Memetic evolution is the theory of the spread and development of memes (units of ideas, behaviours, habits and culture that are self-replicating and changeable. That pass through the ages from person to person by non-genetic means). Religion is an example of a meme, the development of Christianity through the ages may be seen as the memetic evolution of Christianity, as new ideas are proposed and accepted, and as interpretations of dogmas are amended, suggested and adopted. The word 'meme' was first proposed by the British biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book, 'The Selfish Gene'. A key supporter of the concept of memes and of memetic evolution is the psychologist Susan Blackmore. Memes are still a theoretical abstract providing a label to group together those parts of behaviour and philosophy which are passed from generation to generation and person to person. Many scientists believe that describing abstract entities in such a physical manner, liking ideas to biological genes, is misleading. Research Memetic Evolution
Alben William Barkley was an American politician. He was born in 1877 and died in 1956. Brought up on a farm, he graduated from Marvin College and went on to study law at the University of Virginia before entering the law practice in 1901 at Paducah, Kentucky and becoming involved in politics as a Democrat. In 1912 he was elected to the house of representatives and served seven successive terms, winning recognition as a conscientious legislator and supporter of Woodrow Wilson. In 1926 he was elected to the US senate and served until 1949, in 1948 being elected vice-president. He was re- elected to the senate in 1954. Research Alben William Barkley
Alexander I was King of Scotland from 1107 to 1124. A son of Malcolm Canmore and Margaret of England, he succeeded his brother Edgar in 1107, and governed with great ability until his death in 1124. He was a great benefactor of the church, and a firm vindicator of the national independence.
Alexander I was a King of Yugoslavia. He was born in 1888 and died in 1934. He was of the Karageorgevic dynasty of Serbia, ascending the throne in 1921 he tried to overcome the ethnic, religious, and regional rivalries in his country by means of a personal dictatorship in 1929, supported by the army. In the interest of greater unity, he changed the name of his kingdom, which consisted of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, to 'Yugoslavia' in 1929. In 1931 some civil rights were restored, but they proved insufficient to quell rising political and separatist dissent, aggravated by economic depression. He was planning to restore parliamentary government when he was assassinated by a Croatian terrorist.
Alexander I was an Emperor of Russia. He was born in 1777 and died in 1825. He was the son of Paul I, and is believed to have assisted indirectly in his father's murder. He ascended the throne in 1801 and reigned until 1825. He set out to reform Russia and correct many of the injustices of the preceding reign. His private committee - the Neglasny Komitet - introduced plans for public education, but his reliance on the nobility made it impossible for him to abolish serfdom. His adviser, Speransky, pressed for a more liberal constitution, but the nobles secured his fall in 1812. At first a supporter of the coalition against Napoleon, his defeats by the latter at Austerlitz in 1805 and Friedland in 1807 resulted in the Treaties of Tilsit and in his support of the Continental System against the British.
His wars with Persia from 1804 to 1813 and with Turkey from 1806 to 1812 brought territorial gains, including the acquisition of Georgia and his armies helped to defeat Napoleon's grande armee at Leipzig, after its retreat from Moscow in 1812. In an effort to uphold Christian morality in Europe he formed a Holy Alliance of European monarchs, and became increasingly conservative in his domestic policies. The constitution he gave to Poland scarcely disguised the rule of the military there. He was reported to have died while in the Crimea, but rumour persisted that he had escaped to Siberia and became a hermit. Research Alexander I
Amru was originally an opponent, and subsequently a zealoussupporter of Mohammed, and one of the ablest of the Mohammedan warriors. He brought Egypt under the power of the Caliph Omar in 638, and governed it wisely until his death in 663. The burning of the famous Alexandrian Library has been generally attributed to him, though only on the authority of a writer who lived six centuries later. Research Amru
Benjamin Disraeli (LordBeaconsfield) was a British statesman and writer. He was born in 1804 at London and died in 1881. Of Jewish extraction, he was the eldest son of Isaac D'Israeli, author of the Curiosities of Literature. He attended for a time a private school, and was first destined for the law, but showing a decided taste for literature he was allowed to follow his inclination. In 1826 he published Vivian Grey, his first novel; and subsequently travelled for some time, visiting Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Syria, and gaining experiences which were afterwards reproduced in his books. His travels and impressions are embodied in a volume of letters addressed to his sister and his father. In 1831 another novel, The Young Duke, came from his pen. It was followed at short intervals by Contarini Fleming, Alroy, Henrietta Temple, Venetia, The revolutionary Epic (a poem), etc.
In 1832, and on two subsequent occasions, he appeared as candidate for the representation of High Wycombe, with a programme which included vote by ballot and triennial parliaments, but was unsuccessful. His political opinions gradually changed: in 1835 he unsuccessfully contested Taunton as a Tory. In 1837 he gained an entrance to the House of Commons, being elected for Maidstone. His first speech in the house was treated with ridicule; but he finished with the prophetic declaration that the time would come when they would hear him. During his first years in parliament he was a supporter of Peel; but when Peel pledged himself to abolish the corn-laws, Benjamin Disraeli became the leader of the protectionists.
About this time he became a leader of what was known as the 'Young England' party, the most prominent characteristic of which was a sort of sentimental advocacy of feudalism. This spirit showed itself in his two novels of Coningsby and Sybil, published respectively in 1844 and 1845. Having acquired the manorpf Hughenden in Buckinghamshire, he was in 1847 elected for this county, and he retained his seat until raised to the peerage nearly thirty years later.
His first appointment to office was in 1852, when he became chancellor of the exchequer under Lord Derby. The following year, however, the ministry was defeated. He remained out of office until 1858, when he again became chancellor of the exchequer, and brought in a reform bill which wrecked the government. During the time the Palmerston government was in office Benjamin Disraeli led the opposition in the lower house with conspicuous ability and courage. In 1866 the Liberals resigned, and Derby and Benjamin Disraeli came into power, the latter being again chancellor of the exchequer. They immediately brought in, and carried, after a violent and bitter struggle, a reform Bill on the basis of household suffrage.
In 1868 he became premier on the resignation of Lord Derby, but his tenure of office was short. In 1874 he again became prime-minister with a strong Conservative majority, and he remained in power for six years. This period was marked by his elevation to the peerage in 1876 as Earl of Beaconsfield, and by the prominent part he took in regard to the Eastern question and the conclusion of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. In 1880 parliament was rather suddenly dissolved, and the new parliament showing an overwhelming Liberal majority, he resigned office, though he still retained the leadership of his party. Within a few months of his death the publication of a novel called Endymion (his last, Lothair, had been published ten years before) showed that his intellect was still vigorous. Among others of his writings besides those already mentioned are: A Vindication of the English Constitution, 1834; Alarcos; a Tragedy, 1839; and Lord George Bentinck, a Political Biography, 1852. Research Benjamin Disraeli
The Campbells of Argyll are a historic Scottish family, raised to the peerage in the person of Sir Duncan Campbell of Lochow, in 1445. The more eminent members are: Archibald 2nd Earl, killed at the battle of Flodden, 1513.
Archibald , 5th Earl, attached himself to the party of Mary of Guise, and was the means of averting a collision between the Reformers and the French troops in 1559; was commissioner of regency after Mary's abdication, but afterwards commanded her troops at the battle of Langside; died in 1575.
Archibald, 9th Earl, son of the preceding, served the king with great bravery at the battle of Dunbar, and was excluded from the general pardon by Oliver Cromwell in 1654. On the passing of the Test Act in 1681 he refused to take the required oath except with a reservation. For this he was tried and sentenced to death. He, however, escaped to Holland, from whence he returned with a view of aiding the Duke of Monmouth. His plan, however, failed, and he was taken and conveyed to Edinburgh, where he was beheaded in 1685.
Archibald, 10th Earl and 1st Duke, son of the preceding, died in 1703 and took an active part in the Revolution of 1688-1689, which placed William and Mary on the throne, and was rewarded by several important appointments and the title of Duke.
John, 2nd Duke and Duke of Greenwich, son of the above, born in 1678, died in 1743; served under Marlborough at the battles of Ramilies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, and assisted at the sieges of Lisle and Ghent. He incurred considerable odium in his own country for his efforts in promoting the union. In 1712 he had the military command in Scotland, and in 1715 he fought an Indecisive battle with the Earl of Mar's army at Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane, and forced the Pretender to quit the kingdom. He was long a supporter of Walpole, but his political career was full of intrigue. He is the Duke of Argyll in Scott's Heart of Midlothian.
George DouglasCampbell, K.T., K.G, etc., 8th Duke (of United Kingdom, 1892), was born in 1823. He early took apart in politics, especially in discussions regarding the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. In 1852 he became lord privy seal under LordAberdeen, and again under LordPalmerston in 1859; postmaster-general in 1860; secretary for India from 1868 to 1874; again lord privy seal in 1880, but retired, being unable to agree with his colleagues on then-Irish policy. He died in 1900. He wrote The Reign of Law, Scotland as it Was and as it Is, etc. His eldest son, then Marquis Of Lorne, married the Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, in 1871. Research Campbells of Argyle
Charles James Fox was an English statesman. He was born in 1749 and died in 1806. The second son of Henry, first LordHolland, he was sent to Eton, and subsequently removed to Hertford College, Oxford. His father procured him a seat in the borough of Midhurst in 1768, before he was of legal age, and in 1770 he was appointed one of the lords of the admiralty, which he resigned in 1772, and was appointed a commissioner of the treasury. After being a supporter of the administration for six years, a quarrel with Lord North threw Fox into the ranks of the Whig opposition, where along with Burke and others, he steadily assailed the government, especially on the score of their American policy. In 1780 he was elected member for Westminster, and on the defeat of the administration of Lord North, and the accession of that of the arquis of Rockingham, he obtained the office of secretary of state for foreign affairs in 1782.
The death of the Marquis of Rockingham divided the party and when the Earl of Shelburne became prime minister, Fox retired. He subsequently led a strong opposition to the Pitt government and supported the efforts of Wilberforce against the slave trade and moved the repeal of the Test and and Corporation Acts. He welcomed the breaking out of the French Revolution, and his views on this subject led to a memorable break between him and his old friend Burke. Charles Fox firmly opposed the principle on which the war against France was begun, and strenuously argued for peace on every occasion; but eventually, on becoming secretary for foreign affairs in 1806, acquiesced in its propriety. His health, which had been impaired by his loose manner of living, now began rapidly to decline, and he died the same year a few months after the death of Pitt, his great rival.
As a powerful and purely argumentative orator he was of the very first class; although as to eloquence and brilliancy he perhaps yielded to Pitt, Burke, and Sheridan; nor were his voice and manner prepossessing, although highly forcible. He was of an amiable nature, and a sincere friend to all broad and liberal principles of government, His History of the Early Part of the Reign of James II was published posthumously. Research Charles Fox
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an American politician. He was born in 1746 at Charleston, South Carolina and died in 1825. Educated in England at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, he studied law at the Middle Temple and afterwards practised in his home town. After serving in the American War of Independence with the ramk of major he took part in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and was responsible for the clause abolishing religious tests as a qualification for office. A strong federalist, he was a supporter of slavery, a governor of South Carolina from 1789 until 1792 and twice an unsuccessful candidate for president.
Charles Pinckney was an American politician. He was born in 1758 and died in 1824. A cousin of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, he was a member of the South Carolina Legislature from 1779 to 1780. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1777 to 1778 and from 1784 to 1787. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and drafted one of the constitutions proposed. He was Governor of South Carolina from 1789 to 1792 and from 1796 to 1798, a US Senator from 1797 to 1801, Minister to Spain from. 1803 to 1805, Governor from 1806 to 1808. He was a Democratic US Congressman from 1819 to 1821. Research Charles Pinckney
Charles Stanhope (3rd Earl Stanhope) was an English politician and scientist. He was born in 1753 at London and died in 1816. Educated at Eton and Geneva, he showed a taste for science at an early age and made numerous experiments regarding the application of steam to ships, invented a printing press - known as the Stanhope press, invented a microscopic lens and constructed calculating machines. Politically he was revolutionary, opposed the slave trade, opposed the war against France - which earned for him the nickname 'Citizen Stanhope - and was a supporter of education and electoral and fiscal reforms. Research Charles Stanhope
Abbreviations
Research Memetic Evolution
