MEME M@©HIN3

I am afraid of smart people. The confident type. The fanatics and firm believers who are highly convince they know everything there is to know. I’ve met a lot of them. I’ve interacted with them. Slept in their cozy houses, ate their warm meals cooked by their friendly caretakers, and even shared jokes and laughs with them. I am afraid of them not because they’re smart but because they are confident that they’re...

There was a girl I used to spend time with from my school days. During the holidays, I would visit her and her nice grandmother in their nice home. We'd play with her cats, watch movies, and engage in various discussions. However, one topic we never broached was politics. It was a sensitive topic, but it was a topic that confused me. A lot. Politics in general smells like show business or just plain business business. I had more questions about it than opinions. Thus, I genuinely asked my friend why she ardently supported the president. I desired to understand her perspective because she appeared smart. Unfortunately, her response lacked a concrete explanation. She only said, "Maybe someday, we can engage in a friendly debate about it."

Next time I visited her house, her grandmother came up to me and labeled me as this liberal party supporter, which I am not. In fact, I do not align myself with any current political party. Her accusations felt like a strange and awkward attempt to attack me. She uttered, "I heard you questioned my granddaughter about why our family supports the president. My granddaughter informed me that she did not know how to respond to your question. But what can she do? We have instilled in her a firm belief in the president."

To this day, I remain unaware of the reasons behind their support for the president but at least I know now that my friend is not as smart as I thought she was. She seems incapable of independent decision-making and, contrary to her earlier assertion, was not genuinely interested in engaging in a friendly debate with me.

After that incident, I couldn't help but feel that everything about her was baloney. I wasn't angry, just deeply disappointed. Not in her specifically, but in my own misjudgment of her character. It wasn't her desire for a debate that bothered me; in fact, I would have welcomed the opportunity. I saw it as an smart move, a chance to listen to her perspective and broaden my own understanding. However, I couldn't shake the uncertainty of whether her support for the president was driven by personal reasons or simply an unquestioning adherence to familial or societal expectations. And that, to me, was damn dangerous.

I often find myself discussing horizontal gene transfer (HGT), the process by which heritable materials are exchanged between distantly related organisms. While HGT is well-documented in prokaryotes, such as fast-mutating bacteria or archaea, its occurrence and significance in eukaryotes, particularly in animals, remains a topic of ongoing debate.

Words, norms, manners, morals, cultures, beliefs, and faiths—collectively known as memes—operate in a manner similar to HGT. Humans are prolific producers and transmitters of memes. Our minds function as vessels, absorbing and replicating information and experiences without adequate filtration or discernment. Like permeable materials lacking firewalls, the human mind indiscriminately copies and retains various memes, including those of complex nature. These memes, akin to genes, can be passed down through generations if the mechanisms for production and transmission persist, and if there are receptive minds to receive unfiltered information. One of the inherent limitations of the human brain is its lack of a built-in filtration system for memes. It is susceptible to infection, and the rapid influx of information only exacerbates the degeneration of the human mind.

Beyond the threats posed by zoonotic diseases, we should be acutely aware of the viral-like spread of memes infecting our minds. Just as diseased minds are more susceptible to manipulation and suggestibility, so too are minds infected with memes. It is a matter of utmost importance that we cultivate critical thinking and discernment, protecting ourselves from the influence of memes that may compromise our autonomy and individuality.

In a world where people often prefer the comfort of fantasy over the harshness of reality, it is essential to occasionally confront sensitive topics and taboos. Whether it be politics, sex, love, drugs, death, morals, or religion, delving into these realms allows us to gain a deeper understanding of the world we inhabit. Reality itself is a vast and multifaceted landscape, both dark and exciting, and by avoiding these discussions, we deny ourselves the opportunity to truly grasp the complexities of being human.

It is sad to see smart people get stuck in their network of ancient memes, lazily and stubbornly relying on unquestioned norms and cultural and familial traditions that keep them from seeing the bigger, more complex and nuanced picture of life. And so I ponder: If we merely go along with the flow, allowing ancient and outdated memes propagated by friends and family to dictate our beliefs and behaviors, are we not consigning ourselves to a life that is normal, mundane, and monotonous? By adhering rigidly to societal norms and cultural traditions, are we not impeding our own potential for growth, reinvention, and innovation? Maybe, to some extent, just like our genome, we need repetitive elements to preserve certain values which are foundations for human evolution. Novel knowledge and experiences horizontally acquired, however, may be the few necessary things that keep life enriching and colorful.

Further readings:

Blackmore, S., & Blackmore, S. J. (2000). The meme machine (Vol. 25). Oxford Paperbacks.

Dawkins, R. (2004). A devil's chaplain: Reflections on hope, lies, science, and love. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Dawkins, R. (2016). The selfish gene. Oxford university press.

Dennett, D. C., & Dennett, D. C. (1996). Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (No. 39). Simon and Schuster.

Foucault, M. (2005). The order of things. Routledge.

Nietzsche, F. W. (1920). The antichrist (Vol. 3). AA Knopf.

Nietzsche, F. W. (2004). Ecce Homo: How One Becomes what One is; The Antichrist: a Curse on Christianity. Algora Publishing.