How many Creationists do we have in the room? Probably none. I think we're all Darwinians. And yet many Darwinians are anxious, a little uneasy -- would like to see some limits on just how far the Darwinism goes. It's all right. You know spiderwebs? Sure, they are products of evolution. The World Wide Web? Not so sure. Beaver dams, yes. Hoover Dam, no. What do they think it is that prevents the products of human ingenuity from being themselves, fruits of the tree of life, and hence, in some sense, obeying evolutionary rules? And yet people are interestingly resistant to the idea of applying evolutionary thinking to thinking -- to our thinking.
Kui mitu kreatsionisti on siin ruumis? Tõenäoliselt mitte ühtegi. Ma arvan, et me oleme kõik darvinistid. Kuid siiski on mitmed darvinistid natuke rahutud ja tahaksid näha piiri, kui kaugele darvinism võib minna. Pole hullu. Ämblikuvõrke teate? Muidugi, see on evolutsiooni tulem. Aga interneti võrk? Pole nii kindel. Kopra tammid, jah. Hooveri tamm, ei. Mis on nende arvates see, mis takistab inimese leidlikel saavutustel olemast Elu puu viljad ja mõnes mõttes allumast evolutsiooni reeglitele? Siiski on inimesed huvitaval kombel vastu ideele, et evolutsiooniline mõtlemine peaks puudutama ka meie mõtlemist.
And so I'm going to talk a little bit about that, keeping in mind that we have a lot on the program here. So you're out in the woods, or you're out in the pasture, and you see this ant crawling up this blade of grass. It climbs up to the top, and it falls, and it climbs, and it falls, and it climbs -- trying to stay at the very top of the blade of grass. What is this ant doing? What is this in aid of? What goals is this ant trying to achieve by climbing this blade of grass? What's in it for the ant? And the answer is: nothing. There's nothing in it for the ant. Well then, why is it doing this? Is it just a fluke? Yeah, it's just a fluke. It's a lancet fluke. It's a little brain worm. It's a parasitic brain worm that has to get into the stomach of a sheep or a cow in order to continue its life cycle. Salmon swim upstream to get to their spawning grounds, and lancet flukes commandeer a passing ant, crawl into its brain, and drive it up a blade of grass like an all-terrain vehicle. So there's nothing in it for the ant. The ant's brain has been hijacked by a parasite that infects the brain, inducing suicidal behavior. Pretty scary.
Niisiis ma räägin natuke sellest, pidades meeles, et meil on veel paljustki rääkida. Niisiis sa oled metsas või hoopis karjamaal ja sa näed, et mööda rohulible ronib üles sipelgas. Ta ronib tippu välja ja kukub alla ja ronib ja kukub ja ronib – püüdes jääda sinna rohulible tippu. Mida see sipelgas teeb? Mille jaoks ta seda teeb? Milliseid eesmärke üritab ta rohuliblele ronides saavutada? Mis kasu sipelgas sellest saab? Ja vastus on: mitte midagi. Tal ei saa sellest midagi. Miks ta siis seda teeb? On see kõigest juhus? Jah, see on juhus. Juhuslikult on see imiuss, väike aju-uss. See parasiitlik aju uss peab pääsema lamba või lehma kõhtu, et seal paljuneda. Nagu lõhe ujub ülesvoolu, et jõuda kudemisaladele, nii võtab imiuss oma valdusse mööduva sipelga, ronib tema ajju ja juhib ta rohulible tippu nagu sõiduki. Seega pole sipelgal sellest vähimatki kasu. Sipelga aju on kaaperdatud parasiidi poolt, kes nakatab aju ja põhjustab enesetapuliku käitumise. Üsna õudne.
Well, does anything like that happen with human beings? This is all on behalf of a cause other than one's own genetic fitness, of course. Well, it may already have occurred to you that Islam means "surrender," or "submission of self-interest to the will of Allah." Well, it's ideas -- not worms -- that hijack our brains. Now, am I saying that a sizable minority of the world's population has had their brain hijacked by parasitic ideas? No, it's worse than that. Most people have. (Laughter) There are a lot of ideas to die for. Freedom, if you're from New Hampshire. (Laughter) Justice. Truth. Communism. Many people have laid down their lives for communism, and many have laid down their lives for capitalism. And many for Catholicism. And many for Islam. These are just a few of the ideas that are to die for. They're infectious.
Olgu, kas inimestega ka midagi sellist juhtub? See kõik on põhjusest, mis pole kellegi geneetilise sobivusega seotud. Teile on võibolla juba teada, et islam tähendab ”alla andma” või ”omakasu allutamist Allahi tahtele”. Meie ajusid ei kaaperda mitte ussid, vaid ideed. Nii, kas ma väidan, et üsna suur vähemus maailma rahvastikust on lasknud parasiitsetel ideedel oma ajud kaaperdada? Ei. Asi on hullem. Enamus on lasknud. (Naer) On palju ideesid, mille nimel surra. Vabadus, kui sa oled pärit New Hampshire’st. (Naer) Õiglus. Tõde. Kommunism. Paljud on langenud kommunismi nimel ja paljud on langenud kapitalismi nimel. Ja paljud katoliikluse nimel ja paljud islami nimel. On ainult mõned ideed, mille nimel tasub surra. Need on nakkavad.
Yesterday, Amory Lovins spoke about "infectious repititis." It was a term of abuse, in effect. This is unthinking engineering. Well, most of the cultural spread that goes on is not brilliant, new, out-of-the-box thinking. It's "infectious repetitis," and we might as well try to have a theory of what's going on when that happens so that we can understand the conditions of infection. Hosts work hard to spread these ideas to others. I myself am a philosopher, and one of our occupational hazards is that people ask us what the meaning of life is. And you have to have a bumper sticker, you know. You have to have a statement. So, this is mine.
Eile pidas Amory Lovins loengu nimega ”Nakkuslik repetiit”. See on ahistamisega seotud mõiste. See on mõtlematu kavandamine. Enamik kultuurilisest levikust ei ole hiilgav, uus ega “väljaspool kasti" mõtlev. See on nakkuslik repetiit. Me võime proovida luua teooria sellest, mis siis toimub, kui see juhtub - selleks, et saaksime aru nakkuse seisundist. Nakatunud näevad kõvasti vaeva, et need ideed teistele leviks. Ma olen ise filosoof ja üks meie kutse riske on, et inimesed küsivad meilt mis on elu mõte. Ja sul peab olema oma lööklause, teate küll, sul peab olema seisukoht. Niisiis, minu oma on selline.
The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it. Most of us -- now that the "Me Decade" is well in the past -- now we actually do this. One set of ideas or another have simply replaced our biological imperatives in our own lives. This is what our summum bonum is. It's not maximizing the number of grandchildren we have. Now, this is a profound biological effect. It's the subordination of genetic interest to other interests. And no other species does anything at all like it.
Õnne saladus on: leia midagi tähtsamat kui sa ise ja pühenda oma elu sellele. Enamik meist – nüüd kui ”Mina-kümnendik” on möödas – nüüd me tõesti teemegi seda. Üks või teine komplekt ideesid on asendanud bioloogilised käsud meie elus. See on meie ülim hüve. See pole lastelaste arvu maksimeerimine. Nii, see on tähendusrikas bioloogiline efekt. See on geneetilise huvi allumine teistele huvidele. Ja mitte ükski teine liik ei tee midagi sarnast.
Well, how are we going to think about this? It is, on the one hand, a biological effect, and a very large one. Unmistakable. Now, what theories do we want to use to look at this? Well, many theories. But how could something tie them together? The idea of replicating ideas; ideas that replicate by passing from brain to brain. Richard Dawkins, whom you'll be hearing later in the day, invented the term "memes," and put forward the first really clear and vivid version of this idea in his book "The Selfish Gene." Now here am I talking about his idea. Well, you see, it's not his. Yes -- he started it. But it's everybody's idea now. And he's not responsible for what I say about memes. I'm responsible for what I say about memes.
Hästi, mida me sellest arvame? See on, teisati, väga tugev biologiline efekt. Ilmselt. Mis teooriaid tahame me selle vaatlemiseks kasutada? Noh, paljusid. Aga kuidas miski need kokku seoks? Idee ideede paljundamisest; ideed, mis paljunevad, liikudes ajust ajju. Richard Dawkins, keda te kuulete täna hiljem, leiutas mõiste “meem”, pakkudes välja esimese väga selge ja värvika versiooni sellest ideest oma raamatus “Isekas geen”. Siin ma nüüd olen, rääkimas tema ideest. See pole tema oma. Jah - tema alustas sellega. Aga nüüd on see kõigi idee. Ta ei vastuta selle eest, mida ma meemide kohta ütlen. Mina vastutan selle eest, mida ma meemide kohta ütlen.
Actually, I think we're all responsible for not just the intended effects of our ideas, but for their likely misuses. So it is important, I think, to Richard, and to me, that these ideas not be abused and misused. They're very easy to misuse. That's why they're dangerous. And it's just about a full-time job trying to prevent people who are scared of these ideas from caricaturing them and then running off to one dire purpose or another. So we have to keep plugging away, trying to correct the misapprehensions so that only the benign and useful variants of our ideas continue to spread. But it is a problem. We don't have much time, and I'm going to go over just a little bit of this and cut out, because there's a lot of other things that are going to be said.
Tegelikult ma arvan, et me kõik vastutame mitte ainult meie ideede tahtlike mõjude, vaid ka nende võimaliku väärkasutuse eest. Niisiis on tähtis, ma arvan, Richardi ja minu jaoks, et neid ideid ei kuritarvitataks ega väärkasutataks. Neid on väga lihtne valesti kasutada. Seetõttu ongi nad ohtlikud. Ja see on nagu täiskohaga töö, proovida takistada inimesi, kes neid ideesid kardavad, neid pilkamast ja tormamast seejärel mõne teise kohutava eesmärgi suunas. Niisiis peame me visalt rohima ja püüdma valearusaamad parandada, et ainult healoomulised ja kasulikud variandid meie ideedest jätkaksid levikut. Aga see on probleem. Meil pole palju aega ja ma räägin sellest ainult pisut veel ning lähen siis edasi, sest on veel paljustki muust rääkida.
So let me just point out: memes are like viruses. That's what Richard said, back in '93. And you might think, "Well, how can that be? I mean, a virus is -- you know, it's stuff! What's a meme made of?" Yesterday, Negroponte was talking about viral telecommunications but -- what's a virus? A virus is a string of nucleic acid with attitude. (Laughter) That is, there is something about it that tends to make it replicate better than the competition does. And that's what a meme is. It's an information packet with attitude. What's a meme made of? What are bits made of, Mom? Not silicon. They're made of information, and can be carried in any physical medium. What's a word made of? Sometimes when people say, "Do memes exist?" I say, "Well, do words exist? Are they in your ontology?" If they are, words are memes that can be pronounced.
Lubage mul rõhutada: meemid on nagu viirused. See on see, mida Richard ütles aastal '93. Ja võite mõelda: “Kuidas see võimalik on? Viirus on ju asi! Millest meem tehtud on?” Eile rääkis Negroponte viiruslikust telekommunikatsioonist aga – mis on viirus? Viirus on iseloomuga nukleiinhappe jada. (Naer) See tähendab, temas on midagi, mis paneb ta võrreldes konkurentidega paremini paljunema. Ja see ongi meem – iseloomuga informatioonipakike. Millest meem tehtud on? Ema, millest bitid tehtud on? Mitte ränist. Need on tehtud informatsioonist ja neid võib kanda igal füüsilisel meediumil. Millest sõna tehtud on? Mõnikord kui inimesed küsivad: “Kas meemid eksisteerivad? Vastan ma: “Kas sõnad eksisteerivad? Kas nad on sinu jaoks ontoloogiliselt olemas?” Kui nad on olemas, siis sõnad on meemid, mida saab hääldada.
Then there's all the other memes that can't be pronounced. There are different species of memes. Remember the Shakers? Gift to be simple? Simple, beautiful furniture? And, of course, they're basically extinct now. And one of the reasons is that among the creed of Shaker-dom is that one should be celibate. Not just the priests. Everybody. Well, it's not so surprising that they've gone extinct. (Laughter) But in fact that's not why they went extinct. They survived as long as they did at a time when the social safety nets weren't there. And there were lots of widows and orphans, people like that, who needed a foster home. And so they had a ready supply of converts. And they could keep it going. And, in principle, it could've gone on forever, with perfect celibacy on the part of the hosts. The idea being passed on through proselytizing, instead of through the gene line.
Ja siis on olemas veel teised meemid, mida ei saa hääldada. On olemas erinevat liiki meeme. Mäletate Shakerseid (ususekt)? Oskus olla lihtne? Lihtne ja ilus mööbel? Ja muidugi on nad nüüd põhimõtteliselt välja surnud. Ja üheks põhjuseks on Shakerluse usu juurde kuulunud käsk olla tsölibaatne. Mitte ainult preestrid, vaid Kõik. No pole ime, et nad välja on surnud. (Naer) Aga tegelikult pole see põhjus, miks nad välja surid. Nad püsisid elus nii kaua, kui suutsid, ajal mil sotsiaalseid turvavõrke polnud veel olemas. Ja oli palju leskesid ja orbe, selliseid inimesi, kes vajasid kasuperesid. Ja nii oli neil valmis varu usuvahetajaid. Ja see võimaldas neil vastu pidada. Ja põhimõtteliselt oleks see võinud kesta igavesti. Koos idee kadjate täiusliku tsölibaadiga. Andes idee edasi läbi jutlustamise, mitte läbi geneetilise pärandi.
So the ideas can live on in spite of the fact that they're not being passed on genetically. A meme can flourish in spite of having a negative impact on genetic fitness. After all, the meme for Shaker-dom was essentially a sterilizing parasite. There are other parasites that do this -- which render the host sterile. It's part of their plan. They don't have to have minds to have a plan.
Niisiis võivad ideed elada edasi vaatamata faktile, et neid ei anta edasi geneetiliselt. Meem võib õitseda hoolimata negatiivsest mõjust geneetilisele võimekusele. Oli Shakerluse meem põhiliselt ju steriliseeriv parasiit. On ka teisi parasiite, mis muudavad võõrustajad viljatuks. See on osa nende plaanist. Neil ei pea olema mõistlust, et omada plaani.
I'm just going to draw your attention to just one of the many implications of the memetic perspective, which I recommend. I've not time to go into more of it. In Jared Diamond's wonderful book, "Guns, Germs and Steel," he talks about how it was germs, more than guns and steel, that conquered the new hemisphere -- the Western hemisphere -- that conquered the rest of the world. When European explorers and travelers spread out, they brought with them the germs that they had become essentially immune to, that they had learned how to tolerate over hundreds and hundreds of years, thousands of years, of living with domesticated animals who were the sources of those pathogens. And they just wiped out -- these pathogens just wiped out the native people, who had no immunity to them at all.
Ma tõmbaks teie tähelepanu vaid ühele mitmetest meemilise perspektiivi eeldustest, mida ma soovitan. Mul pole aega sellesse rohkem süveneda. Jared Diamond’I suurepärases raamatus “Püssid, pisikud ja teras", rääkis ta kuidas need olid pisikud, mitte püssid ja teras, mis alistasid uue poolkera – Lääne poolkera – mis alistas ülejäänud maailma. Kui Euroopa maadeavastajad ja rändajad levisid, tõid nad endaga kaasa pisikud, mille suhtes nad ise immuunsed olid, mida nad ise olid õppinud taluma sadu ja sadu aastaid, tuhandeid aastaid, elades koos kodustatud loomadega, kes olid nende haigusetekitajate allikad. Ja need haigusetekitajad lihtsalt pühkisid maalt põliselanikud, kellel polnud nende vastu mitte mingit immuunsust.
And we're doing it again. We're doing it this time with toxic ideas. Yesterday, a number of people -- Nicholas Negroponte and others -- spoke about all the wonderful things that are happening when our ideas get spread out, thanks to all the new technology all over the world. And I agree. It is largely wonderful. Largely wonderful. But among all those ideas that inevitably flow out into the whole world thanks to our technology, are a lot of toxic ideas. Now, this has been realized for some time. Sayyid Qutb is one of the founding fathers of fanatical Islam, one of the ideologues that inspired Osama bin Laden. "One has only to glance at its press films, fashion shows, beauty contests, ballrooms, wine bars and broadcasting stations." Memes.
Ja me teeme seda jälle. Aga seekord teeme me seda mürgiste ideedega. Eile rääkisid mitmed inimesed – Nicholas Negroponte ja teised – imelistest asjadest, mis juhtuvad kui meie ideed levivad tänu kõigele sellele uuele tehnoloogiale üle maailma. Ja ma nõustun. See on äärmiselt imeline. Äärmiselt imeline. Aga kõigi nende ideede hulgas, mis vältimatult laia maailma lendavad tänu meie tehnoloogiale, on palju mürgiseid ideesid. Nii, sellest on juba mõnda aega aru saadud. Sayyid Qutb on üks fanaatilise Islami rajaja, üks ideologistidest, kes inspireeris Osama bin Ladenit. “Piisaks ainult pilgust tema pressifilmidele, moedemonstratsioonidele, iludusvõistlustele, ballisaalidele, veinibaaridele ja raadiojaamadele.” Meemid.
These memes are spreading around the world and they are wiping out whole cultures. They are wiping out languages. They are wiping out traditions and practices. And it's not our fault, anymore than it's our fault when our germs lay waste to people that haven't developed the immunity. We have an immunity to all of the junk that lies around the edges of our culture. We're a free society, so we let pornography and all these things -- we shrug them off. They're like a mild cold. They're not a big deal for us. But we should recognize that for many people in the world, they are a big deal. And we should be very alert to this. As we spread our education and our technology, one of the things that we are doing is we're the vectors of memes that are correctly viewed by the hosts of many other memes as a dire threat to their favorite memes -- the memes that they are prepared to die for.
Need meemid levivad üle maailma ja nad pühivad enda teelt terveid kultuure. Nad pühivad enda teelt keeli. Nad pühivad enda teelt traditsioonid ja tavad. Ja see pole meie süü, nagu pole meie süü ka see, kui meie pisikud hävitasid inimesed, kel polnud arenenud immuunsust. Meil on immuunsus selle rämpsu vastu, mis meie kultuuri ääri ümbritseb. Meil on vaba ühiskond, milles lubame pornograafiat ja teisi asju – me kehitame nende peale õlgu. Nad on nagu kerge külmetus. Nad pole meie jaoks oluline. Aga me peaksime teadvustama, et paljudele inimestele maailmas on need olulised. Ja me peaksime olema selle suhtes valvsad, kui me levitame oma haridust ja oma tehnoloogiat, üks asi, mida me teeme: me oleme meemide vektoriteks, mida paljude teiste meemide kandjate poolt nähakse korrektselt, kui äärmist ohtu oma lemmikmeemidele – meemidele, mille nimel nad on valmis surema.
Well now, how are we going to tell the good memes from the bad memes? That is not the job of the science of memetics. Memetics is morally neutral. And so it should be. This is not the place for hate and anger. If you've had a friend who's died of AIDS, then you hate HIV. But the way to deal with that is to do science, and understand how it spreads and why in a morally neutral perspective.
Nüüd siis, kuidas me eristame häid meeme halbadest meemidest? See ei ole meemiteaduse ülesanne. Meemiteadus on moraalselt neutraalne. Ja nii see peakski olema. See pole koht vihkamise ja viha jaoks. Kui Sul on olnud sõber, kes suri AIDSi, siis sa vihkad HIVi. Aga sellest jagu saamiseks tuleb tegeleda teadusega ja moraalselt neutraalses vaatenurgast aru saada kuidas see levib ja miks.
Get the facts. Work out the implications. There's plenty of room for moral passion once we've got the facts and can figure out the best thing to do. And, as with germs, the trick is not to try to annihilate them. You will never annihilate the germs. What you can do, however, is foster public health measures and the like that will encourage the evolution of avirulence. That will encourage the spread of relatively benign mutations of the most toxic varieties. That's all the time I have, so thank you very much for your attention.
Otsi fakte. Tööta läbi vihjed. On piisavalt ruumi moraalsele kirele, kui sul on faktid olemas ja saad välja selgitada parima asja, mida teha. Ja nagu pisikutegagi, on trikk proovida neid mitte hävitada. Sa ei saa kunagi hävitada pisikuid. Mida sa saad teha, on edendada avalikke tervise abinõusid ja muud sellist, mis pärsiks viiruste levimist. See edendab suhteliselt healoomuliste mutatsioonide levikut kõige mürgisematest variantidest. Minu aeg on nüüd läbi saanud, suur tänu teie tähelepanu eest.