The electric meme : a new theory of how we think / Robert Aunger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aunger, Robert.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social perception.

Memetics.

Thought and thinking.

Physical Description:

392 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Free Press, [2002]

Summary:

In a landmark book on human consciousness, a pioneering scientist provides a cutting-edge, new theory on "the DNA of thought."

Contents:

Chapter 1 In the Middle of a Muddle 7

Genes and Germs 13

Memes in the Muddle 22

Chapter 2 A Special Kind of Inheritance 24

What Is Culture? 28

Sociobiology 31

Evolutionary Psychology 35

Punching the Buttons on the Jukebox of Life 41

Transmission Happens 46

Cultural Selectionism 48

Who's in Charge? 58

Rescuing Memes 63

Chapter 3 Adding Rooms to Darwin's House 65

Expanding the Living Room 66

A Darwinian Universe? 70

Replicators, Interactors, and Lineages 72

The Replication Reaction 83

Chapter 4 The Replicator Zoo 93

Spongy Gray Matter 94

Survival of the Prions 99

Attack of the Binaries 102

A Day in the Life of a Comp-Virus 104

Classifying Viruses 108

Evolution Inside a Computer 113

From Floppy to Hard 120

Learning to Network 123

Accounting for History 125

Survival of the Comp-Viruses 128

Convert Thy Neighbor 133

Chapter 5 The Data on Information 136

Information Is Physical 137

The Nature of Biological Information 145

The Sticky Replicator Principle 151

The Same Influence Rule 152

At Detour's End 155

Chapter 6 Stalking the Wild Meme 159

The Quest Begins 163

Einstein's Tea Party 167

A Home for Memes? 176

Chapter 7 Memes as a State of Mind 178

Getting More Nervous with Time 178

The Plastic Brain 182

The Millisecond Meme 189

The Neuromeme Defined 193

La Meme Chose 200

Stationary Memes 202

Memes in Motion 205

Thinking in "Meme-Time" 209

Reasons for Replicating 211

How Memes Qualify as Replicators 213

Selection on Signals for Memes 217

The Meaning of Memes 221

The First and Last Meme 225

Nice Parasites 228

Why Do We Have Big Brains Anyway? 230

Chapter 8 Escape from Planet Brain 232

Mind the Gap 233

Signals as Interactors 234

Signals as Phenotypes 238

Signals as "Instigators" 240

Ecological Selection on Signals 244

The Richness of the Response 246

Never Mind the Gap 251

Rethinking Communication 255

Imitation, Schmimitation 268

Chapter 9 The Techno-Tango 276

Artifacts as Phenotypes 278

Artifacts as Interactors 281

Artifacts as Signal Templates 285

Communicative Artifacts 289

Artifacts as Replicators 294

The Machining of Culture 296

A Darwinian Duet 297

Who's in Control Now? 300

Rethinking Culture 302

Chapter 10 Rethinking Replication 311

Biology versus Culture 318

The Big Picture 320

Chapter 11 The Revolution of Memes 323

The Evolution of Memes 324

The Revelation of Memes 329.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-372) and index.

ISBN:

0743201507

OCLC:

49247304