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Excerpt
source:
Silby, Brent. (2000)
What is a Meme?
Reference
cited:
Silby, Brent. (2000)
"The Evolution of Technology: Exposing the Myth of
Creative Design"
[A]
meme is the smallest idea that can copy itself while remaining self
contained and intact... Memes are essentially sets of instructions
that can be followed to produce behavior. Instructions can be encoded
in...:
1.
musical notation
2.
written text
3.
visible (or vocal) action
4.
the neural structure of the brain
5.
digitized structures in a computer
Cf. Oxford English
Dictionary (1998) definition and explication by Susan Blackmore
(2002), below.
Richard
Dawkins first came up with the idea of a meme in his 1976 book
"The Selfish Gene". Essentially, memes are ideas that
evolve according to the same principles that govern biological
evolution. Think about all the ideas that you have in your head right
now. They are all memes, and they all came from somewhere. Some of
them will have come from friends and some will have come from the internet
or television. Examples of memes are musical tunes, jokes, trends,
fashions, catch phrases, and car designs. Now, the memes that inhabit
your mind are in competition with all the other memes in the memepool
(the collection of all existing memes). This means that they are all
competing to get themselves copied into other people's minds. Some of
these memes do quite well. Every time you whistle your favorite tune
or utter a useful catch phrase, you are facilitating the spread of
those memes. Every time you wear something that is "in
fashion" you are helping the idea of that fashion enter other
people's minds. Consider the first four notes of Beethoven's 5th
symphony, or the "Happy Birthday" song. These are ideas
that inhabit our minds and have been very successful at replicating.
Not only have these memes found their way into literally millions of
minds, they have also managed to leave copies of themselves on paper,
in books, on audiotape, on compact disks, and in computer hard-drives
(Silby 2000).
There
is a limited amount of memetic storage space on this planet, so only
the best memes manage to implant themselves. Memes that are good at
replicating tend to leave more copies of themselves in minds and in
other mediums such as books. Memes that are not so good at
replicating tend to die out. We can imagine what sorts of memes have
become extinct. Ancient songs that were once sung and never written
down are one example. Another example is the many stories that were
once told but have since slipped into oblivion. A Story is a vast
collection of memes that have come to rely on each other for
replication. Such a structure is known as a memeplex. Stories are
memeplexes that are in direct competition with other memeplexes. If a
story replicates through story getting told and read by people, then
it will survive. If it stops getting read, it will become extinct.
Libraries are full of memetic fossils in the form of books that
contain a multitude of ideas that are never looked at (Silby 2000).
Excerpt
source:
Henrik Bjarneskans,
Bjarne Grønnevik &
Anders Sandberg (2000):
"The Lifecycle of Memes",
in:
Svenska
Transhumanist Förbundet
Reference
cited:
Hofstadter, D. R. (1985), Metamagical Themas (1985/96)
Note:
This excerpt omits detailed descriptions of phases in the life cycle
of a meme, but provides several useful insights. The final link
presents a graphic which illustrates the full cycle.
Defining
Memes
The meme concept is somewhat slippery to define, and there is an multitude
of definitions ranging from the very wide to the very narrow. The
definition of meme we will use in this essay is
A meme is a (cognitive) information-structure able to
replicate using human hosts and to influence their behaviour to
promote replication.
This
is a somewhat strict definition, since it excludes many structures
able to replicate without influencing host behaviour or using
non-human hosts such as chimpanzees, dolphins and computers. It can
be seen as a subset of the more general memes described by Dawkins.
Memes do not only influence behaviour to promote replication, but
many of the most successful memes have other side-effects (for
example, being able to invoke various emotions) or promote their
replication by being useful or through other features (like
parasiting on other memes, e.g. parodies and imitations); using a
biological analogy one could say symbiotic memes spread mainly using
their usefulness, while parasitic memes compel the host to spread
them. This compulsion can be more or less subtle, ranging from
explicit orders like in chain letters ("Send ten copies of this
letter to your friends") to implicit influences that link with
our attitudes like the "Save the whales" meme described in
(Hofstadter 1985, p. 55).
It
is quite common that memes are confused with ideas/thoughts. Both are
cognitive structures, but an idea is not self-replicating and is
spread passively (i.e. for extrinsic reasons) if it is spread beyond
its initial host at all. The difference is sometimes hazy; the idea
"Isn't it time for us to eat?" can easily spread in a small
group, but will not spread well outside the group and will disappear
once the question is settled, while a meme usually can spread
generally and does not have any limited lifespan.
It
should also be noted that memes often form meme complexes, groups of
memes mutually supporting each other and replicating together...
Definitions
In the field of memetics there are a couple of different definitions
of "host", "vector" and "meme" around,
and there is a tendency to make these wide to the point of being
meaningless. We want operational definitions that are usable and
still distinct...
Host
A host must be able to possess at least the potential capacity to
elaborate on the meme and to perform those cognitive tasks connected
to the meme that we normally refer to as "understanding".
This means that only humans can be hosts (animals can perhaps become
hosts for simpler memes, but we will not discuss this here), at least
until the development of artificial intelligences reaches further.
Vector
A vector is anything that transports the meme between hosts without
the capacity to reflect on the meme. Examples are a wall, a voice, an
email-program, or a picture. Can a human be a vector? Yes she can, if
she lacks the cognitive capacity (or interest) to elaborate on a
specific meme. Then she is just a non-reflective carrier of the meme,
much the same as a book. Note though that the human vector is still a
potential host - or inactive host (Grant, 1990) - for the meme, should
she suddenly choose to analyse the meme (in its widest sense) or
achieve the contextual understanding which would make this possible.
The
Conscious Meme
It is worth noting that although the terminology used in genetics and
memetics sometimes seems to indicate that genes and memes act upon
their own conscious will, this is of course not the case. Genes and
memes are not conscious, and they do not have a will as such to act
upon. But it is practical and economical to speak as if they do,
since their behaviour follows such patterns...
The
Lifecycle of Memes
Memes have a life-cycle similar to parasites. During the transmission
phase of the meme it is encoded in a vector, such as a spoken
message, text, image, email, observed behaviour or slab of stone.
When a potential host decodes the meme (reads the text, hears the
message) the meme may become active and infects the person, who
becomes a new host (the infection phase). At some point the meme is
encoded in a suitable vector (not necessarily the same medium it was
originally decoded from) and can be spread to infect new hosts. [For
a complete model of the proposed Meme Cycle by Bjarneskans, Grønnevik
& Sandberg, click here.]
Excerpt
source:
Susan Blackmore (2002):
The Evolution of Meme Machines,
Conference Paper delivered at the International Congress on
Ontopsychology and Memetics, Milan (18-21 May 2002), in:
Dr.
Susan Blackmore
By
1998 the term ["meme"] had entered the English language and
first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary,
defined as follows; Meme (mi:m), n. Biol.
(shortened from mimeme ... that which is imitated, after GENE n.)
"An element of a culture that may be considered to be passed on
by non-genetic means, esp. imitation". This means that
whatever is copied from person to person is a meme. Everything
you have learned by copying it from someone else is a meme; every
word in your language, every catch-phrase or saying. Every story you
have ever heard, and every song you know, is a meme. The fact that
you drive on the left (or perhaps the right), that you drink lager,
think sun-dried tomatoes are passé, and wear jeans and a T-shirt to
work are memes. The style of your house and your bicycle, the design of
the roads in your city and the colour of the buses - all these are
memes.
There
is nothing ethereal about these memes. They are the very behaviours
and artefacts that fill our lives. They are whatever is copied.
We
can see that much of culture consists of memes. However, it is easy
to get carried away and think of all experiences as memes and this is
not helpful. We need instead to stick to a clear definition. The
whole point of the meme is that it is information copied from one
person to another. Therefore a great deal of what goes on in the
human mind is nothing to do with memes. First, perception and visual
memory need not involve memes. You can look at a beautiful scene, or
taste a delicious meal, and remember them in detail without any memes
being involved (unless you put words to your experience).
Second,
not all learning involves memes. What you learn by yourself through
classical conditioning (association) or by operant conditioning
(trial and error) need not be memetic. Many other creatures are capable
of these processes, and of extensive learning, but they do not have
memes because they cannot pass on what they learn to anyone else.
There may be a limited capacity for imitation in song birds,
dolphins, and possibly some primates. Chimpanzees and orangutans may
be capable of very limited forms of imitation, but only humans are
capable of the kind of widespread and general imitation that makes a
second replicator possible, and so leads to memetic evolution.
We
should remember that this new kind of evolution proceeds not in the
interest of the genes, nor in the interest of the individual who
carries the memes, but in the interest of the memes themselves. This
is why both memes and genes are described as "selfish".
Replicators are not selfish in the sense of having desires and plans
as we do – they couldn't have – they are only bits of information,
either coded on DNA or copied by imitation. They are selfish in the
sense that they will get copied if they can. In the case of memes,
they will use us to get themselves copied without caring about the
effect on us, or on our genes, or on our planet.
We
can now begin to take on the "the meme's eye view" and from
this perspective the important question is why some memes survive and
get copied into many brains or artefacts, while others do not. The
general principle might be stated like this: Some memes succeed in
getting copied because they are good, useful, true, or beautiful,
while others succeed even though they are false or useless. From the
meme's point of view all this is irrelevant. If a meme can survive
and get replicated it will. Generally we humans do try to select true
ideas over false ones, and good over bad; after all our biology has
set us up to do just that, but we do it imperfectly, and we leave all
kinds of opportunities for other memes to get copied - using us as
their copying machinery.
We
may consider some examples of selfish memes that survive well in
spite of being useless, false, or even harmful. At the simplest end
of the continuum are self-replicating viral sentences, or simple
groups of memes. A group of memes that works together is called a
‘co-adapted meme-complex' or "memeplex". An example is the
common sort of email virus that urges you to pass on an urgent
warning to all your friends. These messages often warn of a
non-existent threat, such as a virus that will destroy everything on
your hard disk. If you believe them, and pass on the message, this
little memeplex can go on to be copied many more times. In fact the
message itself is the virus. Not only have such viruses clogged up
whole systems, but when people realise their mistake they often send
out new messages telling people not to believe it, and so clog up the
system again. Some of these viruses have lasted for five years or
more.
The
basic structure of such viruses is an instruction to "copy
me" backed up by threats and promises. This same structure can
be seen in other, more important, memeplexes too. For example,
Dawkins uses Catholicism as an example of a group of memes that have
succeeded for centuries in spite of being false. At Holy mass, the
wine is supposed to turn literally into the blood of Christ. Clearly
this is nonsense, in the sense that the wine still smells and tastes
as it did before and would not show up as Christ's blood in a DNA
test. Yet millions of people routinely believe the claim, as well as
believing in heaven and hell, an invisible and all-powerful God, the
virgin birth and the Holy Trinity.
Why?
Part of the answer is that these memeplexes have the same structure
as simple viral memes. But religions use other memetic tricks too.
The idea of God appeals because of our desire to understand our
origins and purpose here on earth, and to have a greater being who
protects us. Of course if God could be seen you could discover that
he did not exist, so invisibility is a good ploy. God can see all
your sins and will punish you, but you have to wait for proof of that
until you are dead. And in case you do show an inclination for
checking up on things, you may be reminded that faith is good and
questioning is bad (the opposite of how it is in science). In
addition, the memes include exhortations to marry another Catholic
and bring up lots of children in the faith, or to convert others.
Giving your money away to the poor will raise your stakes in heaven,
as will contributing to the building and maintenance of great
churches, cathedrals, and monuments which will inspire further meme
hosts. In all these ways money and effort is diverted into the
spreading of memes. The memes make us work for their propagation.
Memes
such as religions, cults, fads and ineffective therapies, have been
described as viruses of the mind because they infect people and
demand their resources in spite of being false. Some authors have
emphasised these pernicious kinds of meme and even implied that all
memes are viral. However, memes can vary across a wide spectrum. As a
general principle we can say that some memes succeed because they are
good, true, useful or beautiful, while others succeed even though
they are none of these things. And some just pretend to be good or
useful. Towards one end are the viruses, religions, cults and false
beliefs. Towards the other are our most valuable tools for living
(such as our languages, technology and scientific theories). Without
memes we could not speak, write, enjoy stories and songs, or do most
of the things we associate with being human. Memes are the tools with
which we think and our minds are a mass of memes.
Note
that successful memeplexes were not deliberately designed by anyone,
but were created by the process of memetic selection. Presumably
there have always been countless competing memes - whether religions,
political theories, ways of curing cancer, clothes fashions, or
musical styles - the point about memetic evolution is that the ones
we see around us now are those that survived in the competition to be
copied. They had what it takes to be a good replicator.
Excerpt
source:
Francis Heylighen (1996):
Evolution
of Memes on the Network: from chain-letters to the global brain,
in:
Principia
Cybernetica Web
Reference
cited:
Heylighen (1993), "Selection Criteria for the Evolution of
Knowledge", Proc. 13th Int. Cong. on Cybernetics (Int.
Ass. of Cybernetics, Namur), p. 524-528
There
are several selection criteria which determine in how far a
particular meme will be successful. The more of these criteria a meme
satisfies, the more likely it is that it will maintain and spread
(Heylighen, 1993). Objective criteria determine whether the knowledge
conveyed by a meme can reliably predict events in the outside world.
Subjective
criteria determine in how far an individual is willing to assimilate
a particular meme. They include:
1. coherence:
the meme is internally consistent, and
does not
contradict other beliefs the individual
already has;
2. novelty:
the meme adds something new, something
remarkable, that attracts the person's
attention;
3. simplicity:
it is easy to grasp and to remember;
4. individual utility:
the meme helps the individual to
further his or her
personal goals.
Intersubjective
criteria determine how easily memes travel from subject to subject.
They include:
5. salience:
the meme is easily noticed by others,
e.g.
because it is shouted out loud, or
printed on big
posters;
6. expressivity:
the meme is easily expressed in
language or
other codes of communication;
7. formality:
the interpretation of the meme's
expression
depends little on person or context;
8. infectiveness:
the individuals who carry the meme are
inclined to
"spread the word", to teach
it to other people or to
convert them to the belief;
9. conformism:
the meme is supported by what the
majority
believe;
10. collective utility:
the meme is useful for the group,
without
necessarily being useful for an
individual (e.g.
the traffic code).
• • •
See
also:
Heylighen (1998), What makes a meme successful? Selection criteria for cultural
evolution
ABSTRACT: Meme replication is described as a 4-stage process,
consisting of assimilation, retention, expression and transmission. The effect
of different objective, subjective, intersubjective and meme-centered
selection criteria on these different stages is discussed., in:
Proc. 16th Int. Congress on Cybernetics (Association Internat.
de Cybernétique, Namur), p. 423-418.
Principia
Cybernetica Web
Richard Dawkins:
Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions,
ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate
themselves in the gene pool by leading from body to body via sperm or
eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from
brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called
imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he
passes it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his
articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to
propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain. ...[M]emes should be
regarded as living structures, not just metaphorically but
technically. When you plant a fertile meme in my mind, you literally
parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's
propagation in just the way that a virus may parasitize the genetic
mechanism of a host cell. And this isn't just a way of talking - the
meme for, say, "belief in life after death" is actually
realized physically, millions of times over, as a structure in the
nervous systems of individual men the world over.
Excerpt
source:
Stephen Downes (1999):
Hacking Memes, in:
First
Monday, volume 4, number 10 (October 1999)
Copyright © First Monday
Advertising
Repetition alone worked in the old days of limited media. When the
sources of information were few and uniform, when there were three
networks and one message. Today's consumers are not only more
sophisticated - merely making them remember is no longer
enough - consumers are the battleground for information wars, with
messages flying at them from all directions. Drive down any city
street and look at the images: one in ten (if you're lucky) is an
actual traffic signal; the rest are trying to implant some idea, some
behaviour, into your mind.
Advertising
today looks for stronger hooks, and it finds them in association
and self-identification. The concept is especially simple:
find (or define) a person's conception of self which is pleasing.
Mold that conception such that the use of a product or service is
essential to that conception. Imprint the idea that in order to be yourself,
you need to purchase such-and-such a brand.
Nike, for example,
understands this. After losing market share to Reebok, Nike's new
advertising campaign focussed less and less on shoes and more and
more on image. As Randall Lane explains,
Nike's
Phil Knight isn't selling shoes. He's selling attitude...
Nike would sell not shoes but the athletic ideals of determination,
individuality, self-sacrifice and winning...
Nike ads almost never pitch product - or even mention the company's
name. They create a mood, an attitude, and then associate the product
with that mood. Call it image transfer. Cool ads, cool product. As
Wieden puts it: "We don't set out to make ads. The ultimate goal
is to make a connection."
The
idea behind Nike's ads is to transfer a sense of identity from
the person to the product.
Links
Journal
of Mimetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
UK
Memes Central
CLEA
• Memetics papers on the Web
Imitation and the definition of a meme
Blackmore, S. (1998)
Viral Marketing: Spread a cold, catch a customer
Fiore, F. (1995)
Unleashing
the Ideavirus
Godin, S. & Gladwell, M. (2001)
An Open
Mind is not an Empty Mind: Experiments in the Meta-Noosphere
Hales, D. (1998)
Creativity, Evolution and Mental
Illnesses.
Preti, A. & Miotto, P. (1997)
Controversies in Meme Theory
Nick Rose (1998)
Steps toward the Memetic Self - a commentary on Rose's paper:
Controversies in Meme Theory
Price, I. (1999)
"Memes" as Infectious Agents in Psychosomatic
Illness
Ross, S.E. (1999)
Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire
of Signs
Dery, M.
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