Evolution and memetics

If we are to believe Darwin then we are simply organic vehicles that exist to ensure the survival of the genes we carry. Those genes give us the characteristics and ability to ensure we can pass them on to others and so ensure an unbroken line of genetic existance.

Richard Dawkins took this idea and applied it to information. These packets of information, or memes, behave in a very similar way to genes. They are passed from one vehicle to another, sometimes changing identity along the way. So perhaps we can look at vehicles designed to pass on memes in the same way that we do so with those that pass on genes.

The problem humans have when passing on their genes is that they are only able to do so for a relatively short period of time. They start off too small and ineffectual, then reach maturity and are able to replicate many times, however this ability tails off and the genes passed on are more likely to be faulty. Eventually the person becomes unable to pass on their genes and then they die.

This process can be applied to internet discussion forums. They exist for the purpose of sharing information, or memes. Initially when a forum is created, it is too small and there is not enough traffic for it to be able to function properly. Then as it grows it starts to become a place where information is first collected from, and then disseminated to, a large number of other vehicles, be they other websites, groups, or individuals.

However as the forum continues to grow it is inevitable that some controls will be placed on the memetic dissemination that occurs, this process eventually leads to a gradual decrease in the introduction of new memes, and so begins the process of decline. If we are willing to follow this theory through to its logical conclusion there will come a point where the forum is no longer able to pass on quality memes and eventually ceases to exist as a source of information at all.

If we accept this, (and I'm not really suggesting that we should, just that it is an interesting comparison) then perhaps we should not look at SFI as a bad place at all, simply as a senile forum that needs our support and care in order to continue to exist. Of course there will come a day when it is no longer able to do so and then we should mourn its passing. But until then we should look at it as a ailing geriatric too decrepit to look after itself any more.