The Nacirema are an interesting sect of organisms that inhabit the surface of a moderately sized land mass located in a region of earth about 45 degrees latitude. Their development has been very recent. The fossils of this species are less than one percent as old as those of the earliest organisms. (Campbell, 2008) The Nacirema group in particular has only officially industrialized their region within the last two hundred revolutions of earth’s sun.
The defining anatomic characteristic of the species to which the Nacirema belong is an enlarged frontal neo-cortex. (Campbell, 2008) This development has allowed this species to advance a complex process of external memory storage. (Dennett, 1996) Within the frontal lobe, a new theatre of competition has emerged. (Dawkins, 1976) Not only are the organisms themselves competing for resourses, but now through a symbiosis, the neo-cortex has become a vehicle for new entities that will compete for resources both inside the cortex as well as in the environment surrounding the organism. (Dawkins, 1976)
A symbiosis is a relationship of two different organisms “that live together in direct and intimate contact.” (Campbell, 2008 p. 35) Mutualism is an interaction that benefits both parties. (Campbell, 2008) The frontal cortex receives a novel medium for information storage and manipulation. The new replicator has acquired a method of storage and replication. (Dennett, 1996) All advanced frontal cortices form this relationship and constantly benefit from the exploitation of their partners.
The Nacirema as well as some other groups particularly exhibit this relationship. They erect external information storage facilities that span entire land masses and may rise very high in the sky. The Nacirema also utilized highly advanced and inter-connected systems of information propagation. Many of the Nacirema are completely un-aware of this highly important relationship with information .
The central concept contained within the theory of memetics is that the principles of Darwinian natural selection apply to any information that undergoes a process of variation, selection and retention. (Blackmore ,1999) Genetics, the science of the replication of biological information is a special case of memetics. However, the principle of Darwinian natural selection is substrate-neutral, meaning that it can operate on any system of heredity, variation and competition. (Blackmore ,1999) “If there is a replicator that makes imperfect copies of itself only some of which survive, then evolution must occur.” (Blackmore ,1999 p 11)
This process began at least 3.5 billion years ago. (Campbell, 2008) The information symbiosis existed ever since the beginning of life. (Dawkins, 1976) Until relatively recently, the only medium of replication was the genetic biological form. (Blackmore ,1999) Made possible by the incipient frontal cortex, the ancestors of the Nacirema began processes of imitation. (Blackmore ,1999) This development allowed the replicators to transition into the external environment of the organism. (Blackmore ,1999) After the imitation threshold was crossed, the information could reproduce much faster. (Blackmore ,1999) Until the imitation threshold, the only time the information could replicate was during the process of biological reproduction. (Dawkins, 1976) Since the threshold, various forms of replication have developed.
The Nacirema spend their entire day replicating the information through specialized sound productions. They often spend large amounts of time in front of machines that constantly feed them information. The Nacirema may spend significant time extracting information from bound stacks of information storage receptacles or manipulating peripheral devices.
The unit of cultural replication has been titled the meme. (Dawkins, 1976) When a meme is planted into the brain of the Nacirema, they are literally parasitized. (Dawkins, 1976) The meme is housed within the neural activity of the host or it may be stored in an environmental form. (Blackmore ,1999) A successful meme will then be spread, by the host, through various means of communication, infecting a larger portion of the population. (Blackmore ,1999)
However, the Nacirema are not slaves to the information. Indeed they, along with all other living organisms, owe their very existence to the process of information replication. Their species is especially capable at taking in information from the environment and manipulating it internally or externally, for personal benefit, before storing it externally again. (Dennett, 1996) This system, named off-loading, is extremely valuable to Nacirema. The storage capacity of the biological system can be very limiting. (Dennett, 1996) Through off-loading, the Nacirema benefit from storage capacity that is effectively unlimited. (Dennett, 1996) While other species may exhibit simple imitation techniques and may possess brains of comparable size, no other creatures are so cable of extruding their minds into the environment. (Dennett, 1996)
“Cultural transmission is analogous to genetic transmission in that, although basically conservative, it can give rise to a form of evolution.” (Dawkins, 1976 p 189) “All life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities” (Dawkins, 1976 p 192) Memetics is not to be confused with social Darwinism. While cultural evolution does occur, it is in no way directional or progressive. Natural selection does favor those that “behave in such a way as to increase their numbers” in the future. (Dawkins, 1976 p 196) However, a “simple replicator… cannot be expected to forgo short term selfish advantage even if it would really pay it in the long term to do so.” (Dawkins, 1976 p 200)
Works Cited:
Blackmore, S,. (1999) The Meme Machine. New York: Oxford.
Campbell, N., Reece, J., Urry, L., Cain, M., Wasserman, S., Minorsky, P., Jackson, R., (2008) Biology (8th ed.) San Fransisco: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.
Dennett, D., (1996) Kinds of Minds. New York: BasicBooks.
Dawkins, R., (1976) The Selfish Gene. New York: Oxford.
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