Ideas and Technology

Psychologist Susan Blackmore discusses her work in the study of memes, stating these phenomenons are "ideas that replicate themselves from brain to brain like a virus." An example of a meme that Blackmore provides is the act of wearing one's glasses around one's neck; they did not invent the idea of doing it, it is something they've seen done and replicated. Susan Blackmore uses Darwin's evolutionary algorithm that states if you have variation, selection and heredity, "you must get evolution or design out of chaos without the aid of mind."

Since memes are anything that is copied and imitated, Blackmore argues that we are "meme machines," perpetuating a myriad of ideas all the time. She also argues that a new kind of meme has been spawned, one that replicates itself through technology. Susan Blackmore calls this sub-genre "temes."