In 2008, I published an
earlier version of this post spotting curious parallels between the geographic spread of non-rational ideas and biological parasitism -- or phrased differently -- between
memetic and
genetic pandemics. Beyond these two examples from European history -- the expansion of
Christianity and the spread of the
Great Plague (a.k.a. the Black Death) -- as shown in these two maps...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie71PHyl_AadqWc-9YC2eqrLV-Pw2JSyox8ak6xaiWST3oDKJdqKQKPTXVEyihYSPJ9n3AukgJ73LrpqVq0eCAeXaYaGVPy8be_oW6HkNakSFDeU5mN_Jrgp2KHd6PALC_B_I2vFAnZQ/s400/Map7-SpreadofChristianity.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqj_7ZNkEPBykUCXCNyI4osZBYgd_cO6BO04XccDOCzRfnRJUxUJQlIS7BGfH8dVVh2_YDBi-jIcO3zox2p1v5kl6tRYQkwNVl2FetjsXwR7vhoHNjPaAvbMSjdPoW5QA9pxDU-l4wg/s400/plague2.gif)
Here we have two more examples, first the
spread of Islam...
![https://moodle.l-spioneers.org/mod/book/view.php?id=12586&chapterid=18](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBJAIa0_x2BV5AySVWLTrLJ1dHbLxIDBTUrWkG0NoW6ZcN-pq_4YweDwhBJei4ue7Pe7GLtbTjvitNLbksN7OlRBo7DHgyYefR2B89lXzINJ4ZPu5kv0KBGzKKUMf2JSpXS_2kTyeuIpQ/s320/4851619_orig-1.gif)
And the
spread of Buddhism...
![http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/politics-society/47112-indian-empires-influence-map-3.html](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEyZ1v2Z_U4sZHhLZjuU2JRr0Fg_S8hLm5Dky4iEWhFVAv7Ulrki0JMQ_Q3t6qRCxFxyjfiGcdjyS8uA5NlpTxaZRtSBlAsk-nrl3H4gqlEktZVcIeyysy5hEeojYQh9sjFV2eh4sDJSk/s320/map_09_02_world_buddhism.jpg)
Yes, these happen on different timescales, have diverse points of origin, and varied mechanisms for transmission + replication + mutation. Nevertheless both poisonous ideas and viral poisons are parallel phenomena for humanity to apply scientific methods on, to ever more thoroughly understand, and to ultimately prevail over.
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