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
Unnatural Selection: Why the Geeks Will Inherit the Earth have geek-like powers, fostering a cognitive arms race’. ‘For the first time in human history,’ Roeder wrote, ‘humans will have the capacity to chart their own evolution - as the process of Darwinian natural selection is superseded by unnatural selection.’ He warns that 'human enhancement technologies will eventually threaten our sense of identity as human beings.' Steve Silberman, an editor of "Wired" magazine, wrote that Unnatural Selection ‘is a provocative book that explains why (geeks) have become a social force driving a new kind of human evolution.’ Author Daniel Wilson suggested that the book ‘paints a compelling picture of human