Abstract
We are composed of genes and memes. We inherit genes from our parents, and by extension, our ancestors, human and prehuman. Memes are mostly information from our cultural environment that are also inherited from our parents and ancestors. Some memes are introduced into the environment from other cultures or de novo by creative persons. Memes are dispersed in the environment around us, like chemicals in a petri dish. Some of the memes forcibly penetrate our brains, others are passively absorbed by our brains. This chapter discusses the broad concepts of cultural inheritance and meme’s role in it. We also discuss the concept of memeplexes and the nature of cultural change.
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References
Dawkins, R. (1976) The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, New York.
Dawkins, R. (2006) The Selfish Gene (30th anniversary edn). Oxford University Press, Oxford; New York.
Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
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Leigh, H. (2010). What Do We Inherit from Our Parents and Ancestors?. In: Genes, Memes, Culture, and Mental Illness. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5671-2_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5671-2_5
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