Thursday, August 09, 2007

TED Talks: Daniel Dennett on Memes

This is the blurb that comes with the video at YouTube (this is an old TED Talk). I disagree with some of Dennett's view on things, but he is fun to listen to and very learned. He uses Richard Dawkins' meme idea as a jumping off point.

Here's one of those talks that can change your view of the world forever. Starting with the deceptively simple story of an ant, Dan Dennett unleashes a dazzling sequence of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of "memes" -- a term coined by Richard Dawkins for mental concepts that are literally alive and capable of spreading from brain to brain. On the way, look out for:

+ a powerful one-sentence secret of happiness
+ a compelling insight into terrorists' motivation
+ a chilling view of Islam

And just when you think you know where the talk's heading, it dramatically shifts direction and questions some of western culture's fundamental assumptions.

This. Is. Unmissable.





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like you disagree with Dennett's view on things. Especially the fluke-nature, I didn't laugh at that joke in the vid lol.

I do laugh however at a compelling insight into terrorists' motivation
& a chilling view of Islam.

Namely the orchestration of the false flag operations that are disguised as terrorist and attacks and the 'war on terror' that has nothing to do with terrorists but with an elite of conspiratorial assholes trying to kill the constitution and take the freedoms away of sheepish people to form a perfectly controlled global police state.

Thanks for listening :p