Gregg,

I forget where exactly, but I recall that in your book you write that memes are close to justifications. 

I'm under the impression that memes are selected by the process of justification, although we would have to elaborate more on what we mean by justification. For instance, how is art selected? I would argue that art is selected by the structures of the brain that determine the quality of our aesthetic experience. There are two types of good art. One kind of art speaks the truth. It reveals something about ourselves or nature to us. Your work is even a kind of art that reveals the truth to us. Another kind of good art is that which takes us into new aesthetic experiences. I would also add that the quality of aesthetic experience comes directly from the truth that exists in the art. So there is clearly a process of justification in the selection for art. 

Would you agree that memes are the units selected by justification? Your model sticks to symbols, but what about technologies, practices, norms, etc, all of which are selected by a process of justification?

Would you agree that there is a general trend towards the pragmatic truth in cultural evolution because of the process of selection-by-justification?

There are various problems with the concept of memes that differentiate them from biological evolution. I got these from the Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy on cultural evolution: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evolution-cultural/#ProMem:

1) Cultural units are not replicators

2) Cultural units do not form lineages

3) Culture cannot be atomised into discrete units

However, I would disagree with these, at least the first two. Memes can spawn out of brains and radiate out into the population by replication. 

And the evolution of the car, or language, or certain practices are examples of lineages. It seems to me there are memetic lineages all over the place. 

And genes can't even really be atomized into discrete units, so what's the problem is memes can't also?

Again, I think you said that memes are like justifications, but the normal understanding of memes is that they are replicating behaviors often embodied in symbols. 

My main point is this:

The fitness landscape for memes is the pragmatic truth, that is, the truth that we value. It's where behavioral investment theory meets the mysterious universe. It is that truth that selects memes and determines if they are justified. This is at least similar to your justification hypothesis, in that the pragmatic truth is the basis for how humans justify their actions to each other. Of course, early on, we weren't very good at determining the truth, but there is a clear ongoing process of revelation and a refinement of the process of justification that coincides with material progress. All of the cultural evolutionary trends I listed in previous emails help to refine the process of justification. 

Thanks. 

Jamie