Richard Dawkins notion of “meme” that plays same role in landscape of mind that genes play in biology is well known. Memes replicate and propagate from one mind to another and are subject to mutation and natural selection.
God or religion could be thought of as such memes.
As these memes replicate themselves and infect one mind after another they compete with other memes that similarly try to survive and replicate. Like materialism or science or many others lets say.
Religions obviously have created a niche for themselves and have survived and multiplied for millenia on earth. That brings up the analogy between religions and dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs ruled the earth for millions of years and some biologists believe that they created an impasse for evolution. Meaning the meandering of the genes and random mutations took evolution on a path in the fitness landscape that was pretty much an impasse. Appearance of humans and intelligence would have been unlikely as long as this behemoths were ruling the earth.
So in hindsight it was a pleasant surprise for us that an asteroid put an end to their reign and opened an alternative path for evolution that ended up in rise of intelligence and consciousness. Of course we may be accused
of being an “specieist” (similar to racist) as Peter Singer would call it for holding our species in high regard compare to other species!
That brings up the analogy between religions and dinosaurs. Religions also are considered as an impasse when it comes to evolution of ideas in human mind landscape. In order for humanity to advance it has to get rid of this meme!
Ironically “Darwinian evolution” revolution was thought to be just such an asteroid that could have dealt the mortal blow to religion but despite inflicting some damage the effect was far from annihilation similar to that visited the dinosaurs.
Some think that it’s just a matter of time that a metaphoric “asteroid” with religion name on it would eventually come.
Advances in neuroscience and a possible dispense of the “soul” as a result, or ironically achieving the long sought dream of immortality (without soul!) each would be such candidates.
Regardless, profusion of Internet and the fact that world has become “flat” has let the skeletons out of cultural closets. It’s likely that in an open exchange of the ideas most of the memes that have survived in closed cultures and societies for centuries would no longer be viable in a “natural selection” that ensues as the result of globalization.
The caveat is what is going to be destroyed first? The memes or the brains that carry them? In other words, is humanity capable of eliminating the memes that cause hatred and violence or the memes have us destroy each other first?!
