Pretty sure I encountered a similar idea when reading Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene which was written 45 years ago. In fact, Dawkins coined the word meme i

Pretty sure I encountered a similar idea when reading Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene which was written 45 years ago. In fact, Dawkins coined the word meme in that book, referring to a unit of culture which propagates through imitation and repetition. He clearly recognized the tremendous influence memes can have on the behavior of descendants outside of any genetic factors: “But if you contribute to the world's culture, if you have a good idea...it may live on, intact, long after your genes have dissolved in the common pool. Socrates may or may not have a gene or two alive in the world today, as G.C. Williams has remarked, but who cares? The meme-complexes of Socrates, Leonardo, Copernicus and Marconi are still going strong.”