Knowra Susan Blackmore Susan Blackmore Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist and writer whose work spans memetics, consciousness, and parapsychology. She is known for applying evolutionary ideas to cultural transmission and for investigating out-of-body experiences.
Richard Dawkins : Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist and author who popularized the term “meme” in 1976. His account of memes as cultural replicators inspired Blackmore’s extended theory of memetic evolution.
Meme : A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads between people through imitation or other forms of copying. Blackmore treats memes as replicators that compete for transmission through human minds.
Cultural evolution : Cultural evolution is change in socially transmitted information and practices across generations or populations. Blackmore applies evolutionary principles to the spread and variation of cultural information.
Psychical research : Psychical research is the historical investigation of alleged mental phenomena beyond ordinary sensory or physical explanation. Blackmore’s early participation in this tradition gave way to skepticism after she found no reliable evidence.
Daniel Dennett : Daniel Dennett was an American philosopher whose work addressed consciousness, evolution, and cognitive science. Dennett’s evolutionary account of minds intersects with Blackmore’s treatment of memes and consciousness.
Memetics : Memetics is the study of cultural information as units that replicate and evolve through transmission. It is the framework Blackmore developed into a broad account of cultural evolution.
Parapsychology : Parapsychology investigates claimed phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. Blackmore began as a parapsychology researcher before becoming a prominent critic of paranormal explanations.
James Randi : James Randi was a Canadian-American magician and skeptic who investigated claims of paranormal powers. Like Blackmore, Randi challenged paranormal claims, though he approached them as a magician and public skeptic.
Susan Blackmore's The Meme Machine : The Meme Machine is Susan Blackmore’s 1999 book arguing that memes evolve through imitation and shape human behavior. This book is her best-known sustained account of memetics.
Imitation : Imitation is the reproduction of another’s action, expression, or behavior through observation. Blackmore argues that imitation enables memes to reproduce with unusual fidelity.
Show all 20