Why does a meme want to make copies of itself?

A meme is an idea, but not an idea as any other. We talk about memes as ideas that can be transported from one host to another, so they need to express themselves in a coded format and in a conscious way. From this point of view,  the sum is not a meme, since it belongs to the realm of nonverbal reasoning - indeed we need a major effort to transmit it and to learn it. Neither the process of cell division or photosynthesis are memes.

So what the heck is a meme? Let look deeper into the concept of verbal reasoning. "Coded" means expressible in linguistic terms. "Consciously transmited" is a too broad-speak. We assume that memes are not always transmitted consciously, although there is always a purpose in it. So we talk about memes in its most general form as those forms of verbal knowledge representing local or universal rules easily transmittable.

 But, Where does that intention come from? What is the purpose of transmitting a meme? As hosts, What is our level of involvement? As a mathematician I know many of the most important challenges of science have been solved thanks to a new notation, thanks to a more efficient management of concepts. So back to the biological analogue to better understand the question.

Why does a virus want to make copies of itself?

Funny. A virus does not want anything. Wanting is a human concept, and the virus is not at all concerned about it. In fact, a virus needs a host just because without it, it can not survive. Similarly no sense the life of a meme out of its host, because only survives as long as transmission lasts, from the beginning of the message until it ends. However, the meme is still living with his host until it is mutated, recombined or simply expelled by another meme, so it is important for their survival to get successfully transmitted before this happens

In short, a meme makes copies to survive and we can not ask in purpose or would have to open another blog to discuss the meaning of life

Quién fue primero ¿el cerebro o la idea?

Así que hemos quedado que somos más contenedores de ideas que generadores de las mismas, lo cual equivale a la eterna pregunta "¿Quién fue primero, la gallina-cerebro o el huevo-idea?"

No nos deja en tan mal lugar como parece, en definitiva, dado que aún así nos quedamos con bastante participación, al menos en el mantenimiento del crisol que permite recombinar y mutar memes. Es aquí donde el concepto de epimemética se hace evidente, porque los cerebros humanos son capaces de recombinar varios memes en uno, mutarlos (incluso aleatoriamente) y también forzar su extinción. Pero ¿cómo? Veámoslo desde un punto de vista epidemiológico:

"Las ideas son como las pulgas: van de una cabeza a otra, pero no pican a todos"

Esta famosa y casi premonitoria frase de G.Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) es una buena base para analizar la función del cerebro-huesped. ¿Qué hace que algunos cerebros sean "vulnerables" a la infección por ciertos memes? Una vez más, desde el análogo biológico, podríamos desarrollar toda una teoría paralela de los sistemas inmunitarios, de los que hemos llegado a conocer lo increíblemente específicos que llegan a ser en ciertas líneas familiares e incluso en los propios individuos. Pero para no complicar excesivamente las cosas, podríamos partir de que un cerebro-huesped está potegido "inmunológicamente" contra un meme-antígeno por otros memes-anticuerpo que son capaces de reconocerlo, luchar contra él y, si todo sale bien, neutralizarlo. Bien, parece lógico... Pero ¿Qué proceso es el que genera los meme-anticuerpo? ¿Cuál es la cascada que automatiza la generación del anticuerpo? ¿Existe como algo preestablecido o de nuevo es la creatividad humana la que construye el proceso o razonamiento ad-hoc?

Consideremos el proceso desde el principio: un vector, por ejemplo un eslógan publicitario a través de las ondas sonoras, inyecta su contenido (un meme: bebe Coca-Cola) en el cerebro-huesped a través del canal que forman el reconocimiento e interpretación del mensaje desde la región del cerebro encargada de interpretar el código sonoro. Lo que se ha producido es un poceso de infectación a escala unitaria (al contrario que en nuestro propio cuerpo físico, en el que se infectan miles de células antes de que el sistema inmunitario comience a dar una respuesta), en el que el cerebro trata de acoplar un meme de categorías similares en un estante ya ocupado. ¿Cómo gestionan el cerebro la intrusión?

Aquí es donde radica la potencia del intelecto y la creatividad humana y se ofrece la reconciliación de los defensores de la memética y sus detractores: la epimemética (un concepto cuyo análogo biológico sólo se está empezando a conocer).

Epimemetics, a memetic concept

Just as traditional genetics is being substantially transformed in epigenetic research, also the "meme" should do a rewrite of its principles having epigenetics as inspiration. Call it "epimemetics" for now, until we find validity in this term.

Since the first descriptions of memes and its evolution (Dawkins, 1976), few have been the variations to the theory, in part because of the uneven acceptance this theory has had by ethologists and sociologists. In fact, this theory being accepted by the scientific community is a step that should pass over many egos before hold. But, Why?

Precisely, is the intrinsics to the theory itself what makes it so difficult to digest - if something characterizes humans (scientists included) is our lack of humility as intellect is concerned. The baseline problem is to accept two fundamental points:

1) A meme is always considered an evolution of previous memes by a process of recombination.

2) We are a product of our memes in their phenotypic expression, not an individual who freely choose their destiny.

These two concepts together result in almost a direct insult to our intellect no longer, but beyond our ability to perceive the world. 

Since the phenotypic expression of a meme is part of the personality (eg referring to how a new ideology or a change of religion can modify the behavior of an individual to its deepest roots), we are leaving our innermost self to heave the set of memes that have nested in our brain.

So suppose that we have accepted these points and are willing to accept that our world view is the phenotype of memes that are now expressed in our consciousness ... Now what?