Dawkins is right; not only are there mind-viruses but religion is the paradigm example of a mind-virus.
A mind virus is a meme that is being imitated and we have proof that they exist in the human mind through behavioral evidence. Dawkins states that there are two requirements for mind-viruses to work. The victim must be able to accurately replicate data and must willing to obey. Humans satisfy both of these requirements. The human mind can replicate data very adequately and we have evidence of this from the development of language. Dawkins points out in his paper that not only do we replicate language itself but we also replicate dialects and accents within a language. This shows the degree at which we can replicate what we are given; it’s not perfect but darn near close. Humans also have a great willingness to obey and are easily programmed to do so. Brodie has classified three very effective strategies that are used to infect the human mind and force it to obey commands. Conditioning is the first of these. An example was given in class of how successful this strategy can be when the students were asked what the phrase “Just Do It” was attached to. Everyone immediately knew that this was a NIKE slogan. This is evidence t
hat when something is repeated enough times it sticks quite well in the mind. This is not necessarily an example of a mind-virus but it does prove that a meme is obeyed very easily and usually without the victim being aware that they are obeying anything. Brodie’s other strategies include cognitive dissonance and the Trojan horse theory. These are also very effective methods and I will show how they are used to infect a victim with a very particular mind virus, religion.
The one thing that all religions have in common is faith. According to Dawkins faith is the number one indicator that a mind has been infected. Religion encourages faith; it’s what its beliefs are based on. The problem becomes then that everyone who has faith has this deep conviction that they are right, which of course makes everyone else wrong. You can’t prove a negative so it is impossible to prove that everyone else is wrong. Since there isn’t any real evidence to support either side religion is the cause of a never ending war between mankind. This is why religion is harmful like a virus; it puts man against man over arguments that can never be resolved without death and destruction. However yes it is true that religion has its benefits but then again everything has pros and cons. Take for example another common virus, the flu. The symptoms of the flu include vomiting, aches, pains, nausea and many other unpleasant side effects. But if you have the flu you do get to lie around all day doing nothing which can be nice. Perhaps you even get a day or two off from wo
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