The Straight Dope 02/13/2004

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 02/13/2004

Dear Cecil:

My boyfriend just told me about "memes," the theory of
which apparently involves looking at ideas as viruses
that invade the human brain. Strong memes replicate,
causing the ideas to spread from person to person,
and you wind up with things like religion and
professional sports. Please, Cecil, what's the story on
this? --Susan P., via the Internet

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Cecil replies:

The concept of memes is either really deep or really,
really obvious. You can probably guess what side I
initially came down on. But having studied the matter,
I'm now obliged to say that I'm not so sure.

The term "meme" (rhymes with "dream") was coined by
zoologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book about evolution,
The Selfish Gene. Dawkins doesn't claim genes are selfish
in the same way as, say, kids who won't share. Rather, he
explains, the genes carried by each individual are the
driving force behind evolution. As sentient beings we
consider ourselves masters of our own fates, but in
reality we're just the battlebots in which competing
genes slug it out--determining, through the impersonal
workings of natural selection, which will survive.

Dawkins proposes that the meme is to culture what the
gene is to biology. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040213.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I have a friend who is very religious (in an offbeat
unfathomable way). The other day we were talking about
diet. According to my friend Adam and Eve were
vegetarians. And God gave permission for people to eat
meat after the Flood. I am skeptical, since I seem to
remember a lot of shepherds in the Bible and to me
shepherds=meat eaters. My friend says that they just
sacrificed those animals to God without eating them. A
quick Internet search left me even more confused. Was
everyone in the Bible vegetarian before Noah? And if so
were they strict vegans? --Kevin Fry

SDSTAFF Dex replies:

This is an easy one. Answer: Yes, your friend is correct:
the Bible presupposes a pristine state of vegetarianism.

In the creation story, God creates people (male and
female) and says to them (Genesis 1:29), "See, I give
you every seed-bearing plant that is upon the earth,
and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit, they shall
be yours for food. And to all the animals on land, to
all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps
on earth, in which there is the breath of life, [I give]
all the green plants for food." 

So, the image presented--the plain reading of the text--
is that in the Edenic state, people were to be
vegetarians. And not only people; all the animals were
vegetarians as well. 

The question of what shepherds did is not addressed. 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/madamvegan.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 10/22/1976

Dear Cecil: 

Coming home from a restaurant dinner tonight, the subject
of tipping came up and with it many unanswered questions.
Naturally, our thoughts turned to you, Cecil. (1) What is
the origin of tipping? (2) Who determined the 15 percent
figure? (3) Why do cabdrivers expect a tip when their job
is to provide door-to-door service? I can understand 
giving a tip if the cabbie has to handle luggage, but
they expect one regardless. --Karen G., Chicago 

Dear Karen:  

The origin of tipping is lost, like so many things, in
the Mists of Antiquity. There's evidence that tipping
goes back at least to the age of the Romans, but human
nature being what it is, it could just as easily date
from the invention of money. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_333.html

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