Two books by Richard Dawkins

The Extended Phenotype : The Long Reach of the Gene
The Extended Phenotype by Richard Dawkins. Dawkin's image of a gene in one organism reaching out to other organisms and "even reaching deep into the nervous systems of other organisms" is very dramatic. Dawkins describes himself as a "biologist studying animal behavior". What is his view of brains....are they just black boxes? He cites Lorenz as having discovered in the 1930's that "behavior pattern can be treated like an anatomical organ". Now it is time to connect the real organ of the brain to the "like an organ" of behavior.
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The Selfish Gene (1989 Edition), is memorable for the retrospective comment from Dawkins about memes, "meme seems to be turning out to be a good meme". The book starts off charmingly with the innocent question, "Why are people?" but is full of a deadly serious analysis of why people are the way they are. E. O. Wilson's "Sociobiology" had came out just before the first release of The Selfish Geneand Dawson is very much tied up in the issues of kin selection and altruism. At the start of 1997 there are about 1000 WWW pages containing the word "sociobiology" and about 2000 for "mimetics". I think that the people have spoken and more people are interested in memes than in issues like kin selection (300 hits). As human society evolves, what do you think Dawkins will be remembered for? See a review by Darryl R. J. Macer. More Dawkins links.
Kelby Mason on Dennett, memes, and reductionism.
Pre-Dawkins....1001 comments about memes without mentioning the word meme.


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