"meme" and "carbon offset coupons" and others

[Yilaner]

The following 5 items are the problems I have when reading
Steven Pinker's "Moral Instinct." Please help me out. Many
thanks for your reply!

1. "...whether they should be able to buy their way out of jury duty"
Does this refer to bribery that enables you to shun jury duty?


2."Unfortunately, the meme of the selfish gene escaped from popular
biology books and mutated into the idea that organisms (including
people)are ruthlessly self-serving."
What does the word "meme" represent here?


3."and the solution is temperance (conservation) and expiation
(buying carbon offset coupons)."
Are there products called "carbon offset coupons"?


4."even if every last American became conscientious about
his or her carbon emissions, the effects on climate change
would be trifling, if for no other reason than that two billion
Indians and Chinese are unlikely to copy our born-again
abstemiousness."
I don't understand the final part of the sentence.( if for no
other reason...)


5." and resting content when we feel the right feelings"
Does "content" here mean satisfied?

[Guy Barry]

Post by Yilaner
2."Unfortunately, the meme of the selfish gene escaped from popular
biology books and mutated into the idea that organisms (including
people)are ruthlessly self-serving."
What does the word "meme" represent here?

"Meme" is a word coined by Richard Dawkins in his book "The Selfish Gene",
to describe an element of human culture that establishes itself through
self-replication, analogously to the gene in evolutionary biology. This
might be something as simple as a melody or catchphrase, or as complex as a
religious belief.

Clearly Pinker is here making the observation that the "selfish gene" theory
popularized by Dawkins is itself an example of a meme, since people outside
evolutionary biology are now using the idea of a "selfish gene" to explain
phenomena that weren't intended to be within its original scope.

--
Guy Barry

[Jerry Friedman]

Post by Yilaner
The following 5 items are the problems I have when reading
Steven Pinker's "Moral Instinct." Please help me out. Many
thanks for your reply!
1. "...whether they should be able to buy their way out of jury duty"
   Does this refer to bribery that enables you to shun jury duty?
2."Unfortunately, the meme of the selfish gene escaped from popular
    biology books and mutated into the idea that organisms (including
    people)are ruthlessly self-serving."
    What does the word "meme" represent here?
3."and the solution is temperance (conservation) and expiation
   (buying carbon offset coupons)."
  Are there products called "carbon offset coupons"?
4."even if every last American became conscientious about
  his or her carbon emissions, the effects on climate change
  would be trifling, if for no other reason than that two billion
  Indians and Chinese are unlikely to copy our born-again
  abstemiousness."
  I don't understand the final part of the sentence.( if for no
  other reason...)
5." and resting content when we feel the right feelings"
   Does "content" here mean satisfied?