delight in having their worldview thoroughly and elegantly dismantled.
- Mood
- mind-expanding
- existential
- curious
- intellectually stimulating
- Tone
- analytical
- provocative
- accessible
- persuasive
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- the illusion of free will · cultural evolution · the nature of consciousness · the spread of ideas · human imitation
- The writing
- Clear, engaging, and rigorously logical, translating complex evolutionary concepts into highly readable arguments.
- The arc
- Begins with a curious exploration of a biological metaphor and deepens into a profound, slightly unsettling reevaluation of the self.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love having their fundamental assumptions about human nature, culture, and consciousness challenged by evolutionary biology.
Content notes
- existential dread
About the book
After Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, Susan Blackmore drive us deeply into the theory of the meme, social and cultural "replicators", trying to explain the human unique ability to imitate. Altruism, ideas, human behaviours, sex, poetry, music... seems to be simply the result of such as memetic selection...
> Even our inner conscious self and our sense of free will are illlusion created by the memes for the sake of their own replication.
Description from Open Library.
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