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Those dreaded memes: The advantage of memetics over “symbolic inheritance”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2007

Susan Blackmore
Affiliation:
Visiting Lecturer, School of Psychology, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, United Kingdom. susan.blackmore@blueyonder.co.ukhttp://www.susanblackmore.co.uk

Abstract

Jablonka & Lamb (J&L) reject “the dreaded memes,” but memetics can explain human uniqueness and culture (as a product of the ability to imitate) without depending on their slippery notion of symbolism. Modern memes show the beginnings of a division into replicators and vehicles, and the replacement of reconstructive processes with systems of blind copying, variation, and selection.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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