That is hilarious. They gave Christianity the selfish-gene treatment. I’ll be embarrassed if this is a page from the book — I haven’t actually read it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene
That’s exactly what I thought of when I read the post, but don’t recall this page being in The Selfish Gene. Worth a read, though! (Better than this trope).
Edit:
Apparently from Susan Blackmore’s book, The Meme Machine.
Indeed - as a writer I find holy texts fascinating for their endurance through viral properties. It seems important for them to speak at once with ultimate authority but also a lot of vagueness to keep the messages versatile for as many situations as possible and as unfalsifiable as possible.
They are the equivalent of a radioactive meteor that lands on an unwitting planet and spreads a plague.
Not only religion. Any institution or organization, no matter what reason it was created, will immediately put continued existence and growth as their first priority.
this is why they told him
So, religious texts are basically just some kind of “mind virus”? But just not the kind one should be “woke” about?
no it’s a meme. check out memetics
That is hilarious. They gave Christianity the selfish-gene treatment. I’ll be embarrassed if this is a page from the book — I haven’t actually read it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene
Bruh why do lemmy dudes drop philosophical nukes so casually. Incremental adjustments to the trajectory of the mind one article at a time
It’s from The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore
That’s exactly what I thought of when I read the post, but don’t recall this page being in The Selfish Gene. Worth a read, though! (Better than this trope).
Edit: Apparently from Susan Blackmore’s book, The Meme Machine.
This kind of implies that this is the social engineering equivalent of worm-like malware in Cybersecurity.
That’s curious.
High replication and changeability to adapt to circumstances. From molecules to lifeforms to cultures. It’s all the same process.
or a physical virus
Indeed - as a writer I find holy texts fascinating for their endurance through viral properties. It seems important for them to speak at once with ultimate authority but also a lot of vagueness to keep the messages versatile for as many situations as possible and as unfalsifiable as possible.
They are the equivalent of a radioactive meteor that lands on an unwitting planet and spreads a plague.
What’s the name of that book?
It’s from The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore
Preach brother
Should have kept it in Latin…
Nah, should have kept the original speeches or whatever in Aramaic and never written them down.
Organized religion is a vestigial organ from more primitive eras that’s weighing humanity down.
Not only religion. Any institution or organization, no matter what reason it was created, will immediately put continued existence and growth as their first priority.
See: capitalism.
Original chain email