https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Blackmore#Memetics_and_religious_culture
At the February 2008 TED conference, Blackmore introduced a special category of memes called temes. Temes are memes which live in technological artifacts instead of the human mind.
“At the February 2008 TED conference, Blackmore introduced a special category of memes called temes. Temes are memes which live in technological artifacts instead of the human mind.” What does temes mean? (ChatGPT, 2024-11-10)
“Temes” is a term introduced by psychologist and memetics researcher Susan Blackmore at the 2008 TED conference. It refers to a specific type of meme—an idea, behavior, or style that spreads within a culture—that exists and evolves within technology rather than the human mind.
Blackmore theorized that just as genes are replicated in biological evolution and memes replicate in the human mind, temes are ideas that replicate through technology, existing in digital and artificial environments rather than being directly transmitted or shaped by human minds.
The concept of temes suggests that technological artifacts, like computers, the internet, and other digital platforms, are now independent spaces where information can evolve, replicate, and influence human behavior. Unlike traditional memes that depend on human carriers, temes propagate through technological systems, often without direct human intervention, and can even generate new variations or forms autonomously (e.g., through algorithms or artificial intelligence).
In essence, temes are ideas that live, adapt, and spread within technology, marking a new evolutionary layer driven by artificial systems.
So temes are something about the evolution of AI? (ChatGPT, 2024-11-10)
Yes, temes are indeed connected to the evolution of AI and other advanced technologies. In Blackmore’s concept, temes represent a new evolutionary process where technology (including AI) becomes an active participant in the replication and transformation of information, independent of human minds.
Unlike traditional memes that spread through human interaction and social transmission, temes can evolve, adapt, and replicate within technological systems such as AI algorithms, digital networks, and autonomous machines. AI, for example, can process massive amounts of data, detect patterns, and even create new content, ideas, or solutions that humans didn’t explicitly program. This capability enables AI-driven technologies to develop temes that spread and influence the digital landscape without direct human input.
The evolution of temes through AI has significant implications:
1. Autonomous Replication and Mutation: With AI, temes can evolve on their own, potentially creating variations and even “ideas” that no human has directly conceived. For example, machine learning models generate patterns and solutions based on training data, creating new content that gets shared across digital platforms, much like temes replicating.
2. Acceleration of Information Evolution: AI can accelerate the spread and mutation of temes by processing and distributing vast amounts of information instantaneously. This rapid evolution could lead to new trends, behaviors, or ideas spreading quickly across technological ecosystems.
3. Influence on Human Culture and Behavior: As temes evolve within technology, they may increasingly shape human culture and behavior, sometimes without our full awareness. AI-driven platforms (such as recommendation algorithms) can influence what people see, think, and do by continuously selecting and amplifying certain temes.
In short, temes represent a stage in the evolution of information where AI and other advanced technologies take on a creative and autonomous role, leading to an independent, technology-driven process of cultural evolution.
