Iain McGilchrist schreibt in The Master and His Emissary, wie er sich eine Alternative zu Dawkins‘ umstrittenen und problematischen Begriff des Meme vorstellt. Es geht dabei um die Frage, wie kulturprägende Muster und Dispositionen bei Menschen entstehen. Statt von Mechanismen auszugehen betont er die menschliche Fähigkeit und Neigung zur Nachahmung, die allem Lernen und jeglicher Persönlichkeitsentwicklung zugrunde liegt. Und die Kraft menschlicher Phantasie:
Imagination, then, is not a neutral projection of images on a screen We need to be careful of our imagination, since what we imagine is in a sense what we are and who we become. The word imago is related to the word imitari, which means to form after a model, pattern or original. There is ample evidence […] that imitation is extremely infectious: thinking about something, or gene just hearing words connected with it, alters the way we behave and how we perform our tasks. This was understood by Pascal, who realized that the path to virtue was the imitation of the virtuous, engagement in virtuous habits – the foundation of all monastic traditions. (S. 251)
