And operators are applied encourage im-proved fitness the population

252 Chapter Five—Humans—Actual, Imagined, and Implied

I Imitation, where memes are taken from neighbors

I Knowledge-based operators, where individuals use a mental equivalent of mutation and crossover to evolve schemas

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features can only be propagated vertically, down from one generation to the next. A highly speculative theorist, she has written extensively on is-sues of creativity, spirituality, and other nontechnical topics, arguing that the theory of memes “plants us squarely in a garden of knowledge where spiritual truth can blossom.” We agree that there is something en-couraging in a point of view that optimistically theorizes that society is constantly moving toward ever more adaptive states, that sees the evolu-tion of truth from the bottom up—rather than flowing down from all-knowing “experts” and authorities to the ignorant masses.