Richard Dawkins | Memes | Oxford Union

An extract from Richard Dawkin's open Q&A session at the Oxford Union on 18th February 2014.
ABOUT RICHARD DAWKINS: Clinton Richard Dawkins is an English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008.
Dawkins came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centred view of evolution and introduced the term meme. In 1982, he introduced into evolutionary biology the influential concept that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms; this concept is presented in his book The Extended Phenotype.
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[@salvador0919]

survival of the dankest

[@deniz9415]

This made my day

[@sleepwalking117]

Hahahaha this was amazing.

[@caricatureparty]

The best comment in all of youtube

[@jacksonbruno9924]

That was awesome hahaha

Finally I got the joke. "Dank Meme refers to viral memes which are cool, super funny, epic, awesome, blah blah"

[@ReticularTunic7]

“Memes, The DNA of Soul” - Monsoon

[@simonfarbiarzbotero3138]

Man of culture

[@jon_doe4763]

Memesoon, of the memes of destruction*

[@TheLemming1337]

ngl, putting the metal gear rising's monsoon theme on the background while listening to this just feels right

[@alejandroparrapintado4623]

Based

[@Gia1911Logous]

@@TheLemming1337 AND IT WILL COME

[@mumkeymaan4600]

And Dawkins said "Let there be memes"

[@RillianGrant]

And Dawkins saw the memes, and they were good; and Dawkins divided the dank from the stank

[@luisdominik128]

You prolly dont give a shit but does anybody know of a tool to get back into an Instagram account..? I was stupid forgot my login password. I would appreciate any tricks you can give me!

[@nikolasadrien5284]

@Luis Dominik Instablaster ;)

[@HenryCasillas]

🍪

[@matthewmessenger8546]

Your likes are at 420, I hope it forever stays that way

[@sovereignviper2664]

Richard Dawkins: Scholar of The First Meme

[@manaspandit2947]

Just like dark souls

[@a8lg6p]

The main thing that people totally misunderstand about the meme idea is that he was using a thought experiment to make a point about the underlying logic behind natural selection, not proposing a new theory of cultural transmission.

[@MrxstGrssmnstMttckstPhlNelThot]

a8lg6p but studying certain aspects of culture, it does seem he was right despite that. Lots of ideas have evolved with the sole end goal of spreading itself over all things.

[@TheScreamingMime]

Memes are an extended phenotype

[@chadpathan4401]

He pukes bullshit everyday🤢🤮

[@tiromandal6399]

​@@chadpathan4401 Do something more than project your own shit onto others! Yea I know it's impossible for you guys as it'd require a functional brain but just try for once!

[@iamlordstarbuilder5595]

It’s still true through.

[@jgdeutsch]

These kids all look hungover and bored 😂 Imagine being the person who first theorizes a concept that will define the first half of the 21st century and the crowd can barely stay awake to realize the significance.

[@kenbellchambers4577]

Because Dawkins looks hungover and bored.

[@Atma505]

sounds like every single coughy person in the damn audience caught some of The Meme that morning

[@marvinmartian7281]

They needed codeine syrop.

[@vishalprasad2138]

Corona, perhaps

[@sircastic959]

Bruh. Almost fell for it, then I saw the (edited). NICE WORK! 5:11 - 5:30 There´s your meme.

[@MarissaCarole]

Coughing is all i hear

[@Atma505]

@@vishalprasad2138 Can't believe Dawkins was patient zero smh

[@manutd22]

he is the father of all memes

[@BloodyBaseballs6053]

"We are all pawns, controlled by something greater: Memes. The DNA of the soul. They shape our will. They are the culture - they are everything we pass on. Expose someone to anger long enough, they will learn to hate. They become a carrier. Envy, greed, despair… All memes. All passed along." _~Monsoon_

[@asimsoo291]

The memes of destruction

[@desaturatedair]

by saying this, you just prove monsoons point

[@flor473]

We found him, the CEO of meme

[@artenroyal10]

Dawkins: It doesn't have to be that way Jack & Armstrong: It has to be this way

[@BloodyBaseballs6053]

Standing Here, I realize

[@doctorhunter5553]

Memes, The DNA of the Soul

[@maxwellsequation4887]

Stole- forget it

[@warhammer40th]

not the memes I was expecting

[@CosmicNIO]

+Gear Boy not dank enough

[@seamonkeys12y]

Get back to MemeCenter

[@noire1706]

he created the word meme so have some respect fool

[@gregjacobs8544]

but if you actually listen he is talking about memes

[@cheltencam]

I am very disappointed.

[@EVERYWHERE_MAN]

So this is the man that invented meme Truly A Cultured individual

[@pappapaps]

*discovered

[@MrFreeze1295]

some dank memes right here...

[@ffnovice7]

+wtNiles Ah somebody infected with the "'dank memes' meme" meme here.

[@ffnovice7]

***** >using nested double quotes >adding a face at the end Memetic MUTANTS GET OUT REEEEEEEEEEEE

[@michaelshannon6134]

He has the socially awkward penguin on his tie. He is signaling his true understanding of what a meme is.

[@Snikio]

lol

[@MarttiSuomivuori]

I think Lalla picks the ties. His wife, that is.

[@Snikio]

@@MarttiSuomivuori Didn't he get divorced???

[@kenbellchambers4577]

@@Snikio Yes, because his wife picked shitty ties.

[@speedstriker]

This seem to be an adequate explanation for why religious adherence to a formats tend to result in better, danker memes.

[@jupiter0103]

DORIME

[@thisisamessful]

are they in a tuberculosis ward? everybody's coughing every second.

[@jorianx2197]

Nice one lol

[@cocasurfboards]

Memes

[@passerby4278]

Probably the winter season

[@Gold-cb2pq]

They caught the meme

[@karlazeen]

You know the way memes work is eerily similar to how evolution works. Random memes are made every day but eventually they survive the popularity contest through a selective agent that being us. You can also make family trees amongst which memes spawned from which ones like for example wojack memes being an evolution of troll face memes.

[@mrpipps90]

Yeah no shit. Thats what he just said...

[@decepticonmaster7702]

Monsoon was right, memes are the dna of the soul

[@yourajtiwary3472]

Monsoon character was designed based on his book that he wrote in 1976

[@thekeypresser]

eliminate the coughers!

[@marvinmartian7281]

Codeine syrop

[@abijake4318]

Listen to that new track called Hanky Panky by virtue scripts and everything will be explained

[@flor473]

coronavirus 😤

[@ryano8768]

It’s here

[@user-sk8dr6zt2q]

Calm down, man. It could be asthma.

[@cmdrfrosty3985]

I still can’t believe he coined meme

[@davidkariu2330]

Read the Selfish Gene. Oh wait..

[@magicpotion8]

The meaning got changed from what he originally meant

[@rikatan]

@@magicpotion8 No, "internet meme" is just a subset of the exact concept he's talking about. Ideas that spread and mutate. Except on the internet and usually humorous.

[@magicpotion8]

Rikatan No, the original term meant "a unit of cultural transmission" like an idea, thought or expression and now the definition is something like "a humorous image propagated online"

[@Syncsta]

@@magicpotion8 how is that different from the original concept?

[@IceTeaEdwin]

Neat tie.

[@quirkypurple]

His lovely wife designs his ties and he wears them all the time!

[@jeffreystevens8042]

I want to go to David Bowie's meme school and listen in on meme lectures given by Richard Dawkins. Then I will become a forum moderator.

[@jordanturner7917]

I'm at Oxford listening to a lecture by Richard Dawkins while I'm sitting in my house chilling

[@Oopdie6721]

This is both accurate and insane

[@EVERYWHERE_MAN]

So this is the meme lord

[@user-bk9fk2tq2z]

Yep 🙂

[@callank]

Memes have become a ubiquitous part of internet culture, with millions of people sharing and creating them every day. A meme is a cultural artifact that spreads through the internet, often in the form of an image, video, or text that is humorous, satirical, or ironic. Memes are often used to express emotions, opinions, or ideas in a way that is relatable and entertaining. One of the most popular memes of recent years is the "distracted boyfriend" meme. This meme features a stock photo of a man looking at another woman while his girlfriend looks on in disapproval. The image has been used to represent a variety of situations, from political scandals to pop culture references. The "distracted boyfriend" meme is a prime example of how memes can be used to comment on social and cultural issues. The image has been used to criticize everything from infidelity to political corruption, and has become a shorthand for the idea of distraction and temptation. Another popular meme is the "doge" meme, which features a picture of a Shiba Inu dog with captions written in broken English and Comic Sans font. The doge meme is known for its absurdity and randomness, and has been used to express a wide range of emotions, from joy to confusion. The popularity of memes can be attributed to their ability to tap into the collective consciousness of internet users. Memes often reflect the current cultural zeitgeist, and can be used to comment on everything from politics to pop culture. They are also a way for people to connect with each other and share a common experience. However, memes are not without their controversies. Some memes have been criticized for perpetuating harmful stereotypes or promoting hate speech. Others have been accused of trivializing serious issues or making light of tragedy. Despite these criticisms, memes continue to be a popular form of expression on the internet. They are a way for people to connect with each other and share a laugh, and have become an important part of internet culture. As long as they are used responsibly and respectfully, memes will continue to be a powerful tool for communication and self-expression.

[@iraklikotiashvili1776]

Underrated comment frfr

[@JuliaLanski]

Wow great explanation! Thx

[@BenWillock]

It's funny to think that in a way religion is itself in many ways proof of natural selection, through memetics.

[@veohWulf13]

He is the one who coined the term "meme".

[@DeconvertedMan]

Dawkins: Made a meme. Everyone else: Memes are for the net. Memes: Yes.

[@truckerfromreno]

Genius explanation, so clear and simple.

[@AverageAlien]

Intellectual discussion about memes, welcome to 2018

[@VickyChijwani]

You've got it backwards. Meme theory (what you call "intellectual discussion about memes") was proposed by Dawkins wayyyy back in the 1980s. Internet memes are named after that theory.

[@tylercafe1260]

It's because of your generation people said May-may instead of meme.

[@MikeS-um1nm]

@@VickyChijwani Actually, Dawkins coined the word in 1976 (at least I'm pretty sure) in his book "The Selfish Gene" (I think), but I think you're right about that comment getting things backward. A lot of people throw the word: "Meme" around these days, without "truly" understanding it. This video is pretty good education, for anyone wanting to know. Dawkins really does have a GREAT way of explaining things that are complicated and making them easy for the average person to understand. I've read a lot of his books and listened to him in videos, and man, I wish I had teachers and professors like HIM! I came here looking for a way to accurately describe what a meme actually is. Someone recently asked me, and as much as I KNEW the answer, I found it surprisingly difficult to convey a definition!! I did ok , but I wish I had watched this video first!!

[@suncat5160]

lol when he said "That's a bad meme" i lost my shit

[@user-lw9nc4ig9q]

dear Richard dawkins.. love from Bangladesh

[@cheesywiz9443]

BD ^^

[@colinburgess7728]

with the simple message, if there is an error, then the sequence could be partially put in order by dividing it into pre- and post- change

[@beetogarcia9983]

Memes, the DNA of the soul

[@moisessaunders947]

Exquisite!

[@bio_5467]

THE MEMES JACK PASS DOWN YOUR MEMES

[@daephx]

That was a straight up tedtalk intro

[@memesbycowbelly]

💯

[@thecaf8985]

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[@michaelpisciarino5348]

DNA, DNA Equivalent? Another kind of replicator? A Meme 2:07 Copying an idea from 1 brain to another, like a virus 3:20 Generations 4:00 Catchy tunes 5:10 Mutation rate too high for memes 6:56 A game of telephone ☎️ - Mutation allows for an order to be observed. Exact copies make it more difficult to detect an order/sequence.

[@dirkplankchest1796]

Beautiful explanation. I'm a carpenter that memes the style of shakers.

[@Capgungoesbang]

This is a great video but I can't help but wanna point out the guy in the brown suit sitting behind them who is asleep haha.

[@TheJakecheck]

Raiden, cut the power now!

[@f.boogaloospook2318]

DOKTOR

[@SaikatBasak]

1:50

[@mokonemokone3158]

2:01 is the kid in the brown suit sleeping?

[@satan6412]

I think we found out where covid really started.

[@generalviewer8347]

evolutionary memeologist richard dawkins

[@buddha5446]

Oh god yes.

[@derpeth2101]

*memeticist

[@CoastOfUtopia]

I always get transported when I reflect on the idea that we (our selves) are not "thinking thoughts", but rather "thoughts are thinking us", i.e. ideas (memes) relate to our minds as genes relate to our bodies, i.e. it's not personalities that are the agents of cultural evolution, but the memes. On my money (I teach acting) it is a very viable and useful idea. In practice, it translates as "You are what you think". And most actors know that. So for "common" people, there might be a problem looking at yourself this way. Because a "self" is a very deep-rooted meme itself, and its main function is to fight back all the memes that endanger its existence. So... good luck transcending your self. ;)

[@jacobkudrowich]

Stick to acting cause this "deep though" Is about as shallow as your gene pool

[@mr.reality3167]

The memes jack.

[@umashika5155]

In the future, memes, quantum mechanics, AI, and ethics will become important.

[@marcusanark2541]

Good explanation.

[@georgemargaris]

when something bad happens we in the western world say „Oh oh“.... that‘s a meme too. We all use it, and it wasnt tought to us in school. We learned it exactly OUTSIDE of school. Not sure if it’s even in the dictionary... It would be very interesting to know when „Oh oh“ was first used.... 🤔

[@bendonford4672]

well said

[@adwaitnaravane5285]

Off course, Dawkins knows about the Rule of Two, he is Palpatine in disguise!

[@nightowl6260]

A tune, or style of dress, would not be exactly copied (or replicated) because each person would slightly individualize the tune or clothing. It would be altered by the recipient and put back into the world in some altered form. It would be altered by the individuals personal preference, individual history---that would change a note, a tempo, based on how the person experiences it and likes or dislikes it. The individual brain selects patterns, differently. It is an aspect of creativity and individuality.

[@Aengus42]

Aaargh! Too short! Is the whole talk online anywhere?

[@TheYoGhurtE]

The covid memes in my head are triggered so much by all the coughing in that room, god.

[@MarttiSuomivuori]

Nobody to continue his work? What a brilliant chap.

[@paulwolf3302]

Are ideas really copied from one person's brain to another? What about the person receiving the meme? Don't they have any say in whether or not it's copied? An idea that fits into your world view and supports it, becomes incorporated, and may become one of your beliefs. It's just more evidence that you're right. However, an idea that doesn't sound right to you gets recorded merely as "I've heard of that" but not incorporated into your model of the world. Particular ideas or memes will take hold in people who are predisposed to them. You don't always need a particular idea. But when someone says something that plugs a hole or solves a problem for you, you get an instant gratification. When this solves a problem for many people, the meme can go viral and multiply and spread as far and as fast as the communication network allows. So, it's not an intrinsic property of the idea (like the molecular structure of a virus), but how well it fits into a gap in understanding, and how many people need to fill the gap at that particular time.

[@cgtechie]

I think what he is trying to say is that in order for a meme to be more like a gene the group has to be less intelligent/creative. They have to just follow their instructions and not alter the initial input?

[@stoyanfurdzhev]

I'll will put the deviations of most scientific theories from their common source Parmenides in order, even if I don't speak ancient Greek at all, nor English as a native speaker, not because I understand Bulgarian better than any other language, but because it is the shared understanding of the order in which singular ideas are arranged in sentences that matters, and not the shared understanding of a particular term; say, singularity or being, generated and replicated respectively with astonishing similarly in meaning, despite the "significant" cultural gab after more than two thousand years of human "evolution".

[@lapulapuspirit]

the universe is a simulation of the flow of knowledge

[@JohnSmith-ef6sv]

Popular ideas and behaviors in social species means survival in terms of natural selection. Because any idea or behavior that doesn't benefit survival gets tossed out.

[@marvinmartian7281]

Wise guy indeed brilliant

[@robertpatter5509]

Richard Dawkins himself is living a meme. How Dawkins Got Pawned video explains how and why

[@Kpb4MoHaBT]

Bulgarian language is a very good example. If you don't understand it you won't be able to repeat if it's complex sentence.

[@mikeexits]

Крис Георгиев Really any language, but definitely the more relatively "different" languages from the reference point of your own language. By what you said I'd imagine English would be hard to reproduce for a native Bulgarian speaker, too.

[@antaress8128]

Well Russian is related to Bulgarian but still it was harder for me to learn Russian than English.

@@antaress8128 That's because English is very useful and we tend to consume a lot of culture in said language. I'm Brazilian and I speak Portuguese, and although Portuguese is really similar to Spanish, I never got to learn it. Mainly because I have no use for it.

[@DeanRendar]

humanity is the show, and the meme of being selfish was inserted genetically during the commercial break by the local sponsor: EARTH

[@timothylove9724]

8:52 saving this for later

[@sameemkhan-vi9zl]

Proof right there. Replication of Coughs!

[@laughoutloud4267]

A great explanation of Chinese Whisper!

[@marceloortiz7966]

He emphasized that the rhyme must be SHORT for it to be transmitted accurately. I'm curious because DNA is definitely not a short sequence of data

[@marceloortiz7966]

@@Eddy-dn1jx That's a good point. I suppose the rate of mutation is greater with smaller chunks of information, like the melody of a song...but my intuition tells me it should be the other way around...a huge string of DNA has much more chance of something being copied incorrectly than a short sequence of notes...

[@marceloortiz7966]

@@Eddy-dn1jx DNA is akin to a long story, but it is replicated with high accuracy and reliablility, that's what I'm confused about. Shouldn't something as long as DNA have little reseblance to its original when replicated?

[@Jacob-sl6ur]

@@marceloortiz7966 The thing with DNA replication is that mistakes are very abundant, but the enzymes in control of the replication have proofreading mechanism so those mistakes get corrected. Not all mistakes are corrected, some base pairs do get wrongly replicated but usually that doesn't mean anything, most of the DNA isn't expressed in a meaningful way so those mistakes can't be seen.

[@theknave4415]

ACGT is almost as short as it gets and still be able to convey information. ;) Sometimes, the data is correct and our pov is not. ;)

[@oldcowbb]

That's his point, meme is a analogy to gene, not DNA, which is sufficiently short unit that doesn't mutate very often

[@FittedSheetGaming]

I hate how I type in meme theory, and there's just a bunch of the internet memes that gen z uses

[@foresttow1459]

But you could argue that many people see the same meme, which is pretty much it replicating in the perception of many people.

[@RockAristote]

You should read The revolutionary phenotype

[@future_error]

That's the worst tie I've ever seen, looks so random. I love it.

[@JetGuyAlt]

little did he know…

[@J_Gamer_Mapping]

A nice thought

[@cosmicmelodies3734]

Imagine if one day we come up with a meme which can affect our psychologycal being like a contagious virus able to use it as a lethal weapon like (t-virus) it would be another step in advancement of our civilization.

[@saintdenis3238]

Carl Jung's Archetype VS Richard Dawkin's Meme

[@GimriZ]

How is it different than idea of archetypes?

[@kvnboudreaux]

GimriZ archetypes are symbolic projections and representations of unconscious processes which show up repeatedly in dreams and myths, a meme is much broader term

[@user-ed7pu5uj3q]

@@kvnboudreaux And if I understand correctly, memes are prone to be transmitted from one human to another, whilst archetypes are simply a "type" of character. Thanks Boudreaux for unpacking this idea.

[@michaelcostello6019]

Memes are learned, archetypes aren't.

[@anonymoushuman8344]

It's unfortunate what has become of the word 'meme' through social media. I'm not a fan of Dawkins, but the concept is an important one that deserves to be understood and applied by everybody. We have the ability to become more concretely aware of how ideas, attitudes, ways of behaving, interpreting, seeing, etc. live and propagate through ourselves. Too often memes are thought of solely as behaviours, ideas, or attitudes that we deem undesirable and that we see 'catching'. But of course the concept relates to all of mental, social, and cultural life. We are never completely free of thoughts and behaviours that originate outside us and propagate through us. But it is possible to become more conscious, more autonomous, and more selective. It is possible to think and act more for ourselves. "Choose your mutations carefully." kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZ-Uh397bKqjepI

[@Mark73]

What's sad is that back in the 90s and early 2000s people took Dawkins' original idea of the meme and truly ran with it, building up massive vocabularies to talk about the idea of memes. Memeplexes, vaccimes, it was becoming truly an idea worth paying attention to. Then the whole thing collapsed into funny captioned pictures and only the name remained.

[@ProjectCreativityGuy96]

I lf I was born as a Meme, that would make My parents... Memey and Danky!

[@grahamblack1961]

The word meme has become autological.

[@victorgabrielbuena]

Everyone in that room had coronavirus

[@el-richy9067]

it's basically the same as jung's theory of archetypes

[@theknave4415]

Jung's theory was more about mysticism, than reality. Brilliant, for the time, but his theory was inadequate for explaining all of the data.

[@abijake4318]

It could be the explicit new track called Hanky Panky by virtue scripts For Adults only all will be explained very expicit

[@jamessilverio2657]

I bet people are watching this because they also wanted to hear him say the word meme.

[@polarbianarchy3333]

A language, religion, traditions of mascimity and femininity, etc. Large scale memes of social behavioral strategies??? Passing down evolved cultural knowledge, particularly shared behaviors and connecting ideas

[@jimtomo9207]

Masculinity and femininity are archetypes like a meme I suppose but it so old and successful that its bin incorporated into our dna. (Meme gene interaction)

[@victorzagrebin5765]

Memes. Is that what it’s called now? It used to be called Phen, Phenotype and Phenome.

[@esing14]

Seems like it’s why Americans get confused why they don’t fully understand British people. We share a language but have an entirely other set of cultural memes.

[@joseluisgomezdecena]

Re telephone, RD’s example assumes none of the players will not exercise their right to change the words

[@kronoscamron7412]

the father of memetics. this is the characteristics of memes: >high fedility replication >high level fecundity(replicate themselves) >longevity I would add to those (mutations) I just disagree with dawkins about the mutation point, english has mutated through the ages. and highly mutated from its original form, a meme that rapidly mutating is not a bad meme. but an evolving highly effective one.

[@sultanalzahrani3402]

Imagine coining a term after years of research just for kids to use it to refer to Internet jokes.

[@kevinduliesco5468]

Sorry Dawkins for using the word meme wrong,but they're some similarities

[@MataNuiOfficial]

Meme or be memed, Jack

[@saleteraffaini8687]

1:52 a prova que o Leon estava certo o tempo inteiro

[@TupacMakaveli1996]

Memes do have alot of imprints of our DNA

[@lemuelseale1640]

So memes are social genes?

[@oldcowbb]

pretty much, he invented the word as a analogy of gene

[@hawk0485]

YES, YES, YES I thought of this as well!