Daniel Dennett: Memes 101 | How Cultural Evolution Works | Big Think

Memes 101 | How Cultural Evolution Works
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We are what we are because of genes; we are who we are because of memes. Philosopher Daniel Dennett muses on an idea put forward by Richard Dawkins in 1976.Ever wondered where the word ‘meme’ comes from? Philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett explains the term, coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, and its effects on our lives and history. How did we, as a species, become what we are - or more relevantly who we are? Natural selection and genetic evolution have made our physical bodies, but we are so much more than a collection of cells. We are also a conscious community, with language, music, cooking, art, poetry, dance, rituals, and humor. Dennett explains how these behaviors are the product of our cultural evolution. Memes are cultural replicators that spread like viruses, and only the most advantageous - or "the fittest" - of them survive. Daniel Dennett's most recent book is From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds.
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DANIEL DENNETT:
Daniel C. Dennett is the author of Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, Breaking the Spell, Freedom Evolves, and Darwin's Dangerous Idea and is University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He lives with his wife in North Andover, Massachusetts, and has a daughter, a son, and a grandson. He was born in Boston in 1942, the son of a historian by the same name, and received his B.A. in philosophy from Harvard in 1963. He then went to Oxford to work with Gilbert Ryle, under whose supervision he completed the D.Phil. in philosophy in 1965. He taught at U.C. Irvine from 1965 to 1971, when he moved to Tufts, where he has taught ever since, aside from periods visiting at Harvard, Pittsburgh, Oxford, and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
His first book, Content and Consciousness, appeared in 1969, followed by Brainstorms (1978), Elbow Room (1984), The Intentional Stance (1987), Consciousness Explained (1991), Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995), Kinds of Minds (1996), and Brainchildren: A Collection of Essays 1984-1996. Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness, was published in 2005. He co-edited The Mind's I with Douglas Hofstadter in 1981 and he is the author of over three hundred scholarly articles on various aspects on the mind, published in journals ranging from Artificial Intelligence and Behavioral and Brain Sciences to Poetics Today and the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.
Dennett gave the John Locke Lectures at Oxford in 1983, the Gavin David Young Lectures at Adelaide, Australia, in 1985, and the Tanner Lecture at Michigan in 1986, among many others. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Science. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1987.
He was the Co-founder (in 1985) and Co-director of the Curricular Software Studio at Tufts, and has helped to design museum exhibits on computers for the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Science in Boston, and the Computer Museum in Boston.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Daniel Dennett: Richard Dawkins coined the term meme in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. And what he proposed was that human culture was composed, at least in part, of elements, units that were like genes in that they were copied and copied and copied and copied and copied. And it was the differential copying, the differential replication of these items, these memes that accounted for the excellent design of so much in human culture. And this is a very repugnant and offensive idea to many people, especially in the humanities. They wanted to hang onto the idea of the God like genius creator who out of sheer conscious brilliant comprehension makes all these wonderful things, whether they're poems or bridges or whatever. He was saying in effect well yes people do make amazing things, but if you look at the projects in detail you see that they couldn't do that if they hadn't filled their head with all these informational things, which are like genes, which are also information. But they're not fast down through the germ line. They're not passed down through the sperm and the egg. You don't get them with your genes. You get them from the ambient culture, from your parents, from your peers, from the society in which you're raised. It requires perception.
Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/videos/daniel-de...

[@drlisp123]

why do people draw such a border between Richard dawkins' definition of memes and Internet memes? Internet memes fit perfectly into his definition.

[@pedrogorilla483]

Because it's easier for people to understand.

[@migueldeitos]

Becase the internet memes are in fact memes itself. The major problem of meme theory is not being able to define what is the "unit" of measure for a meme otherwise than "ideas". That problem you can live with the humain science

[@EstTerminus]

People confuse the idea with the mode of communicating the idea.

[@YallahYah]

@@EstTerminus good point.

[@TheLemming1337]

Id say because the current widespread understood meaning of memes are jokes, which it feels like the first stepping stone so everyone goes more in depth when they want to understand the actual meaning of memes. But as explained in the video, people don’t need to understand the full meaning of the memes, but to keep passing them along, and well, people lack interest in knowing more in depth for a myriad of reasons. The term meme is here to stay because it’s fundamental to how we humans work, it will be a matter of time as we continue to evolve where more and more generations of us understand the full concept and apply it in their lives

[@reinforcedpenisstem]

The misunderstanding of the term meme by the younger viewers is itself a cultural meme, which they're now propagating.

[@twopunksmedia2233]

is it not a Myth?

[@progressivelibertarian2570]

Two Punks Media a myth is a story which is larger meme container.

[@kayuzz323]

theres no misunderstanding why wouldnt be meme the correct term

[@venture3800]

@@kayuzz323 internet memes that are visual art media is a meme, like a square is a type of quadrangle

[@kayuzz323]

@@venture3800 thats what i implied yes

[@squidbooty1]

MGS2 Sons of Liberty,MGS4 Guns of the Patriots,and Metal Gear Rising FINALLY MAKE SENSE

[@FlipKnowlessk8]

ghost in the shell too

[@NotFenriz]

Same here

[@InMaTeofDeath]

290 views. 29 likes. 0 dislikes. Shame such beauty can't last forever....

[@kennethmccormick1791]

Creationists not here yet :)

[@JamesPeach]

Kenneth McCormick They have arrived.

[@pundett]

I guess you're quite happy with the symmetrical amount of likes you have gathered also then.

[@brrruuuh8287]

@@pundett and i ruind it :)

[@jeff-onedayatatime.2870]

After reading one of Dr. Dennett's books, I now see what he's talking about, and I follow him 100% on this video. And I find he has a way of explaining things that just makes good damn sense. :)

[@ajs1998]

I like what he said at the very end. "They create ideas that people latch onto and benefit from without knowing why they're good or how they're good, and they never would have invented it themselves. That is a brilliant piece of engineering, and nobody invented it." Another awesome example of how "intelligent" design can just emerge from things subject to Darwinian evolution over long periods of time.

[@davidvino6018]

A lot of people in the comments don't understand that this video refers to memes as a "cultural gene" that Richard Dawkins talks about in his book, not the internet definition of memes. These two are separate, different things.

[@el_kks_4361]

U mad bruh?

[@elijahsimmons2900]

very true, but it also applies equally well to internet memes.

[@LordDamien]

Why would he be mad because you dont understand something?

[@angelic8632002]

Same thing actually. Its all variations of memes when you get down to it. Most basic element is connection between individuals. Recognizing sameness. That's the first utility function that allows it to survive and spread.

[@ELYESSS]

Actually they are not that different

[@Punkledunk]

The memes, Jack! Memes are the DNA of the soul!

[@Brazbrah]

I really liked the editing on "dog"

[@TuckerHolt]

Hazdude lol

[@NotFenriz]

Im think im gonna need to see this video more of one time for understand it, the idea sounds interesting to study.

[@alyusufb]

is the "scientific method" a meme? and when it was "invented", was it actually "established" for the first time or was actually "copied into our human culture for the first time" .... the second options obviously suggests that it has always been their. It seems logical to me that the existence of the "analytical power" of our brains which is obviously part of our culture can not be explained by a simple copy of "meme". there has to be a more consistent and "general way" method for growing human cultures. last statement does not seem to be a good conclusion "piece of engineering and nobody invented it" because there has to be a first copy :) thanks dr. Dennett, very insightful video!

[@stevoofd]

If you were to deliberately design an efficient mode of transportation and carrier of information, reducing the amount of time needed to grasp its content for the receiver, the internet meme format of a picture accompanied by some words do a very good job of conveying the humoristic message. There's some truth in the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words". That's why news articles include pictures (although I'd argue in that context the functions are reversed and the pictures are a sidekick to the actual article instead of the other way around), and why scientific and educational books include them, not in the least of which are statistical graphs, to condense a lot of information into a digestible 'unit of information'. A collection of information that would otherwise be cumbersome to merely be expressed through verbal language. One thing I do miss in Dennet's explanation however, is the inclusion of human emotions and their correlation with the propagation of memes. He mentions functionality, as if memes serve only a rational purpose. But I'd argue that a lot of memes are carried by habits which survive because of traditions that can be traced back to a more spiritual root (such as many spiritual practices), and as such serve more of a spiritual, social and individual emotional purpose. One very recent example is the rupture of the 'consensus' memesphere when covid19 measures were rolled out. Suddenly you had antivaccers opposing the obedient citizens who just complied to those measures without necessarily fully grasping the implications. I feel that this rupture was not as much about 'believers in science' vs 'nonbelievers in science', but that this dichotomy exposed a group of people that suddenly were woke about the amount of influence and control governments can exert, which is the actual threat they were rebelling against. I imagine that there's a very large subset of memes that are passed on through generations and peers out of the comfort the illusion of safety it provides, keeping fear at a distance. It's not that long ago that Nazi Germany was 'infected' with the fascism meme, which feeded off of economic fear. Racism as a meme still survives to this day. And you could argue that this has both emotional and rational propagators, and is not solely based on primal emotions, which is also an indicator that memes should not be treated as units, but rather as multifaceted constructions that get increasingly complex as they try to pass on a larger body of information, such as say, a book's worth compared to a paragraph's worth. The human brain is a very complex transducer of information, so to circle back to the internet memes: they convey a message intended to stimulate laughter, reflection, perhaps self-ridicule. Humans are biological beings, with physiological systems that make us into the desiring, self-regulating, sometimes frustrated and curiously evolving beings that we are. Emotions, emerging from physiological processes but which we perceive as higher order psychological states, are at the root of human motivations. The utility of language is that we can now communicate about these states, but language also allows for a lot of communication and reflection about increasingly virtual topics: topics that aren't necessarily experienced in the lived body at the time of experiencing the meme, but rather anchored in the past (such as traditions, history, personal memories) or projected towards the future (such as goals, aspirations, plans, fantasy). It gets difficult to untangle the rational from the emotional when talking about memes carried or propagated by individuals, since any given state of conscious experience is a symphony of physiological processes at work. But to truly get a grip on the immense culture impact memes have and will have -especially in an increasingly digitized world- it would be a good way forward to treat memes as a complex image of ideas, feeling states, or both. And to differentiate between memes that are passed on by an unbeknowing middle man, or someone with some authority on the subject matter: stay vigilant for misinformation or at least ask yourself if the information you are offered is relevant to you. Create your own memes toi-même, that serve your well-being while still overlapping with widely adopted memes you feel comfortable with (religion, capitalism 🤷). Another goal for meme science would be the study of meme adoption across different scales: when does a subculture become a culture? When it topples a previous dominating memeplex? And what about memeplexes that are so particular for an individual that they don't overlap with a majority consensus? This description could fit the basis of psychosis within meme theory, when elaborated to include biological markers corresponding to memes, such as emotions and perceptions. It could provide more information about the chiasm of 'normal' functioning and having delusions and/or hallucinations.

[@PetarStamenkovic]

It's not clear if this line of thinking is true, but I really like the creativity behind it. Creativity is a sign that the mind is not idle.

[@marcusanark2541]

Good explanation.

[@hayoniewenhuis3997]

The fact that he speaks like Dr. Steve Brule makes the theory even more mind-blowing

[@timgarrett203]

I was compelled to revisit Daniel Dennet’s work after his death this week. Excellent as I remembered.

[@andrewwalker1377]

Meme is a meme and probably has always existed since consciousness. Just happens to have been recognised and named lately. Now that it is recognised its evolution shall be interesting. How many species of memes are there? We do live in interesting times.

[@CristalMediumBlue]

The instructions to make cars are memes. The cars themselves are the "proteins". The instruction to make a hydroelectric power plant is a huge meme that is present in almost every civilized society, the hydroelectric plant itself is the "protein". if that is true, we are basically living inside a huge living organism.

[@globaldigitaldirectsubsidi4493]

One of the best explanations I heard on KZbin and of course I searched myself. Thanks for nothing alghorithm.

[@w5527]

The word “meme” predates the internet by nearly 2 decades. The word “meme” has changed like a mutated gene

[@leahlichtenstein8319]

I'm writing a paper about memes for my sociology course and the research as been super interesting I've been having a good time

[@MegaJanily]

Could you please share some sources with me ? I have a paper to write about culture and I think that this approach is very interesting but I'm having trouble finding sources ^^

[@leahlichtenstein8319]

@@MegaJanily sure the wiki page is pretty god, try looking up how memes are spread around i found some good articles that way, if i still had the workcited for that paper i would share it but unfortunately i dont

[@MegaJanily]

@@leahlichtenstein8319 Thank you, I'll try that :)

[@theartfulldodger5690]

Claire Graves covered this with "Emergent Cyclic Levels of Existence Theory" now being popularized as spiral dynamics. To summarize talk and save yourself 7 minutes: Carl Jung: “People don’t have ideas; ideas have people.”

[@PigRipperLAW]

love this man's brain

[@polinttalu7102]

Truly a Metal Gear moment

[@nikitashaitan9984]

I just read Dokinz’s Egoistical Gene and i have a ton of questions towards memes. Why are we sure animals don’t teach their youngsters to speak? (Ducks have different noises for different breeds and genders) Why are we sure caddisflies build their homes based on what their genes tell them? Could those actually be memes? Like telepathy. Why are we sure humans don’t replicate knowledge through pregnancy if we do replicate instincts and these are somehow are in genes told by science? What’s the actual difference between subconscious and knowledge that we replicate and so not replicate? Did the way humans communicate created a verbal form of memes so we don’t replicate this knowledge through genes like we crave nicotine after smoking so the brain stops producing nicotine because humans take nicotine from other sources? Meme theory storm my brain and i can’t find answers. (But if the answers are as good as Dokinz’s answers in Egoistical Gene, i’d wait for actual scientific research, nor theories based on your own theories and beliefs like Richard has through the whole book)

[@MKAngeletti]

When you click hoping for an explanation of memes that begin with "When you..."

[@yourkingdomcomeyourwillbedone]

"Once upon a time..."

[@jonahp8271]

Normies trying to explain Dank Memes REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

[@chaoticneutral7573]

God damm you Reddit I can't stop giggling anytime he says "meme".

[@tobiashagstrom4168]

This is the kind of thing to keep in mind for anyone who's ever afraid of hell. Hell is an idea that only makes sense if you understand that it's a memetic defense mechanism. It's a part of the doctrine that exists to keep people believing in the doctrine.

[@yourkingdomcomeyourwillbedone]

So if I deny the idea of hell and ignore my conscience can I justify whatever kind of evil I want?

[@tobiashagstrom4168]

@@yourkingdomcomeyourwillbedone If that is truly what you feel you'd prefer to do, then you're probably kind of a psychopath, and I'm all for locking you up. Curiously, there are plenty of developed countries in europe where most people don't believe in hell, and these tends to be relatively peaceful and prosperous, they're not filled with a bunch of crazy people who would love nothing more than to ignore their own conscience, without any promise of a cosmic-scale reward or punishment.

[@yourkingdomcomeyourwillbedone]

Tobias Hagström But the cosmic scale of reward and punishment is universal and the ideas of heaven and hell are just one manifestation of this. The "afterlife" is like a principle to ground one's perspective in this life. 80 years is a relatively short time in cosmological terms, yet that's all we get to make either a positive or negative impact in this world. Do you believe in karma? In other religions, "heaven and hell" manifest as ideas like good/bad karma, liberation from rebirth or samsara, reincarnation as a higher or lower being etc. These ideas don't go away no matter how secular or educated you are or how developed the country in which you live is.

[@leesnotbritish5386]

Your right that being memetic doesn’t make something true, but it doesn’t make it false either

[@Kei5ive]

The part in the video I liked in the video. Is where he points out that people follow cultures without thinking or knowing why. And that will eventually die out. Wonder how people who only react and move for the meme. Are gonna cope when memes die out. Think there gonna claim depression?

[@liampouncy7808]

#FreeKekistan

[@xapemanx]

top kek

[@ypey1]

Liam Pouncy reeeeeeeeeee!

[@ManBearPing]

Kekistan is Cancer

[@Vicioussama]

shadilay

[@AlvaroALorite]

3:50 false. In Chinese, intonation changes meaning. But I think the statement you gave stays true even though you'd have to adjust for this by saying the digitation includes both phonemes and intonation inflections.

[@LeeCarlson]

So where does the information carried in the memes originate from? Somewhere, somewhen, the information had to have come into being so that it could be learned and passed down.

[@kiko9160]

5:45 memel0rd

[@thepremiumpedant9062]

I would disagree with what he said about the humanities - a far too simplistic understanding of critical theory. The concept of the "death of the author" was already established by the time of Dawkins' book on memes.

[@rhar1703]

dank

[@michaelinzo]

So meme is typically how human function and society works in a whole

[@adud6764]

Oh believe me, I know about them memes.

[@TheChrizKid]

I never thought that some of the top people who think for a living would end up speaking about such a topic as meme culture.

[@216trixie]

You're stupid.

[@Snyphen356]

TheChrizKid he's not talking directly about meme culture, but the original scientific meaning.

[@bobdeni244]

Lol! You sure are a Kid! :D

[@jonahp8271]

Praise Daniel Dennett! Daniel Dennett for president 2020.

[@YallahYah]

Internet memes are carriers of "meme ideas (units of cultural information)".

[@caricatureparty]

He sounds a little bit like Dr. Steve Brule.

[@Hegeleze]

Dennett is wrong about inflection not carrying information which would then not make all the uttrances of dog tokens of the same type. Still, I get his point, but it is still wrong (as "dog" can be used for a animal, a person, an emotion, nothing at all, etc. depending on usage and inflection). This then rejects his claim that we are "stupid, walking, breathing vectors," but he might be right that they functioned this way at first, they are now manipulated apart from their mere utility.

[@rh33dan]

I think the comments section gave me cancer.

[@dimitriisov1262]

The pattern of evolution, breeding and phylogeny exists everywhere, not just in genes. Ideas can intermingle and create of hybrids, they can parasitize the minds of humans. Mathematics, language,. technology, music, theater, all of these evolve and react to the environments they are created in. it's the exact same process but made of individual consciousness instead of nucleotides

[@dionisos8152]

Theory of cultural evolution is so powerful that humanities, history and sociology risk... extinction unless they... adapt.

[@marthwithablackheart]

if you were lost in the bush, dan would be a good guy to have with ya

[@michaelinzo]

Richard Dawkins meme god!

[@pedrogorilla483]

He created the meme meme.

[@jamesbunch8932]

So is there a cultural transmission equivalent of cancer (~damaged memetic code that is copied so much that it accumulates into a cultural tumour)?

[@ezlocksmithinc8280]

James Bunch l leftism

[@jamesbunch8932]

Ez Locksmith Inc Oooh, younadvertently answered my question : propaganda!

[@lorenzomanzoni9693]

Rumors

[@mikesnelling9272]

Memes? Does he mean ideas? (Richard Dawkins merely used the idea of a meme as a thought experiment or analogy to explain replication and has been unwilling to take the idea further)

[@rhar1703]

it's all in your hands

[@tbristol36]

I'm going to have to disagree with Mr.Dennett. The idea that language can serve as the medium of ideas that transcends generations is, without a doubt, astonishing; However, to say this, is to also neglect the influence of real world circumstances that shape and mold how we percieve the world- which ultimately determine how cultural will be manipulated and passed down from generation to generation. These "memes" that Mr.Dennett refers to, only share a continuituity throughout society to the extent that the underlying propietor of the meme still exists. An anti-slavery "meme" would render itself useless due to its abolition in the 19th century( except in belgium until the 20th century). Its underlying meme of freedom, liberty, and peace however, still carry on and manifest themselves through everyday experiences. I may be looking at this the wrong way, but from my understanding, I believe our perception of the real world and culture are much more influential than the themes that lie behind them.

[@Aldelirium]

Memes are not impervious to real world circumstances, as the latter very much modulate the development of the former. A bad design for a canoe will sink along with the canoe, in the water that it’s supposed to keep outside of the vessel. A good design for a canoe may conversely thrive, making it a successful meme, and one worth replicating; all this due to the real world circumstances negotiated by its design.

[@rhar1703]

do you understand

[@AdrianBourneArt]

DNA isn’t the just the Ink. DNA is the ink and the letters. There is no other way to get the letters. Saying you can recite the poem as well as writing it down destroys Dennett’s own analogy. Until Memetics shows some sort of predictive property, it isn’t science.

[@Arbbym9er]

I prefer the dank kind of memes, but at least I can at least say I learned something.

[@IRDeady]

so, do instincts count as memes?

[@Pyriold]

Nope. But instincts can be driven by memes i would say.

[@shipwreck9146]

#BridgesAreDankMemes

[@brettshirley]

This plays straight into determinism

[@Pyriold]

How? That's a totally different story.

[@muskduh]

don't let your memes be dreams

[@BenScooter1]

At 3:31 he says that we were 'designed' to pick up the phonemes of our native language, the word 'design' indicates a designer, is this the context with which he intended to use that word? If so, he would then have the burden of proof when it comes to the claim of that attribute being the product of a designer.

[@nexusnova5710]

+Ben Grantham Natural selection would be the designer in this case.

[@lorenzomanzoni9693]

Nobody gives a shit about your religious bullcrap, fuck off. We are talking about memes, not god.

[@Techn9cian123]

Shadilay!

[@nyx211]

3:31 - Oh really?

[@nexusnova5710]

+nyx211I love how people like to assume that must mean the deity most common in their culture and not natural selection.

[@rhar1703]

fo sho

[@ShawnRavenfire]

So useless cultural memes are akin to viruses, and internet memes are said to go "viral." Appropriate.

[@haveyouseenmymarklar]

I just came here for the dank memes.

[@mayankimmortal]

Dank meme is life

[@xapemanx]

sum 1 meme this vid

[@omegasrevenge]

Mr. DD is already a walking meme, he does not need an inferior copy of his greatness.

[@dhritimanray2933]

Actually Dawkins' idea isnt that great. it just seems interesting because he uses the metaphor of genes. and yes it is a metaphor not some grand evo psych revelation using science.

[@richardrumana5025]

Aren't you then populating the world with rather occult entities with all these "memes"? They exist in what kind of "space"?

[@bobdeni244]

They carry themselves in genes and bodies. It's like blockchain technology. It is stored in every computer (node). All memes exist in us including animals.

[@richardrumana5025]

Media Matters, unless you are using the words "in genes" in some funny, metaphorical way, I don't think your explanation has helped at all. In what way exactly are memes in genes? If one were to take a strand of DNA and examine it under a microscope, would one discover a meme? How exactly would a meme be identified? In fact, can "memes in genes" as a scientific hypothesis ever be falsified? All in all, "memes in genes" is precisely the meaning of occult entities.

[@jajlertil]

The wheel was a dank meme

[@JungleJargon]

With advice like that, scientific inquiry goes out the window. "Engineering that no one invented". "Nothing to see here, move along!" With "wisdom" like that, who needs idiots?

[@steveb0503]

Jungle Jargon Look up the term "free-floating rationale" - educate thyself...

[@MusixPro4u]

Religion is a carrier of memes. Useful, ancient stories that tell us how to act.

[@Pyriold]

Yes, but the broader term would be philosophy. Religions add a lot of other stuff on it.

[@nexusnova5710]

Not so sure about the useful part.

[@shiroyasha6567]

.......second

[@rdaevi6129]

Older people trying to explain memes makes me wanna die

[@gonzaloconde9365]

Dave Rod in this video they don't refear to internet memes.

[@Dylan-im9et]

Dave Rod An old man (Richard Dawkins) created memes you moron.

[@skatopolisii624]

@dylan. Hhahahahha YES!

[@omegasrevenge]

The guy who wrote "The Selfish Gene" called Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme", just like homosexuals a hundred years ago coined "swag".

[@karlwilzen]

People who don't know the difference between Internet memes and the original theory of cultural memes are simply uneducated!

[@canaryimpulse989]

PEPE FIRST

[@tonmittelmeijer1115]

Phonemes do not exist in language, only structures of phonemes exist.

[@vmikeyboi323]

You know he's a philosopher when hes talking, he doesn't make any sense, but you feel cool with it.

[@nexusnova5710]

+MikeyBoi323 and your comment shows how ignorant you are on that topic.

[@CrusadR4real]

God invented it!

[@iordanneDiogeneslucas]

That's one meme

[@Twistedsackboy]

Inb4 KnowYourMeme posts this video and thus makes it less credible by rubbing their greasy paws on it.

[@MusixPro4u]

Dan says it right there. Words establish themselves. If they're useful, they get picked up by people. So making the use of man-made pronouns like xer mandatory, as has happened in Canada, is a foolish, leftist idea.

[@angelic8632002]

John Ny Exept the motivation for doing that is also a combination of memes constructed out of values competing with other memes or cultural expressions.

[@robertl5105]

John Ny your missing the point. Xer was created BECAUSE it us useful. Maybe not to you, but to some subset of our culture. Futhermore, what do you mean by mandatory? Is it mandatory to refer to females as her, what are the government enforced consequences for calling her "him"?

[@MusixPro4u]

Robert L Prosecution is the consequence. Look up bill C-16. If it would be useful, there would be no need to enforce it.

[@jayw6034]

John Ny but the idea of making a meme mandatory is itself a meme that may or may not survive through the selection of human behavior. it will serve a purpose, it will lead to further ideas, one way or another.

[@angelic8632002]

abcd efgh Bit late to the party :p

[@ZennExile]

MILHOUSE IS NOT AND SHALL NEVER BE A MEME SIR. THIS RUINS YOUR THEORY. HA..HA

[@Pyriold]

That has to be true. It's all in caps, makes it more truthfull.

[@aliqobadian-kalhor9485]

Hope this gene thing is not an instrument to justify cultural racism .

[@manooxi327]

Click-bait title

[@216trixie]

no, you have 'click-bait' understanding.

[@misakaimouto3234]

Brainlet moron.

[@elenakusevska6266]

This analogy is pointless. It doesn't add to the understanding of culture, but creates unnecessary confusion...

[@danielhall271]

Agreed, but at least it created a funny and entertaining internet culture.

[@Cisco11211]

From the very beginning, there emerged the word from sound. The word was with god. The word was GOD. And we saw that it was good. Then word gave form to groups, tribes, trade, rules and operating symbols so that organization could take place from the word and they contemplated in many ways among themselves over the centuries, and government was adopted and laws were created and enforced to keep order and ensure support of peace but not guarantee it. As groups of people multiplied so did pride and then cultural norms emerged over and over again as some formed from great triumphs, sacrifices and various revolutions throughout the world. And each forming their own system of beliefs and some were overwhelmed and disturbed through influence and adopted to existing belief systems and way of living. Why not just one Universal way or system? Because it was not so easy to communicate then among tribes and peoples separated by discourse, extreme distances, treacherous uninhabited lands and vast sea barriers and so each culture or tribe of people and varying culture conducted themselves religiously so as to honor their roots and seek respect, culture became pride and with MUCH PRIDE, religion was set in stone because each forged in their thoughts that this way (our way) is good and local majority approved, encouraged it and there was good reason to celebrate it. There was pride that each of their ways has been generally good and was fruitful to their own people and had worked and served well to survive and thrive and eventually compete and conquer. Further innovations emerged through the centuries as we refined material due to cultural growth and demand and then cities emerged from which more knowledge from discoveries become more possible and we saw that the knowledge became extremely useful and eventually competition among the nations and their cultural pride propelled man to reach the moon. And those efforts for discovery and study also advanced and fueled and formed the world we live in today. DO YOU see? We are the architects of our human counterparts' fate through understandings and misunderstandings. Now there are the Freemasons, the architects of one nation under GOD named America, United historically through triumphs of the human condition, sacrifices and further civilization through educational institution, research and new developments. Now with the dawn of the internet, cultures in every corner of the world become more influenced and more fully exposed to one another and their ways, means, methods and further triumphs. Today we see one particular cultural pride try to become more dominant again as has happened many times before in history. America was doing well with celebration and promotion of cultural diversity until Trump comes along and tries to preach that we must become a more dominant cultural unit again as he had seen in his glorious youthful era. You see non-spiritual individuals have tendencies to "think" they know the way. Truly spiritually-connected individuals don't "think" they know the way, they simply know what the righteous way really is among all the other ways we are forewarned about through wisdom of the ages. And that is YahWeh, then reborn again as Yahshuah and in final form as Jesus Christ, rising over and over again until all the ways become one and harmonious again. You see, people like Donald Trump get distracted and pressured by the pride of the culture they were raised in. You see in his life, he had been largely distracted by material things, money, and more people like him of the same cultural beliefs. memes and practices. SO now you see, it is because of differing cultures and personal occupation (where our time and energy goes into) within our so-called civilized society that brings about a unique way of thinking but not purely righteous. And sometimes there can be too much pride (and it can be radical pride-with big and arrogant ego) in each culture than we care to know. There are also more things to consider that come with age and only until you come of age, you might know. Until then, the same human conditions continue until the echoes of past cultural dogmas disappear, smoke clears and a solution becomes clear and adopted by all nations. This solution is the fruit that will reconcile all of mankind's triumphs, efforts and sacrifices. Through the word once again but in greater design and unity as the purpose and at its core....where GOD dwells and Jesus Christ as the same light.

[@nexusnova5710]

+Cisco11211 Nice assertions. Any backing?

[@216trixie]

Smart man! White and everything!! Such privielge!!!

[@caricatureparty]

He sounds a little bit like Dr. Steve Brule.

[@caricatureparty]

He sounds a little bit like Dr. Steve Brule.