Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme
Amazon1 Description
“Virus of the Mind is the first popular book devoted to the science of memetics, a controversial new field that transcends psychology, biology, anthropology, and cognitive science. Memetics is the science of memes, the invisible but very real DNA of human society. In Virus of the Mind, Richard Brodie carefully builds on the work of scientists Richard Dawkins, Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, and others who have become fascinated with memes and their potential impact on our lives. But Richard goes beyond science and dives into the meat of the issue: is the emergence of this new science going to have an impact on our lives like the emergence of atomic physics did in the Cold War? He would say the impact will be at least as great. While atomic bombs affect everybody’s life, viruses of the mind touch lives in a more personal and more pernicious way. Mind viruses have already infected governments, educational systems, and inner cities, leading to some of the most pervasive and troublesome problems of society today: youth gangs, the welfare cycle, the deterioration of the public schools, and ever-growing government bureaucracy. Viruses of the mind are not a future worry: they are here with us now and are evolving to become better and better at their job of infecting us. The recent explosion of mass media and the information superhighway has made the earth a prime breeding ground for viruses of the mind. Will there be a mental plague? Will only some of us survive with our free will intact? Richard Brodie weaves together science, ethics, and current events as he raises these and other very disturbing questions about memes.”
Book Details
Author: Richard Brodie
Category: Sociology, Evolution
Publisher: Hay House; Reissue edition (February 15, 2011)
My Comment
This book talks about a new scientific field which is very interesting: Memetics and Mind Viruses.
Like Biologic and Computer Viruses, there are also Mind Viruses which can be seen in our world today.
This books is continuation of Richard Dawkins’ idea about Memes from The Selfish Gene book chapter 11.
It is highly recommended if you are interested in how some ideas become viral and infect millions of minds unconsciously and sometimes irrevocably, exactly the same as some computer rootkits and viruses or even biological viruses.
The author is a former Microsoft developer who has dedicated his life to this and also personal improvement field after his retirement from Microsoft.