Meme
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*Scott Atran. [http://sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/human_nature_01.pdf The Trouble with Memes: Inference versus Imitation in Cultural Creation.] ''Human Nature'' 12(4):351-381, 2001. | *Scott Atran. [http://sitemaker.umich.edu/satran/files/human_nature_01.pdf The Trouble with Memes: Inference versus Imitation in Cultural Creation.] ''Human Nature'' 12(4):351-381, 2001. | ||
*[http://evolvingthoughts.net/2009/08/dreams-of-memes-and-replicator-machines/ Dreams of Memes and Replicator Machines], Evolving Thoughts | *[http://evolvingthoughts.net/2009/08/dreams-of-memes-and-replicator-machines/ Dreams of Memes and Replicator Machines], Evolving Thoughts | ||
| + | *[http://www.zompist.com/memes.html The New Pseudoscience of Memes], Zompist | ||
==Footnotes== | ==Footnotes== | ||
Revision as of 17:46, 7 December 2011
| Into the world of |
| General concepts |
| Culture: |
A meme is an idea or behavior that spreads from person to person within a society. The term was coined by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene in the mid 1970s. Dawkins proposed the idea that social information could change and propagate through a culture in a way similar to genetic changes in a population of organisms - i.e., evolution by natural selection. Sticking with its roots in genetics and evolution, the term is derived from the word gene, which is a unit of hereditary biological information made of DNA. Compared to a gene, which has a physical existence within a cell nucleus, a meme is far more abstract and this has lead to accusations that memetics isn't really hard science.
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Memeplexes
The idea was subsequently developed to include political philosophies and religions, which were named memeplexes, because they contain vast numbers of interacting memes. Memes that interact favourably will form strong memeplexes, while memeplexes will resist incompatible memes. A political memeplex valuing authority of thought would be incompatible with memes valuing individuality of thought, for example. This goes some way to explaining the polarisation of thought on the political spectrum
Like genes, memes may be useful, negative or neutral. For example, political philosophies - or indeed any philosophy including the philosophies of science - are also memes or memeplexes.
Religious mythology is part of the memeplex of religion, as would be the idea that one needs religion. In the same way that Dawkins' "selfish genes" would propagate through populations for their own benefit and not for the benefit of the organisms that carry them, memeplexes propagate through society irrespective of their value to the society. Enduring negative memeplexes are sometimes called "mind viruses"; with atheistic proponents of memetics (e.g. Dawkins himself) citing Christian fundamentalism as one such example.
Internet memes
The internet has been a source for the creation and propagation of many new memes. On the internet an idea can be developed and quickly acquire modifications from users around the world, such that the root idea becomes the basis for multiple spin-off ideas, subsets of ideas, and other similar iterations. In this sense, a "meme" evolves, taking on a life of its own through the contributions of users of varied cultural backgrounds.
Many memes are humorous in nature. "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" was an early internet meme, and "lolcats" is a popular emergent meme. Other memes focus on potential dangers, such as cell phones causing fires at gas pumps. When Internet vandals copy each other this also generates memes.
Memetics
A "scientific" study of memetics was attempted with the establishment of the Journal of Memetics, which lasted from 1997-2005.[1] A common criticism of memetics is that the meme is a more primitive version of the concept of "sign" in semiotics repackaged in biological and evolutionary language.[2][3] Luis Benitez-Bribiesca has criticized memetics for lacking a well-formed definition of "meme" and argued that the high rate of "mutation" as proposed by the memticists would lead to a "chaotic disintegration" of culture rather than a progressive evolution. (Not to mention denouncing it as a "pseudoscientific dogma.")[4]
See also
External links
- Lolcat evolution
- Viruses of the Mind by Richard Dawkins
- Scott Atran. The Trouble with Memes: Inference versus Imitation in Cultural Creation. Human Nature 12(4):351-381, 2001.
- Dreams of Memes and Replicator Machines, Evolving Thoughts
- The New Pseudoscience of Memes, Zompist
Footnotes
- ↑ Journal of Memetics
- ↑ Memetics: A Critique by Erkki Kilpinen
- ↑ Kalevi Kull. Copy vs. Translate, Meme vs. Sign. European Journal for Semiotic Studies 12(1), 101–120 (2000).
- ↑ Memetics: A Dangerous Idea by Luis Benitez-Bribiesca