Why Do We Believe Things That Aren't True?

An explanation of the field of memetics and how it explains why people believe things that aren't true.
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0:00 Intro
0:44 Memes Vs. Genes
03:48 Memes and Memeplexes
05:00 What's The Point?
06:46 Recap
07:15 Memetic Diamonds
08:07 Takeaways
10:13 A Third Replicator?
Sources:
The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
The Meme Machine - Susan Blackmore
The Selfish Meme - Kate Distin
Thought Contagion - Aaron Lynch
Also lectures by Dan Dannett like this one: y2u.be/L1B8u6-y-c8

[@AlanCurtisdds]

" Criticize bad ideas not the people who hold them" LOVE THIS We need to have pity for those caught up in "bad ideas" not be angry at them.

[@arnowisp6244]

Tell that to the Left in America. The Right sees the Left as People with Bad ideas. The Left sees the right as Bad people with Bad ideas.

[@hm5142]

The irritation often does not come from the bad ideas, but the unwillingness to even acknowledge true information in conflict with them. It just tells me that they don't care about the truth or falsehood of the statements they make, which I find totally contemptible. The mark of education is having increasingly better understanding of where the line between what you know and what you don't know lies.

[@cyberneticbutterfly8506]

@@hm5142 The nature of how a person deals with information and contradiction is also taught.

[@merrywalsh2809]

I wish more people knew that they need to evaluate sources, and how to find good sources, before adopting their memes. Facebook is a roach infested source, for instance.

[@RUBBER_BULLET]

You're not off to a wholly magnanimous start when you suggest that they are pitiable.

[@5dollarshake263]

The way you compared a heroin addict to a person who's been convinced of a bad meme was genius. I've had this video in an open tab for more than a week and I'm so glad I watched it. I'm definitely subbing.

[@Jesus_Offical]

I mean yeah either youre Cringe Or Based

[@ookami5329]

You mean I'm not the only one doing that?

[@hopeyoung404]

Except who's to judge what a bad meme is ?

[@adamhuntley8719]

Isn't the idea of memes itself a meme trying to get replicated? And if not, why not?

[@blueninja012]

@@hopeyoung404 scientists, researchers, really anyone who has knowledge in the related field

[@thisisnotok2100]

This is a genius observation. Everyone feels the pull to believe nonsense that compliments what they want to hear. Part of being a good person is prioritizing truth.

[@diranshouse7061]

Prioritizing truth is a meme 🙂

[@SaintKines]

@@diranshouse7061 to partisan hacks it sure is.

[@sumeetghai8867]

Its because we just want everything around us to go our way. Its dangerous to see how pseudoscience is spreading across the globe at an alarming rate. More and.more people are falling for this trap.

[@baronvonbeandip]

@@diranshouse7061 is right lol Rationalism is a meme, empiricism is a meme, postmodernism is a meme, your self-concept is a meme. Read the damn book before you start talkin some shit. Go read some Heidegger, Nietzsche, Piaget, and Burke while you're at it.

[@joschroons3589]

Whose truth? ;)

[@notrealboris]

Been teaching this to students in my biology class for the past year, but this'll be a really good video to help flesh out the idea more. Thanks for articulating it pretty well.

[@realryanchapman]

Glad to hear it! I'll take pretty well

[@hopeyoung404]

Are you also teaching a woke agenda ? Are you teaching them the tactics of propaganda,fear mongering, and subliminal programing ? You have as much to learn as your students.

[@hopeyoung404]

@@realryanchapman "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American people believes is false" William Casey

[@jwu1950]

@@hopeyoung404 May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@oeokosko]

@@hopeyoung404 Ah, but which actors are providing the disinformation - and why?

[@tinkergnomad]

I'm sooooo glad you're tackling this topic. I've used the word meme in it's original context for years, and people look at me like I have two heads, even after I explain the original idea. I even go out of my way to use the word memetic instead so it's hopefully less confusing. It's like people struggle to separate the joke pics on the interwebs from the overall idea.

[@-haclong2366]

Yes, but those photographs are also memes and fully fall within the original definition. You just have to explain that the word has a much more broader definition than how it's commonly used.

[@gwho]

it's called semantic narrowing. "meme" as a joke picture template is just one type of meme, but the word was always much broader than that. semantic (meaning) narrowing.

[@oscarsigfridsson4242]

"A meme based species" has to be the funniest and most accurate way to describe humanity i have ever heard

[@RedWinePlease]

Some years ago I heard Dawkins describe memes. It reinforced the idea that I must be honest with myself and question the memes I may have accepted out of lazyness or social conformity.

[@Mii.2.0]

Me reading this comment makes me feel attacked. It's like when you listen to a song & you accept whatever lyrics they display because it sounds good. Or, you can't understand the lyrics, don't remember the lyrics, or don't even care about the lyrics but you like the song purely because it sounds good, which may somehow lead you to accept the song out of laziness or social conformity.

[@jwu1950]

@@Mii.2.0 Exactly. Dawkins is full of shit. He even believed in the meme of Evolution. LMFAO !!! May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@NajeeChua]

So glad I found this channel while searching for content on poverty. Well-researched data, astute interpretations, compassionate application -- and that fun final question. This also made me reflect on the memes I hold to that are just attractive, not necessarily truthful. (Makes me wonder what it is about a person that determines a meme's attractiveness or repulsiveness, all things being equal.) Thanks, Ryan!

[@dinohapstudios1367]

Sorry to break it to you, but this is. Not memes

[@jwu1950]

It is like your genes. You are born with it. The good news is : good or bad is only temporary like rain and sunshine. Think of rain when the sun shines, and think of sunshine when it rains. It's that simple. This is ancient Chinese secret. May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@willisverynice]

I’ve been using the “criticism of ideas not people” line for like 15 years, love to hear it from others.

[@jwu1950]

People who believed in an idea become the idea itself. It is more appropriate to criticize the people than to criticize the idea. Some people do not believe in popular ideas anyways. May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@willisverynice]

@@jwu1950 "people who believed in an idea become the idea itself," is a pretty extreme idea lol, I hope you dont believe it too much or you will become it.... oooooo.... spooooooky,

[@jwu1950]

@@willisverynice Exactly. I am extreme. May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@willisverynice]

@@jwu1950 something like that 😆

[@jwu1950]

@@willisverynice Jesus is extreme and he got himself killed. He was nailed to the cross. But he is alive today in spirit which is in his teachings recorded in history books called Gospels. Ideas never died, you see ? May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@ryandury]

You're a legend, Ryan! Watching your videos, I am reminded of the quote, “if you can't explain it simply you don't understand it well enough”. Absolutely love how well you encapsulate these ideas. Would you consider adding book references to each video to get a sense of the material that inspires your content? Maybe this could be something you add to Patreon. Anyway, thanks for trying to make sense of this world with an open mind.

[@travcollier]

Yeah, I love that Feynman quote you paraphrase. But he also said: "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics." Some things are actually just complicated and unintuitive. ;)

[@dinohapstudios1367]

Jeez, this video has literally nothing to do with memes except that the word meme is in it, if you decide to tell your friends about this video, is this video a meme? No. It’s not, it would be if a bunch of people would make fun of this video with the intentions of making it a meme.

[@jwu1950]

@@dinohapstudios1367 LOL !!! If you think you understand meme, you don't understand meme. Okay, kid ? May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@BrewerArts]

Just want to say I appreciate your channel so much Ryan! I love the way you break things down and model a non-biased, disciplined approach to tackling tough complex ideas.

[@infin8one]

This is probably one of my most favorite of all the amazing content you dish out on the regular @ryan chapman. Bravo, so well done.

[@clyderstone9647]

Thanks Ryan. I encourage folks to watch your channel as I love your ability to break this stuff down. 🙂

[@chris5264]

Memes are attractive to the extent they fit within other preexisting memes. This is why cognitive dissonance is painful, any meme that doesn't fit isn't just unattractive, it is painful. This can snowball into something like Jonestown if one is not careful to become a witness to the whole thinking process. On a much more common level, these thought memes just make us think we are unhappy. Remember...don't believe everything you think. Nice video, thanks.

[@jwu1950]

Pain is only temporary, and so is truth and memes. May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@carboncopy4183]

​@@hah-vj7hc belief in Jesus memes? Tf? Either I've managed to be completely insulated from those or I don't see it the same way you do.

[@carboncopy4183]

@@hah-vj7hc ah, fair enough.

[@dankas7470]

Your channel is excellent. Please keep up the good work.

[@ericnull3470]

Great channel. I liked the crocidile comparison. Idk if I'm convinced memes explain why people believe things that aren't true. I think it's lack of cognitive ability, lack of logic as a toolbox, and a desire to fit in. I can see the exact same memes as someone else and not fall for them. Tho, the crocodile metaphor kinda led me somewhere else when you mentioned they stopped evolving because they have perfected their function in their chosen environment. Other people, their beliefs, cognitive ability, and personal bias could just be the "environment" that some memes have evolved to dominte inside of. Idk if that explains "why" they believe false truths, but it sheds light on how it is almost like an organism. Helping me understand how it moves, not necessarily why.

[@jeffvigil4732]

I liked this one. Very interesting. You present the ideas well, with good examples.

[@hm5142]

I am a physicist, and have always felt that if a person favors a particular result in research, it should disqualify him from doing the research. You have to want to get the right answer more than any particular result. Preference for a particular result creates a sort of moral hazard. In day to day life, if something sounds very appealing to you, it is always a very good idea to inspect it very carefully, since its primary reason for existence may be to create that appeal, and not to be true. Ultimately, you have to decide whether it is more important to you for ideas to be appealing or true, and you have to subject ideas that you like to the same scrutiny as those you dislike. I have always thought this was the primary point of education.

[@Audio-apps]

An excellent summary. So well written and delivered. I’ve been trying to share the concept of memetics, and your video could be an effective tool. There’s not many that are receptive. For the consolation prize, that’s explainable through memetics. 😆 I’d say most are not ready to relinquish their personal agency and imagined creativity in their collection of thoughts.

[@davidlamb7524]

Absolutely spot on. A brilliant and perfectly balanced explanation and conclusion.

[@denkanator]

this is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels on the internet

[@crashbox1011]

This is probably my favorite video from you and I wish it were more popular

[@todrichards1105]

Love your content! Keep it coming!

[@falazarte]

As always, excellent content!

[@joelhoffman7173]

What a thought-provoking little video this was! Thanks, Ryan! :)

[@timmotel5804]

Educational and well presented. Thanks

[@XuQifei]

This is basically what I have always thought about religiosity: it's spiritual heroine of which the blame shouldn't be placed entirely on the believers, but they do need to hold responsibilities.

[@angels2online]

You always make good content, mate.

[@CutCopyPastefy]

Thank you so much for this very clear explanation!

[@TubeDude]

Thank you for your interesting and thorough topic coverage. I would like to see one that explains what argument means. Too many people have the idea that argument is a loud almost non-sensical fight instead of the name of one's statement in the pursuit of truth between people. I.e. the kind of arguing that occurs in a debate. 'Debate' would be another good topic to explain.

[@_ima_b]

Buddy, nice videos. Subscribed. It's hard to find content where people do their best to remain neutral and objective about so many controversial things. Great content. I'm looking forward to more videos.

[@mariasoderberg1366]

Wow. Powerful last thought in this presentation. Thank you!

[@BoldlyGrow]

Really enjoying your content. Thanks for putting so much thought into it.

[@jonathansneed6960]

I’ve been exploring the concept of how humans process information. We like to think that we analyze ideas before making a decision but the neurological evidence suggests we filter information on a much lower level. This is an interesting approach.

[@jonathansneed6960]

Ideas are adopted as a part of the individual that believes them, insulting said idea is processed as a direct insult to that person. Ct scans can’t see the difference.

[@alanjones5639]

You may be interested in the False Tagging Theory - Erik Asp and others.

[@Nyyre]

Gem of a channel, binging all your videos, comment for the algorithm

[@dm3on]

Your videos are awesome to say the least, if I may suggest one thing; please include list of citing resources in video description (eg. books, articles, etc.), if possible.

[@realryanchapman]

Sure thing, just added a list in the bottom of the description. It would be a pain to include all the articles/journals so I just listed the main resources used.

[@amraouza4937]

thank you for the mazing content as always . Bravo

[@angelonintendo]

I love the way you engage, explore and explain your topics in such compact format, would you teach me?

[@obambaman]

This video is awesome, thank you for putting words into something i have been thinking about a lot lately. I wonder how this scales to bigger ideas like democracy and such, especially in the context of different cultures? It would also be interesting to study how different memes spread, evolve and develop under different changing circumstances. At the same time i think it would be wise to err on the side of caution when it comes to deciding which memes are better than others, It would be very nice to avoid another social Darwinism situation.

[@HebelDan]

Fighting for truth 🙏🏼 It's a grateful journey. Kindness to others provides us with the greatest lessons.

[@jwu1950]

Truth ??? WTF is it ? May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@uku4171]

I think this legitimately explains the trends in popular memes (the humour kind) recently. After a decade of new memes dying faster and faster, evolving to become better, we are now stuck with Among Us memes for two years, and Big Chungus for FOUR years. I think they've just evolved to last longer and longer to a point where we will be stuck with the same types of memes for a while now. This is the third video of yours that I'm watching and they've all been brilliant. Good job! I think your channel will grow a lot. Maybe you could get a Nebula sponsorship later on?

[@jwu1950]

Exactly. Like Evolution is scientific. LMFAO !!! May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@uku4171]

@@jwu1950 What the fuck are you talking about?

[@jwu1950]

We are stuck with the same Evolution meme bullshit for 150 years. May the love and the peace of Jesus be with us.

[@arielguzman2875]

Interesting. One of you most informative video!

[@asakurad]

Wonderful video. I think each of us should assume we are likely carriers of some number of false memes, no matter how diligent we are in trying to root them out. In addition to being sympathetic to those addicted to certain falsehoods, we ought to be humble our abilities to spot our own bullshit.

[@martinpappano1708]

Great video!!

[@beardedbehaviorist]

Have you heard of moral foundation theory? Dr Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, proposed this idea. It goes beautifully with what you talk about here.

[@jaffe28]

I've been doing little bits of memetics in my sociology classes for a good decade or so. Really is a good set of ideas for thinking about how society does what it does.

[@charleshowie2074]

I have a considerable amount of respect for this Ryan Chapman chap.

[@shawnstrittmatter4783]

Earned my sub! Would you say the heroin analogy is analogous to the "Love the sinner hate the sin" cliche?

[@sohrab_solheim]

Thank you for this post.

[@Summer-kb2dm]

I've been exploring the idea of purchasing power in a sense of supplanting the actual goal: whatever that may be. Purchasing vs connecting. Rather than connecting with other humans we purchase something as a substitution for human contact.

[@jeremyhennessee6604]

Kind of off topic man, but I LOVE the way your wall is arranged. Very Feng Shui bro.

[@shtrguy]

Fantastic video. An excellent meme by itself!

[@tonybparalegal]

Actually, yes, I knew where memes came from. I read The Selfish Gene but The Blind Watchmaker was my favorite book for a long time. This is a great subject but I didn't recognize it as "memetics."

[@Thedimka]

We, scientifically speaking, do not really know how thoughts come to us, we have some general understanding of some sources and reasons, but it's unclear why one though or an idea dawns on us instead of another one at a given time. Some of that contributes to concept of determinism, but it could be a basis for "life as a movie" or "a ride in an amusement park" theory too. Then how some memes are born and why takes on a whole new interesting spin too

[@migoosan]

Excellent video

[@Hi_Im_Akward]

I didnt know there was an actual word for this. I've contemplated the advancment of society and how each revolutionary idea only happens because they have a framework of previous idea. For example You can't forge iron without fire, so it was an essential step in advancment to control and understand fire in order to eventually understand and control metals to our advantage.

[@dewilew2137]

“My dating person” was a fun and creative way to avoid telling your audience that you’re gay. 🏳️‍🌈

[@Noitalevier]

How depressing. Hopefully more people could catch on to this concept and stop following bad ideas.

[@arnowisp6244]

But what is a Bad idea? Who defines what's a bad idea.

[@itsallgood21]

I love Ryan’s brain. What a phenomenal thinker.

[@richardstone3083]

Love your work. So sad that only 82k people have seen this.

[@kurooaisu]

Another great video from Ryan! Thanks for the observation, dude! potato

[@d.haskins3840]

I just heard about this, fascinating !

[@jimmuncy5636]

Interesting, informative, insightful video. I learn a lot from this young man, and I have a B.A. in psychology, an M.A. in philosophy, and am ABD in English Literature, plus having been a lifelong student, a bookworm. One of the very most important facts I've learned is that we have no free will; I call people "meat puppets," as does Ryan; therefore, I assume that he agrees with Einstein: "Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect as well as the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper."

[@weldandcutdotcom]

Great video, I appreciate your work. Just 1 question though; Are you dating a sasquatch? What's the picture at 3:51?

[@blueninja012]

I believe it's Jabba the Hut

[@TamasKalman]

great summary of the great memeverse. :)

[@meh.7640]

part of the problem of how popular bad ideas seem to always become is that there aren't enough people to act as filters. i believe such people were far more common in earlier times, at least compared to the rest. i believe this filter is necessary for an early human tribe to survive in nature. i'm talking about highly perceptive (HSP - highly sensitive person) and highly intelligent (i think they're called "highly gifted" but i find that term is used way too broadly) people able to perceive the world as it is, regardless of the bs people tell them. in their lifetime they form an extremly robust frame of reality and kind of intuitive understanding of natures laws, based on their extremely fine overall perception and everything they learn must hold up against that frame. that's the filter. the vast majority of modernity's ideas just shatters on impact against their skull. you could say the population of that kind of people has stayed more or less constant while relatively dull and dumb people have multiplied beyond measure. it's the idiocracy-principle

[@natopotato2711]

Excellent!

[@winghangauyeung]

I think the technological advance at this particular time changes the memes reproduction cost/rate. But, I wonder fact by definition has a higher reproduction cost (lower rate), after all, once it is mutated, it may no longer be a fact. But rumors can keep mutating however it is beneficial.

[@samgrainger1554]

I think that memetics is genuinely the most impactful set of mind tools that I have ever came across.

[@habenbelai7420]

What a unique point of view!

[@sstff6771]

Amazing video

[@olivers.7821]

Hearing “meme” here all the time without thinking of the internet concept of memes is somewhat hard.

[@josephcoon5809]

0:01 Because people grow up with safety nets that allow them to think things they wouldn’t otherwise put into practice. The best way to prove to someone whether their ideas are true or not is to let them realize their own ideas. In other words, restrict their ability to force their unproven ideas on people they’ll never meet. This will force people to find like-minded individuals who will work towards the same vision, and it will deprive them of the excuse of “well, government didn’t do it right.” 1:30 What Dawkins failed to realize was that genes merely encode ideas which are passed on through replication. An idea is just meaning applied to a physical pattern. As such, ideas can be represented by DNA, neuronal groups, magnetic particles, transistors, or even grooves on a vinyl disk. DNA is a very stable bit slow form of idea storage and execution. Neurons are a more chaotic form of idea storage and execution. Genetic evolution occurs over centuries, while ideological innovation can happen in the blink of an eye. Most psychological disorders are the consequence of slow genetic evolution engaging in rapid technological innovation. Our bodies and brains do not keep pace with the technologically rapid evolution of the environment. We have a sweet tooth because high calorie foods were “good” when food was scarce. Now that food is plentiful and life is less active, high calorie foods are “bad”. Our sweet tooth is a consequence of our genetically programmed biology coding for a food scarce environment we no longer exist in. 2:00 Genes code for ideas. The idea of a larger claw, or stronger legs, or faster wings, or longer beak all existed before we had brains to virtualize those ideas for rapid simulation and adaptation. 2:45 The Free Market has replaced the Natural Wild. Genetic patterns evolve in the latter, and neuronal patterns evolve in the former. GOVERNment is the antithesis of evolution because evolution requires natural SELECTION and the freedom to make a selection as those selections compete with one another. GOVERNment removes selection and the competition that drives evolution. 5:50 Mass mailing ballots to people who normally wouldn’t vote was the actual fraud. The idea that America is supposed to be a democracy was the justification. Not only should ballots NOT have been mailed, but people should not be resorting to voting their ideas into each other as a FIRST resort. Voting should be the LAST resort. 6:30 When somebody signs an affidavit, they are under threat of punishment for lying. So, when you have one group of people believing hundreds of signed affidavits, and another group of people believing “unnamed sources” that say President Trump called veterans “suckers and losers,” I think I’ll stick with the affidavits. We can also toss in the fact that Soros installed DAs are responsible for handling voter fraud cases… so, there’s that on top of the same DAs playing catch-and-release with violent criminals. So, yeah. There’s a bit more to the “memes” than you are presenting.

[@alanjones5639]

John Tooby in his November 2017, Edge essay on coalitional instincts wrote of an interesting connection between coalitions [teams, tribes] and absurd beliefs. Members of one coalition can best differentiate themselves from other coalitions by sharing (or professing to share) supernatural and other absurd beliefs. The more absurd the beliefs, the better they distinguish a member’s coalition from other coalitions. Profession of the beliefs [memes] shows loyalty to the group. I'll add that memes made Truths, made the dogmas of ideologies, are particularly successful, and that the most successful are often linked (at least in their early years) with other memes that command the shunning, cancelling, exile, and even the smiting of unbelievers.

[@randatatang9222]

When you study pragmatism as a philosophy, especially the work of Alexander Bain, William James and C.S. Peirce, it becomes more clear that the reason why everyone believes things that aren't true alot of the time nor matter their level of education is because belief is not aimed at truth contrary to what we'd love to think but is aimed at utility or success. All false and true believes have something in common-utility to the believer and it's natural.

[@AstroSquid]

Meme's spread in a tribal fashion. To seek status with your friends you share only the meme's that will win their support. Tribalism is built around a hero, victim, villain dynamic that plays out in a persons quest to be a hero in front of their friends, so meme's become a signal to status. That's what I think, I don't know if there's any academic studies that talk about seeking status in a group.

[@JR-pr8jb]

The Darwinian metaphor did it for me! And maybe the photo of the deceased fish. Thanks.

[@davioustube]

The meme concept papers-over psychological and sociological insight with a metaphor with an oblique effect similar to behaviorism. The fact that the metaphor applies to any idea, such as the one I'm saying right now and to the concept itself, is a shallow intellectual feint or trick which gives the meme concept a certain beauty that is only skin deep. It fails to truly explain the effectiveness of particular ideas and merely states a tautology in a clever way - that ideas that spread are the ideas that spread. Granted, the metaphor allows for more wonder than that tautology; that's it's real value; but, the cost of papering-over specific psychological and social understanding is too great.

[@13igworm]

Really good video

[@maryseguevara8131]

Very helpful videos! During the whole video, the question nagging me was, how can we inoculate ourselves against untrue memes? For example, the idea of "some people believe a whole web of untruths in the area of politics surrounding a stolen election at this moment.". Which has led to some people spreading the idea that this will inevitably end democracy. Which has led some to propagate the idea there will be a civil war. ... Which looks like meme upon meme creating webs that humans may not be able to untangle, all because humans look for ways to understand the world and each other. But in so doing, they grow further apart?

[@billyfudd818]

thanks for eliminating glib quips from your lip flips (heaving sighs of relief)!

[@amraouza4937]

Holy shit , the image of fighting for a meme is pretty crazy and true 😣

[@RobGorman840]

Great vid

[@matthewkopp2391]

I can appreciate Dawkins theory but I think it is really shallow. The British have regularly dismissed the entire Kantian a priori tradition. Carl Jung based his entire psychology on the Kantian a priori idea. And what Jung is basically saying is that a meme is basically nothing, it is completely trivial. It only has power when it has an archetypal-instinctual hook. The examples that you gave in the video have very powerful archetypal hooks. Movements like MAGA and BLM are essentially secular-religious movements, so it is easy to explain the archetypal hooks. In other words these movements are coming out of a primary spiritual instinct of projecting onto the nation as the great motherland/fatherland God (MAGA) or the corrupt Demiurge tyrannical God (BLM). In ancient Rome the Great Fatherland religion was expressed by turning Julius Caesar into a God people sacrifice themselves to the state religion. While the Gnostics and Early Christians created a religion of martyred saints, imitatio Christ. Something like that even though more complex. These are powerful archetypal instinctual patterns that allow people to place themselves in first person into Grand Narratives. Strangely it is Darwin’s lack of religious and philosophical education which strikes him blind to what these instincts really are. He has the completely naive belief that if we just ended religion once in for all people would act rationally. He is completely wrong. The deep root of the memes he is most upset about, irrational religious belief, are completely built into our humanity. If we took away all religion, we would still have irrational religiously acting people. The archetype would simply express itself in another way, such as worshiping a dictator or an ideology.

[@shannon6365]

This is a good comment, brother. Quite insightful

[@shannon6365]

@@thotslayer9914 Yes, why?

[@mark4asp]

BTW: My little history of skepticism - banned for 1100 years in Europe before its revival after Galileo - is more than a parable. It is the reason why I am neither a socialist, nor a conservative. The revival in skepticism led to progress, capitalism and science. Which led me to writing this comment on Ryan's post; explaining why skepticism is NOT a meme. Science, like skepticism, is NOT a meme either. It is a method. It must be practiced in order to be understood. It is not enough to know how science and skepticism are supposed to work. You can write a book on either - without practicing either - but you will only understand them when you do them. From my experience in society I have NO confidence in either socialism nor conservatism to keep science and skepticism healthy. Without healthy skepticism society will die.

[@AstroSquid]

To me, why someone would believe the earth is flat is so very important. To me the gems at the bottom of that barrel would provide answers to humanity that are so bright it will unlock the nature of humanity in a way that could possible end violence. I would imagine the answer to that question would require people to understand what they are, and why they draw the conclusions they do. So to ignore the most violent aspects of meme's is to give up on the most important answers society could need. Because if a smart person can think the world is flat, then a smart person could give up truth for their tribes meme's. Relative to absolute knowledge we are all flat earthers.

[@philipbrister]

Subscribed

[@markuswelander8551]

We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you! We will spread you!

[@WiffGiff]

Is it possible to get CC for this video in Chinese?

[@enahpincer6233]

Amazing...

[@daviddavid5880]

Thanks for the info. The Faithful seriously creep me out.

[@andrewstoll4548]

Sept 11, 2022 You did this over a year ago. I'd love to see you update some of this after watching 2000 mules.

[@apkoiv5795]

8:16 Oooh, this sounds like a good idea!🧠I'd really like to become a host for this meme 😆

[@RyderSpearmann]

Oh, also... I believe I first read about mimetics in an amazing book called Engines of Creation by K. Eric Drexler... I can't recommend the book enough... it literally predicts the internet and hyperlinks, discusses the evolution/inevitability of nanotechnology (and the dangers) and I believe AI as well. It's a must read.

[@daviddavids2884]

this is about memes ?!?!?! an amusing or interesting item (such as a captioned picture or video) or genre of items that is spread widely online especially through social media

[@RyderSpearmann]

@@daviddavids2884 Yeah, that is not actually a meme… I mean, it sort of is… those are memes individually, and even a “popular” embodiment of what an actual meme is… which is basically an “idea” that self can replicate. From Engines of Creation: “Richard Dawkins calls bits of replicating mental patterns "memes" (meme rhymes with cream). He says "examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body [generation to generation] via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation."

[@vincentwalters7267]

Awesome video dude, great job staying neutral and still being funny, while also being constructive and unifying

[@itwsntme]

CGP Grey has a great video on this. "This video will make you angry". He argues that some seemingly opposing memes (say, two political ideologies) instead of competing are actually in a symbiotic relationship. As each side angrily talks among themselves about the other side, both memes strengthen. More like flowers and bees than competitors.

[@gwho]

the fact that the meaning of meme changed shows that the word meme is itself a meme and evolves. that's brilliantly self-referencial

[@lightfusegetaway]

Very satisfied to see "The Rent Is Too Damn High" made the infectious memes cut. 👐

[@georgem5589]

You're letting the cat out of the bag here. Politicians have known this for decades. Great vid. Shout out to Rene Girard Mimetic Theory.

[@wbiro]

There are three reasons, meme or no meme: 1. to fit in; 2. to fit in; 3. to fit in, even if it is into a clueless world.