What The Hell Is A Meme?

[augiebd]

 

[yaddy306]

It wasn't a stupid idea that came after Darwin, it was an ideology that he actively promoted.


"With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilised men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilised societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed."

[Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871 edition), vol. I, p. 168)

But Darwin went on to say:
"...but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil. Hence we must bear without complaining the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind".

That's not promoting eugenics.

 

[canucklehead]

But Darwin went on to say:
"...but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil. Hence we must bear without complaining the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind".

That's not promoting eugenics.

Immediately following that he said "but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely the weaker and inferior members of society not marrying so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased..."

 

[3rdguy]

 

[yaddy306]

Immediately following that he said "but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely the weaker and inferior members of society not marrying so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased..."

But he didn't say it should be increased.
That was his kids. LOL.

 

[peregrinus]

It gets starts to get weird...

 

[olkofri]

It gets starts to get weird...

View attachment 20541

Satan believes in God too.

 

[olkofri]

Early 'memes':

 

[mso489]

I can see the meme as a distinct genre of comedy or even a specific art form. The interview I heard made it sound like the introduction of a new level of human consciousness. Oh brother. There was a book of photo journalism outtakes with comic captions in the 1960's called "Who's In Charge Here?" For example there was a photo of President Eisenhower and (I think it was) President Kennedy looking down with some consternation at the cushions of the couch on which they were sitting, and the caption was: "It feels like a golf ball." You might say the book went viral, in hard copy.

 

[peregrinus]

Satan believes in God too.

Job 1:6-11?

 

[3rdguy]

I love memes but I am a simpleton.

 

[alaskanpiper]

I can see the meme as a distinct genre of comedy or even a specific art form. The interview I heard made it sound like the introduction of a new level of human consciousness. Oh brother. There was a book of photo journalism outtakes with comic captions in the 1960's called "Who's In Charge Here?" For example there was a photo of President Eisenhower and (I think it was) President Kennedy looking down with some consternation at the cushions of the couch on which they were sitting, and the caption was: "It feels like a golf ball." You might say the book went viral, in hard copy.

Sounds like a straight up book of memes, haha.

 

[peregrinus]

I love memes but I am a simpleton.

Nothing wrong with this, older I get the less I know.
Things are a lot less complicated in Simple Town.

 

[rushx9]

A favorite, stolen from @alaskanpiper !

 

[alaskanpiper]

A favorite, stolen from @alaskanpiper !
View attachment 20570

Haha well I stole it from Dave, so I don’t think I have any rights to it, hahaha.

 

[verporchting]

I don’t always swing dead cats, but when I do I hit rare pipes.

 

[jaytex1969]

 

[cshubhra]

This...

The word "meme" was invented by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene (1976) to describe the way ideas evolve, replicate, and mutate. In the Internet era the idea was that memes would become bits of cultural information that would continue far into the future. The reality has turned out to be rather less grand and maybe even the opposite. Great ideas are reduced by obvious and boring memes that are totally lacking in originality.

Your use of the phrases "early form of humanoid", and "bookish old geezers" is a little funny given that Richard Dawkins is a evolutionary biologist who started publishing books 45 years ago.

 

[didimauw]

 

[peregrinus]

Ha!