First here are two definitions from Dictionary.com:
Meme - a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.
Gene - the basic physical unit of heredity; a linear sequence of nucleotides along a segment of DNA that provides the coded instructions for synthesis of RNA, which, when translated into protein, leads to the expression of heredity character.
Meme is a much newer entrant to the English language than gene but which has a greater impact on our lives? That's a rhetorical question but even if it wasn't, the answer would probably be the type you would expect from an economist when you try to get her to commit to one of two possible economic forecasts - IT DEPENDS!
Genes travel vertically down family trees, from great grandmother to grandfather to mother to son........and so on. There is a 'dilution of the mix' through each hereditary step; we have 50% of our father's genes and 50% of our mother's genes. So the factor of relatedness becomes less with each generation, i.e. the great grandmother is less related to the mother's son, than the mother is to her son. Genes travel vertically but not horizontally, i.e. the father passes on genes to his daughter but not to his wife. Physical similarities can be genetic - 'he's got his father's nose', 'I can see you are mother and daughter'. But what about, for example, tempers and mood swings; are they hereditary (genetic) or copied behaviour (memetic)? Let's take a look at memes.
Memes are copied behaviour and although, as the definition implies, are analogous to genes, they are not constrained to be transmitted vertically down family trees and their 'mix' need not be 'diluted' when they are passed on. On the other hand, whereas genes are accurately copied, as DNA code, memes are very often approximated. If you have a particular religious belief, for example Christianity, you were not born a Christian but probably born from Christian parents. So at an early age you picked up Christian behaviour but YOUR version of Christian behaviour. Whereas your mother's and father's genes were faithfully reproduced to define the shape of your nose, your religious belief is one that you have formed and possibly continued to evolve, starting with the parental memes and picking up many other memetic influences as your mind and body develop.
Have you ever admired someone in authority, maybe a particular teacher when you were at school? Did your admiration cause you to pick up subconsciously some of his or her mannerisms? It does happen and that is a classic example of memetic behaviour.
Now let's return to my original rhetorical question, which has a greater impact on our lives - memes or genes? I said it depends, but on what? Genes and memes are inextricably linked because living organisms create memes. Genes can only be transmitted from parent to offspring and genetic transmission from generation to generation, takes many years. By contrast, memetic transmission is extremely rapid, often in hours rather than years, because the number of individuals that an individual can transmit a meme to is unlimited. Over the past ten thousand years, there hasn't been much change in humans at the genetic level but their culture, which is memetic, has experienced rapid developments. There is an on-going debate over 'nature versus nurture' on human behaviour, which in effect is questioning whether human attributes are inherited genetically, or developed through life memetically.
I still haven't given an opinion on whether genes or memes are the dominant factor on our behaviour and I won't! I would suggest you, the reader of this blog, should look back on your life and critically examine what has influenced your behaviour, positively and negatively. If you are able to undertake that analysis, you will be analysing memes. But you will still be left wondering whether your genetic make-up rendered you more susceptible to receiving particular types of memes and I am not sure you will ever be able to solve that conundrum, so the 'nature versus nurture' debate will continue!
