The Meme Machine Summary

Many view the human race as highly superior to all other existing species. For millennia, different scholars, religious leaders, scientists, and philosophers’ attempts to explain the exceptionality of humanity remain contested and unproven. In an excerpt from “The Meme Machine”, Blackmore argues that imitation is an inherent nature and the most distinctive characteristic of the human race. Imitation merely shows humans’ unwillingness and, even inability, to be independent and think critically. The usage of memes is ignorant because scenarios that defy helpful, even necessary, evolutionary opportunities for adaptation are repeated without correction. For centuries, humanity has viewed itself as having unquestionable unrivaled intelligence; however,
4) Humans’ inability to recognize the key differences between their species and all other species suggests complete ignorance, an ignorance that Blackmore’s text can be interpreted to suggest comes from the under recognition of, and possibly even the over usage of, imitation in the form of memes. One example of a meme is language, ranging from words and phrase in a language to the entire language itself. In most countries, the average citizen has at least limited understanding of two languages, often even more. However, English phrases and the English language has become a meme that is known by billions of people throughout the world. Due to the prevalence of the meme of the English language, many native English speakers are exceptionally more ignorant when it comes to their peers on matters of language. English speakers have become dependent on the English language being a meme and have stopped thinking critically about other languages, showcasing the intellectual dangers of