They certainly can and have been the downfall of many of my colonies. The highlige meme for instance. Have them take psicite(sp?) Tea every 3 days for a basically free mood buff with little. But if you do run out of the tea you are in trouble. That’s why I like the ideology you can change as you go. You can reform and make it meet your current situation. Did you get a sunblocker off map and you can easily go hydroponics? Reform and take the darkfighting memes to boost your combat ability and hamper your enemies.

A plague take out your goose flock? Reform and remove the rancher memes to stop the downsides.