Will Memetics Promote Human Survival?
The coming memetics age might become a greater calamity than the birth of evolution. Evolution made us aware of the fragility of species and led to efforts to protect them. Few argue any more for eradicating living things more complex than bacteria. But the memetics revolution will be different. It will engender a technology to eradicate activities as well as protect them. In the hands of a few, such a technology could be dangerous. The memetics revolution can also bring rich blessings. Knowledge of it promotes clear decisions. It provides tools for individuals and groups to influence their own futures. My basic premise in writing this book is that readers like you will decide whether memetics insights bring calamity or blessing. Wars between religion and science have left us with an ethical vacuum. The vacuum draws religious and intellectual as well as management elites. The moral ruthlessness of all three grows with each assault on our ethical roots. There is a great tradition, more
