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How close is the analogy between memes and genes?

April 26, 2017analogy genes memes

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How close is the analogy between memes and genes?

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Depending on how “meme” and “gene” are defined, answers range from not very to really close! Using the definitions adopted by this site, the answer lies in between these two responses. Both memes and genes are replicators and undergo natural selection due to differential reproduction and competition for finite resources – in the memes’ case, adherents. However, mechanisms of inheritance differ between the two: memes can combine, fuse, and re-form in quasi-Lamarckian ways that genes cannot. Please see Memes and Genes.