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The term 'meme' was coined in the 70s and means an idea that spreads from one person to another. It comes from Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene; the idea is t
by catalogia 6y ago
The term 'meme' was coined in the 70s and means an idea that spreads from one person to another. It comes from Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene; the idea is that memes are subject to selection just like genes.
- swayson 6y agoAppears intelligence agencies also investigated it https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1229817-vault-7-leaks https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1229817-vault-7-leaks
- arunc 6y agoThanks for the etymology. Never thought meme came out of gene.
- StavrosK 6y agoIt didn't, it's from a Greek word.
- dredmorbius 6y agoIt resembles "gene" but has an independent origin: meme (n.) "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture," 1976, introduced by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in "The Selfish Gene," coined by him from Greek sources, such as mimeisthai "to imitate" (see mime (n.)), and intended to echo gene. https://www.etymonline.com/word/meme https://www.etymonline.com/word/meme Gene: from Greek genea "generation, race". https://www.etymonline.com/word/gene https://www.etymonline.com/word/gene
- xsmasher 6y agoNot that "independent" - as the etymology you quoted says, it was intentionally constructed to resemble the work gene. Saying "meme came out of gene" is a perfectly reasonable statement.
- agumonkey 6y agowhat's the fitness function ??
- jcims 6y agoRetweets
- dredmorbius 6y agoReady assimilation and apprehension, resulting in rapid propagation. Memes fare poorly against any significant selection criterion based on epistemic validity, but compensate by simply breeding like mad. This applies similarly to low-truth-valence ideologies and belief systems, for which current and pending crises may prove strong checks.