Orionsarm has a nice list of top science fiction pieces that utilize memetic engineering or memetic manipulation…I have picked out my favorites from both a science fiction quality standpoint and from a purely memetic one. My personal favorite on this short list is Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card…here are a few others on a deeper level.

“Brave New World”, by Aldous Huxley. Shows memetic manipulation through distraction, subliminals, language, information control, and pleasure, and contains elements that are very easy to recognize in all Information Age cultures.

“1984″, by George Orwell. Demonstrates memetic manipulation through language, information control, and fear. Elements are easy to recognize in 20th & 21st century Information Age cultures.

“The Space Merchants” by Frederic Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth. Memetic manipulation through advertising methods and other information management. Elements are easy to recognize in commercial societies of the Information Age. This book provides good insight into probable NoCoZo cultures in OA.

Other good science fiction classics that utilize memetic engineering to some degree:

“Fahrenheit 451″ Ray Bradbury. This novel illustrates memetic control by destruction of information, distraction, and the use of mass media.

“Illuminatus” trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson. Conflicting and confusing secret organizations manipulate governments, populations, and individuals of for the purpose of .

“The Book of the New Sun” by Gene Wolfe. Memetic control of a population (the Ascians) through language. A fascinating and ultimate case. Also, memetic manipulation of human polities by aliens who are acting on behalf of beings comparable to OA’s Archai.

“Enders Game” by Orson Scott Card. Memetics in training super-intelligent children to be future generals.

“Dune” by Frank Herbert. An interstellar society (the Bene Gesserit) provides planetside cultures with myths and legends for their own purposes.

The “Foundation” series by Isaac Asimov. Presumes a limited ability to make memetic predictions and thereby interfere to produce desired results. (Hari Seldon)

Short Story

“Adrift on the Policy Level” by Chandler Davis. Short story. It presumes a world in which Darwinian competition among memes governs corporate/government policy. Humor.

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