Diane Jacobs (who is a physiotherapist) invented this word (another use here), and the Wonder of Words picked it up:
Dopameme Combination of the name of a neurotransmitter in the brain involved in feeling pleasure, "dopamine", and the term "meme" as coined by Richard Dawkins meaning a thought virus. A "Dopameme" is a feel-good idea which:
- forms part of a belief system (like "new age" notions or pseudo/antiscience)
- keeps people from learning to see the world rationally
- stubbornly persists through generations, because the emotional comfort or pleasure it provides the person who harbours it ensures it will be replicated frequently in that individual's brain and easily passed on to others via social and conversational contact
- gets recycled endlessly through books sold at spiritual and self-help bookstores, thus helping support the economy, thus further ensuring its continued survival
What are your nominees for dopamemes?
I'll have to think about the question, but just wanted to tell you that this probably wins the prize for the best blog post title today.
Posted by: Karoli | Saturday, November 08, 2008 at 04:16 PM
The epigram "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win", which is used to justify the fallacy that because that sequence happens sometimes, then any crappy no-brain idea that's being ignored/ridiculed/fought must have merit.
Add to that its fake attribution to Gandhi, when it almost certainly comes from a 1914 Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America trade union address (see JSBlog).
Posted by: Ray Girvan | Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 09:18 PM