NeuroQuantology | June 2009 | Vol 7| Issue 2| Page 318-324 Saniotis, A. Technologies of the Mind: Neuroanthropology and Memetics ISSN 1303 5150 www.neuroquantology.com 318 OPINION AND PERSPECTIVES Technologies of the Mind Neuroanthropology and Memetics Arthur Saniotis Abstract This paper deals with aspects of neuroanthropology which may assist in the study of memetics. The neurobiological dimensions of the brain give rise to cultural evolution. Myth and ritual play an important part in human cultures due to their cognitive imperative which is concerned with existential mastery and ontological security. The role of memes may play a crucial part in this process which necessitates more scholarly exploration. Key Words: memetics, neuroanthropology, myth, culture NeuroQuantology 2009; 2: 318-324 Introduction 1 In his works on neuroanthropology Sacks (1983; 1985; 1995) takes the reader through the annals of various case studies which have propelled neuroanthropology. Neuroanthropology examines the relationship between the human brain and culture. For this reason, it is advantageous to a study of memetics. The aim of this paper is to provide a discussion on neuroanthropology which may have implications to the study of memetics. Memetic theory is based on the notion that memes act as “units of cultural transmission which propagate themselves (Dawkins 1976). For Wilkins (1998), memes are units which undergo cultural selective processes. Cultural selection makes certain memes more or less advantageous for replication. Blute (2005) points out that among memeticists the argument is continuing on whether memes act as either genes or viruses. My concern is not in engaging how memes are constructed in Corresponding author: Arthur Saniotis Address: Discipline of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences. The University of Adelaide. South Australia. 5005. Phone: + 61 83035730 e-mail: saniotis@yahoo.co.uk memetic discourse but rather in exploring how the concept of memes can find converging points between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sciences. Bloch suggests that memes are a constructive pedagogical tool which bypasses the need to make culture transcendental and mysterious (2005, p. 87). Furthermore, he goes on to say a la Dawkins that biological and social scientists deal with divergent areas of “a unitary phenomenon” (Bloch 2005, p. 87). One of the problems on the part of social scientists has been either a bias or lack of understanding of memes and their fear of ‘biologising’ human culture. On this note, Rappaport cautions us against biologistic accounts of human experience in favour of a cybernetic understanding of human culture which foregrounds unities and feedback in relation to material and social dimensions (Csordas 2001, p. 227, 241). Alternately, memeticists need to become more familiarised with social scientific theories (Bloch 2005). From a neuroanthropological viewpoint, I am interested in the correspondence between brain and its social manifestation in symbolic thought which is the forte of the social scientific project.