Memetics - The Evolution of Ideas

[Virtueman1]

interesting. Could crows really have "ideas" though? I wonder what the implications of this is to Ayn Rand's epistemology.

[boynamedblue]

stop using the word "thing" so much. jesus.

[mydeadexlover]

That would actually make sense...

[vladdycat]

Interesting lecture. You might want to change your background from you unmade bed to some more credible.

[Bolverkson1984]

Variation, heredity, and selection, the evolutionary algorithm. Genetic + Memetic evolution - symbiosis NOW. WHITE POWER! lmao

[Louislane20042000]

*laughs* That's funny. I watched that talk on the intelligence of crows months ago. I love the crow vending machine. I also love this topic, I would say I'm slightly obsessive about it right now. I think it should be researched more. I mean, the implications are staggering, if we understand memetic evolution to it's bones, we could finally figure out how to be happy and and non destructive. Do you think there is a connection to Memetics and the Transactional Analysis?

[ArchonAlarion]

I have used that argument for the chicken and the egg lol.

I always pwn with such logick =)

[shameoncanada]

This is a link to a TedTalks clip with Susan Blackmore discussing memes and temes. Its a little dramatic, but still pretty interesting. watch?v=fQ_9-Qx5Hz4&feature=ch­annel_page

[MrMincer]

The evolution of Ideas... Isn't that in essence pragmatism? The ideas that 'work'; are functional, will survive.

[XOmniverse]

I guess in some sense, but not in the sense of the word pragmatism that asserts that principles are impractical.

[FatGermanBastard]

Very interesting video... I just recently saw a documentary about Magpies and how they build complex tools consisting of several different parts. That's amazing. Birds building tools.

The only thing that would amaze me more would be if they'd start to sell the stuff they steal on Ebay... But who knows...we'll might see that one day :D

[BWF89]

I guess it's going to be a long time before moths learn not to fly into bug zappers.

[juliecranford]

That's cool. I never knew that crows were intelligent.

[lukeev]

Dude! I frickin' love crows! That video was awesome. I give you 6 stars!

[DixyHair]

Technology also evolves, & it's our way of compensating for a lack of groovy new mutations.

[Brandonduboff]

I always look forward to the intellectually pleasing discussions you bring to youtube, and this is one of your best topics yet. THANK YOU. I love the anecdotal stories told here, but isn't anecdotal evidence unsubstantial in the scientific arena? Is it because this is less about evolutionary science, and more about psychology- and hence why anecdotal evidence becomes worthy? SOMEONE PLEASE HELP

[XOmniverse]

The things about crows that I described are empirically observed and not anecdotal. The video I linked to has video of a lot of it.

[Sepero1]

Good vid. It just made me realize that memes give humans an unfair advantage over other life forms. I actually think that sucks, because we basically just arrived here by pure luck. Kinda makes me feel more sympathy for other life forms. Yeah, I like nature. Fuck everyone that doesn't! lol

[sharperguy]

How can something be anything other than nature?

[Sepero1]

My point exactly.

[Sepero1]

We are part of nature, therefore we should care for ourselves.

[893Productions]

as far as the fire analogy goes, evolution only occurs if the following occurs:

-person_A sees person_B dying from fire

-person_A doesnt recognize fire as harmful after witnessing person_B's experience

-person_A later gets faced with a fire and react too slowly due to not figuring out its danger via seeing person_B's demise

[chris3443]

Really interesting ideas, thanks for the food for thought.

[lordmetroid]

I notice the idea of anarchism really have evolved fast the last couple of years. It all started as more market anarchist have become quite vocal on the internet discussing the ideology.

[Sphair0n]

Yes, the internet has certainly accelerated the process of memetics. Most importantly, it has allowed fairly low-budget memes such as market anarchism to compensate for the disadvantages they had before nearly zero-cost advertising and information spread was possible.

It's increasingly becoming a battle between the intellectual quality, not the financial backing of ideas. This is a great evolutionary development for all kinds of anarchists.

[martheczar]

i remember taking a seminar about memes, it was the first time I had ever heard about it. I definitely believe memetic evolution exists - watching the Ted Talks crow video, was the first time I had ever heard of anyone attributing memetic evolution to other species. Another interesting point made in the video was about how little attention is given to the animals who are "proliferating" as a result of human existence. I always hated the idea that humans are poisoning the world- life, etc.

[TruthHidden]

There is evidence and potential proof of positive evolution as well as negative evolution in genetics. The adaptation and evolution of ideas spreads and alters like a vine in human society due to intelligence. The crow video was fascinating, and showed evidence of potential in other species never known before.