TY - JOUR PY - 2020// TI - Memes, fears and suicide JO - Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry A1 - Mitra, Sayantanava SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - Memes are described as units of cultural transmission, evolving and undergoing natural selection following the same Darwinian principles as genes, exerting a "second evolutionary force affecting human development". Rapidly expanding social networks and plummeting costs of data (resources, R) are enriching the memetic pool by bringing cultures in contact, adding newer variations and providing memes with a fertile ground to reproduce and propagate. However, in absence of infinite R, ensuing evolutionary pressure is likely to produce a struggle for survival and select variations which are "advantageous" for the host. Given the substrate-neutral nature of evolutionary processes, it is not difficult to extrapolate some of the key features of genetic evolution to determine memetic fitness of a population.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0004-8674 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0004867420976847 ID - ref1 ER -