Meme Theory - the proof (finally)

[Response to Facebook].

Agreed as long as we stick to truth. I personally agree with Meme Theory (think he based it on mimesis) it explains why Mozart never wrote Schoenberg ;-) It is demonstrably "right" (I had the same idea at school so it's pretty obvious). But I also think that God is "right" (ironically for exactly the reasons involved in this argument!) Now the problem with RD here, it seems to me, is that he has slipped into dismissing some ideas as popular simply because of Meme Theory (e.g. God) and doesn't regard their truth value any more. They do the same thing with Terrorism: it is spread by Radicalisation; but I have never heard anyone discuss it rationally. All all Terrorists just sheep? 'Personally I think suicide bombers are as clueless as the people who are trained to shoot at each other by governments' - at least that is a clear discussable point of view unlike the Meme Theory approach. With Meme theory so clarified it can then be seen as a sophisticated marketing tool which can be (and is! see MIT research) used to engineer society which for a Libertarian principled society is quite sinister; it is what the Nazis started - but that contradiction is a different debate.

Anyway with this abuse of Meme Theory in sight then follows the argument above. Religion may go extinct in people's minds but that doesn't make it wrong so why is RD using Meme Theory in his arguments then? That's how we know he is a fascist bigot :-)

Thought of a purer reformulation of the problem. Meme Theory, if taken as a measure of validity (e.g. 'God' idea is only around because the idea spreads well), makes claims about its own truth value. Then we have the liar paradox. If we model the conditions for the extinction of Darwinism and Meme Theory (maybe a rise in Religious Fundamentalism) then on one hand we are taking the model to be true (the model results), but on the other hand the results say that the model is invalid because it is extinct. Contradiction so ergo we can't say that Meme Theory can ever make claims about something's validity. So the prevalence of Religion tells us nothing about whether it is right or not... (which proves Meme Theory's fascist roots also) QED.