Ideas worth spreading

Dangerous memes

2,098,769 views |

Dan Dennett |

TED2002

• February 2002

Starting with the simple tale of an ant, philosopher Dan Dennett unleashes a devastating salvo of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of memes -- concepts that are literally alive.

Starting with the simple tale of an ant, philosopher Dan Dennett unleashes a devastating salvo of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of memes -- concepts that are literally alive.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Dan Dennett

Philosopher, cognitive scientist

See speaker profile

Dan Dennett thinks that human consciousness and free will are the result of physical processes.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.