Parasitic Infection
March 1st 2007 23:39
Symbiosis works because both partners benefit... but sometimes an organism just isn't that social. It will feed off the blood or sap of its host without bothering to reciprocate in the least. Many times an organism can get so downright greedy that it kills its host. Parasites often have to be very clever in recruiting and getting a foothold on a new host.
Many parasites are even clever enough to alter their hosts' behavior- for the benefit of the parasite, of course, and usually in a manner fatal to the host. If this sounds familiar at all, it should be- it's pretty much what we see on the daily news. A leader (political or religious) manipulates a population (the "host body" he feeds off of) into doing things against their best interest, like sending him their much-needed cash or blowing themselves up to glorify said leader.
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins argues that biological evolution is all about individual genes trying to replicate themselves- the more successful a gene, the more of them around for the replication dance. In the last chapter, he deals with non-biological evolution, the ideas and philosophies and ruminations our culture and language allow us toinfect pass on to others. He coined the term "meme" to describe these intellectual equivalents of replicating genes.
Again, memes are all about replication. As long as the meme is passed around andinjected into heard by a number of heads then (By the meme's standards) it's okay for the original host to die in the attempt. This is why so many "leaders" will stress self-sacrifice, the need for folk to sacrifice themselves for the leader's vainglorious ego-massage good of the people.
Of course most leaders exhort their followers to destruction from safely in the rear. Not all memes are suicidal fools.
Many parasites are even clever enough to alter their hosts' behavior- for the benefit of the parasite, of course, and usually in a manner fatal to the host. If this sounds familiar at all, it should be- it's pretty much what we see on the daily news. A leader (political or religious) manipulates a population (the "host body" he feeds off of) into doing things against their best interest, like sending him their much-needed cash or blowing themselves up to glorify said leader.
In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins argues that biological evolution is all about individual genes trying to replicate themselves- the more successful a gene, the more of them around for the replication dance. In the last chapter, he deals with non-biological evolution, the ideas and philosophies and ruminations our culture and language allow us to
Again, memes are all about replication. As long as the meme is passed around and
Of course most leaders exhort their followers to destruction from safely in the rear. Not all memes are suicidal fools.
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Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
Nicely written!