Susan Blackmore
Susan Blackmore
Susan Jane Blackmoreis a British parapsychologist, freelance writer, lecturer, sceptic, and broadcaster on psychology and the paranormal, and is best known for her book The Meme Machine. She has written or contributed to over 40 books and 60 scholarly articles and is a contributor to The Guardian newspaper...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth29 July 1951
progress growing study
Parapsychology seems to be growing further away from the progress and excitement of the rest of consciousness studies.
attracted biological depressed english-writer hierarchy people trace types
People get depressed and get attracted to different types of memes. You can trace some of this to how the biological hierarchy is set up.
bird population flu
For the planet's sake, I hope we have bird flu or some other thing that will reduce the population, because otherwise we're doomed.
ideas brain needs
I have not come up with anything original. It needs a better brain than mine! I have done what I can do in taking Dawkins' idea and extending it.
clever quality female
Take male strategies for success in the world. If you've got all the advantages, if you're attractive and clever and all of that, you will generally go for very high quality females.
mistake thinking people
One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they think about memes is they try to extend on the analogy with genes. That's not how it works. It works by realizing the concept of a replicator.
mammals found memes
If you found a mammal with feathers, then you'd know that Darwin was wrong. Well, it's rather the same with memes.
design mind body
Just as the design of our bodies can be understood only in terms of natural selection, so the design of our minds can be understood only in terms of memetic selection.
technology thinking care
'Temes' [technology-enhanced memes] don't care about us - they simply want to create more of themselves. Don't think we created the internet for our own benefit - think about temes spreading for themselves because they must.
consciousness illusion memes
Consciousness is an illusion constructed by the memes.
self consciousness free-will
Free will and consciousness is an illusion, and the self is a complex of memes.
religious would-be way-to-live
If everyone understood evolution, then the tyranny of religious memes would be weakened, and we little humans might find a better way to live in this pointless universe.
self afterlife long
All things considered, I can see no reason to adopt the afterlife hypothesis. I am sure I shall remain in a minority for a long time to come, especially among experiencers, but for me the evidence and the arguments are overwhelming ... We are biological organisms, evolved in fascinating ways for no purpose at all and with no end in mind. We are simply here and this is how it is. I have no self and "I" own nothing. There is no one to die. There is just this moment, and now this, and now this.
home brain safe
Imagine a world full of brains, and far more memes than can possibly find homes. Which memes are more likely to find a safe home and get passed on again?