Viruses of the Mind Viruses of the Mind "Viruses of the Mind" is an essay by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, first published in the book "Dennett and His Critics: Demystifying Mind" (1993). Dawkins originally wrote the essay in 1991 and delivered it as a Voltaire Lecture on 6 November 1992 at the Conway Hall Humanist Centre. The essay discusses how religion can be viewed as a meme, an idea previously expressed by Dawkins in "The Selfish Gene" (1976). Dawkins analyzes the propagation of religious ideas and behaviors as a memetic virus, analogous to how biological and computer viruses spread. The essay was later
The Selfish Genius entitled the "Dawkins Dogma" contains parts of the arguments put forward within the book. "The Selfish Genius" has been criticized in "The Economist" for failing to fully understand Dawkins' selfish gene metaphor, with the reviewer claiming Dawkins accommodates proposed alternative evolutionary mechanism Elsdon-Baker suggests within her own ideas. However a generally positive reception has been seen amongst proponents of group selection and Philip Ball wrote a largely positive review in "The Times" that acknowledges she is right to "call time on a Whiggish view of the history of evolution". "Popular Science" author Brian Clegg reviewed the book and described it