3 ms·

The dictionary definition suggests "idea" would do fine. If you took the article and replaced meme with idea would anything be lost?

Ensorceled 6y ago
The entire concept of viral replication.
- rarefied_tomato 6y ago
  It seems sufficient to acknowledge that virality is a property of ideas. We can then continue using a single term to reference the notion of an 'idea'.
  - coldtea 6y ago
    >virality is a property of ideas It's only a property of some ideas. People have self-contained ideas all the time, including ideas they're inclined to absolutely keep to themselves.
    - rarefied_tomato 6y ago
      Virality isn't a boolean property that's true for a distinct class of ideas, it's a probability of transmission. Not telling anyone your ideas is like a mountaintop hermit not spreading a new viral strain. Is your comment different than saying "some ideas are catchier than others"?
      - coldtea 6y ago
        >Is your comment different than saying "some ideas are catchier than others"? No, and that's the whole point. Since "some ideas are catchier than others", ideas are superset of memes. Memes being, precisely, the ideas with higher virality. Ideas with low or zero virality are not memes.
        rarefied_tomato 6y ago
        The field of virology doesn't draw a line in the sand excluding certain viruses with low transmission rates. Viruses that are more transmissible simply draw the attention of the field. Presumably, a scientific study of ideas would observe ideas commonly transmitted in the wild.
        coldtea 6y ago
        >The field of virology doesn't draw a line in the sand excluding certain viruses with low transmission rates. Viruses that are more transmissible simply draw the attention of the field. The field of meme-ology however does. So there's that.
- staticman2 6y ago
  Here's a sentence from the article with meme replaced with idea "One perhaps non-obvious consequence of seeing ideas as organisms is the concept of a idea parasites." This seems to work fine. Whether insight comes from calling an idea an organism is another issue, I suspect it's a poor metaphor.

Ensorceled 6y ago

The entire concept of viral replication.

rarefied_tomato 6y ago
It seems sufficient to acknowledge that virality is a property of ideas. We can then continue using a single term to reference the notion of an 'idea'.
- coldtea 6y ago
  >virality is a property of ideas It's only a property of some ideas. People have self-contained ideas all the time, including ideas they're inclined to absolutely keep to themselves.
  - rarefied_tomato 6y ago
    Virality isn't a boolean property that's true for a distinct class of ideas, it's a probability of transmission. Not telling anyone your ideas is like a mountaintop hermit not spreading a new viral strain. Is your comment different than saying "some ideas are catchier than others"?
    - coldtea 6y ago
      >Is your comment different than saying "some ideas are catchier than others"? No, and that's the whole point. Since "some ideas are catchier than others", ideas are superset of memes. Memes being, precisely, the ideas with higher virality. Ideas with low or zero virality are not memes.
      - rarefied_tomato 6y ago
        The field of virology doesn't draw a line in the sand excluding certain viruses with low transmission rates. Viruses that are more transmissible simply draw the attention of the field. Presumably, a scientific study of ideas would observe ideas commonly transmitted in the wild.
        coldtea 6y ago
        >The field of virology doesn't draw a line in the sand excluding certain viruses with low transmission rates. Viruses that are more transmissible simply draw the attention of the field. The field of meme-ology however does. So there's that.
staticman2 6y ago
Here's a sentence from the article with meme replaced with idea "One perhaps non-obvious consequence of seeing ideas as organisms is the concept of a idea parasites." This seems to work fine. Whether insight comes from calling an idea an organism is another issue, I suspect it's a poor metaphor.