Dangerous memes | Dan Dennett

www.ted.com Starting with the simple tale of an ant, philosopher Dan Dennett unleashes a devastating salvo of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of memes -- concepts that are literally alive.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at
www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

[@skyentistofnote]

It's 13 years later, and now more relevant than ever.

[@simonpassenger6233]

I think the channel uploaded the video 13 years ago, but in a book i’m reading this talk is mentioned and dated 2002..

[@luciomartinez4755]

@@simonpassenger6233 What's the book are you reading? Can you tell me?

[@herzglass]

I'd say relevant as ever.

[@Graylien_]

It's unfortunate that the audio for this clip was captured in a Tuberculosis ward.

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

LOL!

[@RrockCj]

i was to write a comment like that before seeing yours

[@deus_ex_machina_]

Perhaps they were coughing from the smoke of the dank kush that Dan was enjoying?

[@TrekJohnDoe]

Paul that was just great.

[@TheMacGeek]

And the video was taken on a 240p potato camera

[@fspsyco1]

that moment when the word we all make fun of/with is created by a scientist

[@Skylos]

14:13 "How can we tell the good memes from the bad memes?" Are they dank?

[@hnek]

I wish they had given him an hour! He covers so much ground so deftly and it really just gets juicy at the end. I want to talk about what the translation memetically of public health measures is. MORE, need more of the metameme from Dennett! He lays it out so perfectly, so much better than I could ever be able to.

[@extensiveme]

Beautiful talk. 'There is plenty of room for moral passion once we've got the facts...' Bob Dylan said...'Dont criticize what you cant understand'

[@s0lid_sno0ks]

Seriously, it sounds like the audience was infected with more than just memes.

[@williamedmeades4572]

They were infected with dank memes

[@RimoDanish]

now i heard it and can not unhear it

[@urbanizedpizza]

@@RimoDanish covid2020

[@KS-ie7hm]

I remember working with this gentleman on this project. I had to introduce to him what a meme was. Boy was he excited about caturday. He would just giggle and giggle.

[@Matrix-ph1fx]

m e m e *Read more*

[@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631]

U r a victim of Cultural Marxism indoctrination of the Impressionable Youth

[@swim_ad]

@@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631 nah he just did it for the lulz

[@amandadudley2983]

I really loved the correlation between memes and germs; brilliant and simple all in one. Just like parasites spread quickly and dangerously, so does toxic information; we must be conscious of what the younger generation is fed through the media and from our mouths!

[@abdul8685]

that's why religion needs to be completely dismantled and done away with. We mutilate our baby boys because some mad man in the middle of the desert 6000 years ago how didn'y know that the earth revolves around the sun said that God wanted us to do it because he made a mistake and left he foreskin a little to long. Faith is the root cause of the vast majority of the evil we see and experience. it inherently evil, we must never shut off our critical thinking and believe in nonsense for no good reason

[@jaymorgan3600]

@@abdul8685 new born mutilation is happening largely in Islam and other abrahamic religions!

[@danieljakubik3428]

Good useful analogy!

[@George4943]

We have evolved into a meme-driven species. Memes reach into our basic biology. Memes that invoke fear work. Memes that invoke anger work well too. Grief works for some. Empathy for others. All the instinctive emotions. Those feelings that make up being a human being being human.

[@andrewwalker1377]

In agree. I'd like to know when they started driving us.

[@bystrengthandguilesbs6694]

Oh no not the memes!

[@TheMagicmagic290]

George Steele don't forget about the dank memes

[@borissiebenhaar7508]

Should be mandatory viewing in every school. I love this guy.

[@felixlipski3956]

that's quite the opposite of the point of schooling

[@PotionsMaster666]

@@felixlipski3956 🤦‍♂️ how ?

[@wj3186]

I remember people coughing a lot like this before the COVID 19 pandemic forced them to be more conscious about exposure and sanitation. It was gross and I'm kinda hoping we don't go back to it with the restrictions lifted.

[@gordonkerr1]

I wish you hadn't mentioned that! Now I'm going to have to re-watch this, on mute with subtitles !!!!

[@sam5992]

The babies being born today won't care.

[@davidgray2805]

Did the audience have a joint, all that coughing? good speech..

[@Danneleet]

"Do memes excist?" stares lost into my reddit feed

[@andrewwalker1377]

Yes. Especially the meme of denial :-)

[@williamedmeades4572]

M E M E S D O N ' T E X I S T

[@thealtruistmc5020]

*exist

[@timgarrett203]

So long Dan. Your memes continue to spread. Thank you.

[@FreeMan-ej6mj]

This is the most brilliant meme I've ever heard of. I'm "intoxicated" with it, that's for sure :-)

[@sadmiral7333]

memes. the dna of the soul.

[@tenebrasolanum4215]

Religion is a myth. Free will is a joke. All memes, all passed down to the next generation.

[@FreeMan-ej6mj]

knight of equestria sir dashy -- soul is a meme, DNA is not a meme

[@lorenzomanzoni9693]

@@tenebrasolanum4215 How is free will a joke?

[@christiangasior4244]

Determinists believe that there is no such thing as true free will as we are all under the influence at all times from our genes and circumstances. Basically we just think we’re making choices when it’s just an illusion.

[@akumaking1]

RULES OF NATURE!

[@paununs8719]

That intro music is so fucking annoying.

[@AtliTobiasson]

+Pau Nuns It's a meme

[@ffnovice7]

It's an unfavorable, unnecessary, counter-productive meme.

[@grymmrhoninn1855]

ffnovice7 It's a dangerous meme

[@ffnovice7]

Grymm Rhoninn For you.

[@thBrilliantFool]

It was written and produced by no-talent wannabes.

[@Rico-Suave_]

I loved Dr. Daniel Dennett, very sad to hear about his passing, I would have loved to meet him, he was my absolute favorite, an intellectual giant, a legend, true sage, heard he was also very kind gentle person, huge loss to civilization, I will watch tons of his lectures in the next few weeks in his memory, I made a playlist of his lectures and interviews for myself to work through, listening to Dr Dennett lectures would be my idea of Heaven 15:38

[@pedalman]

This man is such a clear speaker, its is a pleasure to listen to him because I understand much of what he says first time through.........I listen again if i there is something dont understand first time.

[@abhishek-rathore]

as always! he is great at whatever he shares with us.

[@Sheilaalien]

Harambe was killed for being a dangerous meme

[@KillerKabel]

Sheilaaliens they tried to kill the meme and look what happened, it only grew stronger, just like arguing with religious people make their faith grow

[@Sheilaalien]

Like a super virus that grows resistant and multiplies :o

[@gicalinas]

oi

[@schlomoofenstein480]

Sheila Allen it all makes sense now

[@bigdude8468]

You think that saving a small child's life is a dangerous meme? Really???

[@JohnnyZenith]

Can never get bored of this man.

[@zsolttamas7622]

This video is important for all of us. The most important. A lot of question that beggin "why", solved with that.

[@Monkeyabroad]

I knew this video would be a breeding ground for religious debate.

[@quandaledingle4524]

wow you have a lot of subs

[@AaronMk91]

Memes are an amazing thing. And it kind of makes me sad now that I've come to learn of the scientific concept of memes when someone uses the term "meme" on the internet incorrectly. To many users now memes aren't ideas, they're the jokes and viral videos that spread so well on the internet. Although it's correct to say many of these "viral" concepts are memes, they are not the soul definition or representation of a larger idea, a larger "meme".

[@bernlin2000]

Likely one of the most thoughtful, intelligent thinkers we have today.

[@marshymarshington6043]

Ahhh, I love searching random words and looking at the first video about it

[@RichLuciano1]

We would like the thank Dr. Dennett for coming to the COVID-19 ward to teach us on how memes are infectious.

[@Necrikus]

It sounds like memes aren't the only virus being spread if all that coughing is any indication.

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

LOL!

[@bobdeni244]

LOL! In another video about memes, Dan talks about the cold virus :D

[@urbanizedpizza]

uh rip

[@urbanizedpizza]

@@bobdeni244 wat abut corona virus

[@retrovirus61]

I would die for the idea that no one should die for an idea.

[@GuillaumeLeclerc]

Damn! Everytime he blows my mind

[@windows95ism]

Memes ruined my life.

[@GameSlayer1001]

+windows95ism memes saved my life

[@VOLightPortal]

the intro music ruined my life

[@JDines]

If you get your knowledge of the term "memes" from Facebook you will not understand this, because pictures with funny captions are not actually memes. The wrong idea that these are memes, however, is ironically an actual meme.

[@seetheanimal5867]

@@CharlieParkerr the fact u ask means u too stupid to understand the answer

[@meo8258]

@@seetheanimal5867 the fact that you said that means you are too stupid to answer it

[@seetheanimal5867]

@@meo8258 no idiot. The framing of the question shows the frame of the mind.

[@MeekyMikey]

Finally some words of reason and clarity :)

[@Onoma314]

Great talk from Mr Dennet. Memes, in effect, use minds to survive and propagate. Maybe we only exist for the self-preservation of information/ideas. You have to wonder how something like war, which we can't seem to escape from by evolving, but yet evolves in the very way we wage it, ..why it stays with us.

[@zCuzzy]

Ted talks just got a lot more dank with these memes.

[@AmariFukui]

I find the good memes take a lot more practice, funny thing is its always easier to ruin things than it is to fix them :P

[@gulllars]

Such a great talk

[@TX77002]

I guess the summary to this is: don't hate help manipulate.. not only are you helping yourself but others too which makes you have a sense of faith if you are doing it for a better tomorrow.. thats my thought!

[@lemonfryer]

There are only dank and non-dank memes. There is not inbewtween.

[@asyncdef2413]

+john mcintosh youve heard the dank meme overseer. his word is true

[@havingicecream]

I would argue on behalf of a dankness-scale

[@lukeskywalker3664]

You Yoda?

[@ericmoulot9148]

Interesting analogy between the meme and the virus... I want to hear more of this theory before I can maybe integrate it into my set of values.

[@PaulSmith-wz2xv]

This is a very important talk and needs to be shared and translated into all human languages. Lchaim

[@GenX52]

the TED intros reminds me of, old vhs videos when they did a sound test at the begining of every movie that was realeased

[@nicholasdedless4881]

Its an interesting hypothesis but there is a big difference between genes and memes. We have a rigorous definition of what a gene is and we have mathematical formulas (e.g., rB > C for kin selection) that describe why organisms can sometimes behave in ways that seem to be or are contrary to their potential reproductive success. We have none of that for memes. Dennet and other meme advocates admit as much in their books on the topic. In The Meme Machine Susan Blackmore says that no one can define what is and isn't a meme and Dennet says the same thing in his book Darwin's Dangerous Idea. If you can't even define what are and are not examples of some concept X then X is hardly a valid scientific concept. Another way to evaluate the meme concept is to ask how much research has been inspired by it. And the answer is essentially none. The only actual experiments I'm aware of regarding memes were done by Scott Atran (documented in his paper The Trouble with Memes, its available online) and what he did was to show that memes, unlike genes, do not replicate with anywhere near the reliability required for a successful replicator. As Chomsky says on a youtube video the meme concept is an interesting metaphor but that is all it is, it doesn't seem to have much actual validity as a way to understand human cognition.

[@chapeudealuminio4866]

Today, this talk would be considered offensive...

[@williaml5223]

Why? All he's talking about are ideas. If people find criticism of those ideas personally offensive, that's their problem, and is no doing of Prof Dennett's. People have rights, ideas do not.

[@chapeudealuminio4866]

Will Lidden I agree with you.

[@ilvaniosipriano8451]

Liga do Chapéu de Alumínio ue q idioma é esse

[@chapeudealuminio4866]

Nossa, um coxinha!

[@ilvaniosipriano8451]

nossa, um portugays

[@reddragonready]

@ssVinegar The 2 quotes I posted were illustrations of that fact and, I think, particularly well phrased ones. Which is why I picked those two from the myriad of posts directed at you all conveying the same message. :)

[@miqseri]

KZbin recommendations are off the hook once again

[@varun009]

Am I the only one who's wondering why everyone's fucking coughing?!

[@SomethingCool51]

+varun009 The memes were too dank. You gotta cough to get off.

[@BuckFieri]

Great talk, but I'm glad it's not 2002, at least in terms of video/audio quality.

[@Snoopod]

Dan always manages to get longer TED talks

[@fleetywoodymac]

Thank you Dan Dennett.

[@freshdope1234]

im here for the dank memes

[@Joshloft]

maymays

[@williamedmeades4572]

Mimis

[@knarfx4732]

I’m very upset about finding this video 14 freaking years later 😂

[@ifuck3dyourmother935]

Well put.

[@warrenphillips5419]

stop coughing ffs!!!

[@randomfat32]

Dank memes!!1!1!1!

[@Renato404]

5:22 just like that?? Daniel Dennet you are a genius!

[@PaulSmith-wz2xv]

RIP Professor Dan Dennett 19 April 2024 💕

[@Chaziltasm]

dank memes.

[@HarveyJackson1967]

Only came for the Sikh meams tbh

[@eveningtsar]

@zytigon You mention Hitchens twice there, which is completely understandable: once wouldn't be enough for Hitchens! lol. Seriously though, thanks for the suggestions. "Breaking the Spell" was one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. I have read some of those authors before (mainly the "big four"), but others are new. I shall definitely check them out.

[@reddragonready]

@Vinegar. So please, DO continue to pose it! I am very much enjoying such a beautiful and definitive demonstration of your utter incapacity (on many levels) to deliver what you claim you will . :)

[@Lokisdottir1964]

Ok, I'm going to be picky and say that all that coughing from the audience is very distracting. It's like dogs barking - one person coughs and sets off a chain of others. Take a throat lozenge for reason's sake!

[@TheKornbeef]

tfw the memes aren't dank :(

[@reddragonready]

@Vinegar. Ooops sorry! I forgot about your paranoia when it comes to removed comments. Please allow me to assure you once again...merely the correction of a spelling mistake sweets. As always. :)

[@tedoymisojos]

LOL at the ending advertisement. A lot of beauty and then an ugly car.

[@kilgoretrout2878]

this boy's well ahead of the game

[@reddragonready]

@ssVinegar Actually sweets...I didn't include that one either way.. :)

[@dennervideos]

Reminds me of John Denner's connecticut guitar clinic

[@landulf88]

Superb!

[@eatingtacos000]

dennett is always interesting. good stuff.

[@milsumla]

i agree with you. this is only a theory, taking the concepts of evolution and applying them to ideas. i dont think this was meant to be a serious case, but an interesting thought to muse over. the connection is there, i think it's worth a ted video to mention the striking analogy.

[@hobgoblins6]

Funny, it seems to me that the talk was from one of the mental giants of our time. Sure his delivery is a tad bid poor but the ideas he is sharing are golden. It is such a privilege just to be able to comprehend such beautiful concepts.

[@rohitchaturvedi8662]

this is so similar to the practice of skilfull means taught in the Lotus sutra by Shakyamuni BUddha and i saw it today on Buddha Purnima... a very beautiful and prosperous BUddha Purnima to you all ! Namyo ho renge kyo

[@Psnym]

as a free state project member, i of course love this video @4:00

[@99wmac]

mind blowing down to the very last word.

[@reddragonready]

@vinegar Thanks hon, yes they are out and about and I will enjoy. Cheers! :)

[@reddragonready]

@vinegar. The reason for the human species being exceptional is the fact that they are uniquely human and exceptionally good at being human. Much more so than any other species is or has ever been. Because of this exceptionalism of the human species by human standards..human culture is the most significant thing in existence and THE biggest riddle to "crack".

[@aguaski06]

Pretty interesting watching this talk after seeing the movie Inception.

[@StephenPaulKing]

This is a brilliant advocation of the Prime Directive!

[@saleemisgod]

Pure,unrefined wisdom.

[@reddragonready]

@Vinegar. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much" Yep, definitely hit a nerve there! That's how we interpret a heated denial over here doll. ;)

[@mastertheillusion]

Well said.

[@HeyHeyHarmonicaLuke]

I'm not sure what you are referring to, the 'missing link' concept is from the late 1800's, when we didn't have any of the hominid family tree mapped out. It was about transitional form fossils, not DNA. A major issue to realize with the missing link concept is that it admits we have mapped out the family tree in enormous detail, just missing some link of particular interest. There are MANY ways we've mapped the family tree, and they all independently converge on the same results.

[@Gunnerss09]

It was such a terrible segway, but Dennett is still gold.

[@reddragonready]

@Vinegar...yes you definitely strayed into that realm because that is certainly precious...how all you know about Jung is his idea of collective consciousness and you think this is why I suggested reading his work. :) You follow that up by an even deeper foray into said realm but showing you didn't even get that since I mentioned there are many such "unifying theories" religion and psychology were mentioned as two different subjects. Aaaaw..so precious. :)

[@Mya_water]

Brilliant example!!

[@reddragonready]

@naturalpreservation LOL loving the "voodoo" comments dear. Says so much both about your world views and my influence level in/on your mind! :)

[@reddragonready]

@BaloneyDetection411 It's a typo easily made if you don't grasp the difference. ;)

[@sirisoj]

Eu vi esse vídeo como recomendado no meu YT, então bati o olho rapidamente e (eu juro) que eu li "há 11 horas atrás", e tomei um susto quando vi "Publicado em 3 de jul de 2007" kkkkk 11 ANOS

[@TheMetical]

I need a beard like this dude!

[@reddragonready]

@naturalpreservation ROFL Now that sarcasm I got dear. Really good one! YOU saying this to me! Hahahaha hahaha

[@reddragonready]

Evolution... 1: one of a set of prescribed movements 2a : a process of change in a certain direction : unfolding b : the action or an instance of forming and giving something off : emission c (1) : a process of continuous change from a lower, simpler, or worse to a higher, more complex, or better state : growth (2) : a process of gradual and relatively peaceful social, political, and economic advance d : something evolved

[@PaulSmith-wz2xv]

This is an extremely important presentation and childish negative comments are an unwarranted distraction from it’s importance.

[@devinbeverage5199]

I think the "Me Decade" is back.

[@reddragonready]

@ vinegar. Btw...I'd correct the misuse of that 's there but I am afraid if I remove the comment and post the corrected version your paranoia will be activated again. ;D

[@daiitokumyouou899]

@goof-chan The theory that objects in motion have a tendency to stay in the motion is a theory of inertia. This is not culturally created but based on observations. The acceptance of this theory is not, for some individuals, culturally influenced but the theory has an impact on the culture where the majority of individuals do accept the theory. This is where theory becomes part of culture, as groups of people will falsely interpret the theory and develop a series of subjective social constructs.

[@daiitokumyouou899]

@goof-chan, I don't disagree with that at all and the definition I used for subjectivity addressed that.