OPEN SEMIOTICS RESOURCE CENTER
Virtual Symposia

Imitation, Memory and Cultural Changes: Probing the Meme Hypothesis

The Toronto Semiotic Circle organized a symposium on "Imitation, Memory, and Cultural Changes: Probing the Meme Hypothesis" held at Victoria College (University of Toronto), Northrop Frye Hall, Room 205, on May 4-6, 2007.

This event was organized with the financial support of Victoria University (SSHRC and Principal Office grants), the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Toronto, the Emilio Goggio Chair of Italian Studies, and in cooperation with the Open Semiotic Resource Center.

The program for the symposium can be obtained here.

Abstracts and Videos

Click on a talk title to see the abstract and video (where available).

Computational Memetics
Michael Best (Georgia Institute of Technology)

The Role of Memes in Cultural Evolution: memes if necessary, but not necessarily memes
Marion Blute (Sociology, University of Toronto)

Is a Handaxe a Meme
Michael Chazan (Anthropology, University of Toronto)

How Useful is Memetics to Evolutionary Archaeologies
Ethan Cochrane (Institute of Archaeology, University College London)

Some Thoughts on the Prospect of "Meme" in Religious Studies
Peter Jackson

The Population Memetics of Bird Song
Alejandro Lynch

Rationality, Evolution, and the Meme Concept
Keith Stanovich (University of Toronto)

Symbiosis and the Leiden Definition of the Meme
George van Driem (Leiden University)

Position Papers

The Role of Memes in Cultural Evolution: memes if necessary, but not necessarily memes
Marion Blute (Sociology, University of Toronto)

Symbiosis and the Leiden Definition of the Meme
George van Driem (Leiden University)

The Population Memetics of Bird Song
Alejandro Lynch

Evolutionary Versus Instrumental Goals: How Evolutionary Psychology Misconceives Human Rationality
Keith Stanovich (University of Toronto)

Computational Memetics

Michael Best

Abstract

Click on the arrow to start the video.

Video by Enam Huque

A cultural transmission theory would attempt to explain how “content” moves within a social network. Memetics entails such a transmission theory but adds an evolutionary- theoretic explanation of the cultural unit of selection and cultural design for selection – that is the accumulation of adaptations. I have been exploring computational tools to study both transmission and adaptation of cultural units within online text corpora. The system core relies on basic principles of text analysis and natural language processing. Findings include identification of a putative meme and adaptive significance.

Michael L. Best is a Fellow with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, and an Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, and College of Computing). His research bears upon the engineering of new technologies, public policies interventions, as well as social and economic assessments. He is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Information Technologies and International Development (MIT Press).

mikeb@cc.gatech.edu