From Wai Wong, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
I find the argument against Dawkins’s memes – neither passed on, nor immortal – unconvincing. Genes are not immutable; mutation of genes is a tenet of evolution. The only significant difference between genes and memes is in the timescale: it usually takes many generations for a successful gene to emerge or a bad gene to be eliminated, but a popular meme can come and go in a fraction of a species’ lifetime.
However, that is not to say a gene necessarily outlives a meme. The seasonal flu is an example of genes that come and go, but memes like hunting techniques and songs of many intelligent species can be passed down for generations, and they can even perpetuate themselves by promoting genes that favour those memes. Other examples of long-lived memes include stories, games, words, gestures, recipes, conspiracy theories, use of tokens and phrases like “selfish gene”.
