In his bestseller book "The selfish gene" Richard Dawkins has defined DNA a
s a universal replicator-molecule that constitutes the basic structure for
evolution and natural selection of living creatures. When trying to explain
cultural evolution he proposed the existence of a unit of cultural transmi
ssion for which he coined the very appealing neologism of "meme' calling it
the second replicator. Memes, as genes, are copied. They mutate and are se
lected. This idea has undergone the sorcerer's apprentice path spreading ra
pidly amongst many evolutionary scientists developing into a strange "scien
ce of memetics". But while genes are well defined and their molecular struc
ture has been extensively investigated, memes are ethereal and cannot be de
fined. Without an adequate idea of these elusive elements it is no surprise
that no scientific demonstration of such an immaterial replicator exists a
nd serious scientists disregard memes as the basis to explain consciousness
and cultural evolution.
Memetics is nothing more than a pseudoscientific dogma where memes are comp
ared to genes, viruses, parasites, or infectious agents thriving for their
own survival in human brains. Memetics is a dangerous idea that poses a thr
eat to the serious study of consciousness and cultural evolution.