Free will and consciousness is an illusion, and the self is a complex of memes.

All other species on this planet are gene machines only. They don't imitate at all well; we alone are gene machines and meme machines as well.

Imagine a world full of brains, and far more memes than can possibly find homes. Which memes are more likely to find a safe home and get passed on again?

Take male strategies for success in the world. If you've got all the advantages, if you're attractive and clever and all of that, you will generally go for very high quality females.

The sale of sex in modern societies is not about spreading genes. Sex has been taken over by the memes.

Just as the design of our bodies can be understood only in terms of natural selection, so the design of our minds can be understood only in terms of memetic selection.

Finally, we might decide that civilisation itself is worth preserving. In that case we have to work out what to save and which people would be needed in a drastically reduced population - weighing the value of scientists and musicians against that of politicians, for example...