Diwany ديواني

In his 1976 book “The Selfish Gene,” biologist Richard Dawkins introduced a revolutionary concept in the realm of culture and knowledge: the “meme.” This fundamental unit of cultural information, which transfers from one mind to another, represents a bridge between biology and culture. Similar to genes that carry genetic information and pass it from generation to generation through reproduction, memes convey ideas, customs, and innovations through learning, imitation, and social interaction. Just as in the world of genes where survival of the fittest prevails, memes also compete for survival and dissemination through persuasion and appeal. Memes spread rapidly through media and the internet, allowing them to adapt and change with a flexibility far surpassing the slow pace of genetic mutations. Thus, memes emerge as drivers of cultural evolution, while genes remain the engines of biological evolution, making the study of this profound similarity between them a fascinating subject for contemplation and reflection.