Not to me. Habitual reference to a mental self-image, and the reification of
that image, is a more fundamental restructuring of one's entire mental
operation than what I would usually think of as a meme.
Isn't a proper meme an all-or-nothing unit like any organism? However,
humans develop an ego sense, the "I", or a concept of the distinction
between self and other in stages. Maybe I'm just too new to this
discussion, and I might be using specialized words in a slightly incorrect
way (locally speaking).
But
>the theory behind this assumption is that developmentally, we select for
>characteristics which encode the environmental circumstances within which
>they have survived. That is, developmentally, we must progress through
>these ordered "stages" which show groups of characteristics arranged in a
>memetic pattern.
>
Do you mean "Why have a heart if you have no blood?"? I agree that whole
complexes of mutually-supporting behaviors must coexist or no single one of
them could survive.
Tom