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DAWKINS

            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 that 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.
             Religion is the most established and widespread mind-virus that exists. It is replicated and obeyed everyday by billions of people around the world. All of Dawkins symptoms are predominant in the religious being.


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