Memes can be described as unit of cultural information passed on from human to human. Dawkins gave examples like jingles, tunes, beliefs, trends etc. In short memes can be considered bits of information (not nesscarily true) passed on between individuals like a virus or a gene, altering itself slightly over time. We all know commercials by heart like "Just do it!" (Nike) or our politicians ("Axis of terror") that uses memes to change minds by changing habits through repetition or spin.
I bring on memes because science, and the way we approach the rationale as the truth, could have become a meme. It has become commonplace to hear phrases in the news like "Statistically more....", "Experts in....", "Surveys indicate that..." and so on. It seems to me that science is used by news and politicians as undeniable tools, or weapons, for facts and correct standpoints. Odd, since journalists and politicians does not seem to communicate very well with scientists and vice verse. And because journalists and politicians speak about research results as if they were their own, they become memes by repetition.
Have you ever instinctively denied a child's fantasies? For example, if your kid would run up to you, excited, telling you there is a tiger in the yard - would you not feel urged to tell the kid there is no tiger in the yard without looking first? Kids have a good imagination by default, and we adults often do our best to dampen these tall tales with common sense. Common sense, that if we think about it, often is guided by what we have been told - memes. A little curiosity or sense of adventure might make us look for the tiger, but the inner voice often win over the instinct of curiosity.
So if I replace the kid with an garage inventor who excited enter the public forum with a new high yielding energy source running on water, the integrity does not increase much because of his years of age. I would claim the same mechanisms kick in. We are sceptical and normally categorically deny the validity of the invention due lack of documentation or conflicts with scientific "laws" (memes) - in stead of being curious and look into it with the mindset of "what if the inventor is right?".
In summary, my point here is that memes based on how the world looks like is a serious mental barrier in all of us if one innovative revolution stares us in the face, and we all help sustaining it.
