Meme Theory

The excellent editorial, “A New Key to Behavior” (March 20), shows how the science of memetics can lead to a new understanding of many complex problems. There are a number of recent books on memetics and a wealth of information on the Internet.

The first step in solving such intractable problems as racism, abortion conflicts, religious intolerance, war, gang violence and many others is to understand why we believe what we believe and how those beliefs spread. The editorial warned about glorifying meme theory as an answer to everything, but it can be an important tool in understanding problems clearly.

DAVE SILVA

Seal Beach