MUSINGS ON MEMES

KEY TERMS

The “internet meme” as a concept is difficult to pin down. Its concept meaning is as malleable as its presentation but it can be thought of as a combination of Richard Dawkin’s concept of cultural objects as an analogue to biological genes and the viral spread of these objects. Internet memes contain many of the traits Dawkins describes, but his definition isn’t sufficient to explain the phenomenon. While his definition of a meme includes a whole population as the driver of a certain meme (as in behavior, belief, and folklore), the process of the spread of Internet Memes has very distinct agents. Many of his biological analogiesterms have a lot of use , but are insufficient to describe it is only with a viral approach that the process of “meme-ing” and its consequences. More Reading: The Smithsonian
The Philosophers Meme

KEY TERMS

MUSINGS ON MEMES