I’m a big fan of memes. And I share more meme-junk on Facebook than my personal life. But this book, The Meme Machine, by British author Susan Blackmore*, doesn’t just talk about these fast-food memes.
Let us look at the simple process of how I share these memes: I see some short and punchy memes that make people laugh on social media and can’t help but share them on my own page, and then write a short caption, thinking my friends who see my Facebook feed would think I have a sense of humour too. (Obviously that isn’t always true.)
After picking up this book, I found that such a simple process, I originally thought to be entirely “my own” idea, in fact, comes from the perspective of this book, and it is just the result of a large number of memes in the Internet world competing with each other, constantly attracting people’s love and attention, looking for a host suitable for their own lives.
Therefore, memes that stir people’s emotions and desires are successfully transmitted by their hosts and spread to all humanity.
The author likens the spread of memes in society to the spread of genes in biology, and describes the evolution of the human mind and culture as a “collusion of genes and memes.” The detailed arguments in the book are astonishingly wide, covering almost every aspect of human civilisation.
The author says the most unique feature of humans compared with other animals is the innate ability to imitate, and memes are transmitted through imitation – reading this book, will you instantly feel what you think of as catchy brainwashing music, explosive fashion, or even a fad lifestyle, including how to become a person that friends like, are they all created with the help of memes? All these magical things were verified by the book’s meme law.
But can this affection for others be manipulated to create the most effective imitation? Yes, the author says: religion. The book also seeks to understand why religion has achieved an unprecedented victory in the long history of humanity, allowing millions of people to continue to control their behaviour with seemingly untestable notions.
The next time we jump on the bandwagon, we as meme-hosts may no longer be so sure to say, “This is just what I think.” The truth is, memes force us to do it, and the “self” is just one role that helps them replicate.
After I finished reading the book, I couldn’t help but re-examine everything around me. Did the music, food, catchphrases, styling, lifestyle, creativity, and cultural memories I feel I’m proud of really start in my head?
Or am I just a composite meme-body shaped by various memes competing to win in my mind and fulfilling their mission to be copied under the powerful power of the meme? The author in conclusion said that the “self” is actually the ultimate giant meme-body.
This book was first published back in 1999, but even interpreting the theories in the book with today’s eyes still tests the author’s foresight. I hope that every reader who picks up this book will be able to understand the powerful concept of memes through this book, and gain a wider and deeper imagination of the world.
*According to Wikipedia, Susan Blackmore is a British writer, lecturer, sceptic, broadcaster, and a visiting professor at the University of Plymouth. Her fields of research include memetics, parapsychology, consciousness, and she is best known for her book The Meme Machine. She has written or contributed to over 40 books and 60 scholarly articles and is a contributor to The Guardian newspaper.
The cover of the book “The Meme Machine”.
