Memes, Mindworms, Memplexes &c.

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• Memes, Mindworms, Memplexes &c.

  Introduction to Memetics 14.10:::Evolution – from void to Darwin 21.10:::The tip of the iceberg – from Freud, Dawkins, Rizzolatti 28.10:::The 2nd replicator (Bl

  • is_parent Memes in Alltag

    Session 0 · Memetics begins at home.Before Internet memes, before ideology, before theory: gestures, tunes, habits, rituals, phrases, drawings, interfaces and e

    • is_parent Meme ·

      “A meme is whatever is copied from person to person.”— Susan Blackmore, working definitionFor today, let us start with this deliberately simple definition.
    • is_parent Copied? ·

      Copying does not necessarily mean making an exact duplicate.You hear a joke.You remember the structure, forget several words, change a character......and tell i
    • is_parent Two Worlds ·

      external expression → perception → internal reconstruction → expressionA meme can appear outside us: as sound, gesture, image, text, object, ritual.It can be re
    • is_parent A Word of Warning ·

      Memetics is a theory among other theories.Human culture can also be studied through psychology, anthropology, sociology, cultural evolution, semiotics, media th
    • is_parent Not Everything That Spreads Is a Meme ·

      A virus spreads. That does not make it a cultural meme.Genes are copied. That does not make them memes.You discover by yourself that fire is hot. No person-to-p
    • is_parent Where Is the Meme? ·

      Is the meme the sentence?The idea expressed by the sentence?The memory in somebody's brain?The rule that allows the sentence to be reconstructed?The pattern dis
    • is_parent Memethical Engineering ·

      Memethical engineering is the deliberate design, modification, and circulation of memes and memetic environments in accordance with explicit ethical goals.For e
    • is_parent Engineering the Environment ·

      Memetic engineering asks: How can this spread?Memethical engineering must additionally ask: Should it spread?Who benefits?What disappears when it succeeds?Can p
    • is_parent Memes in Alltag

      Let us now temporarily leave theory behind.Look at ordinary life as a landscape of things passing from person to person.We will move from the smallest and faste

      • is_parent 1 · Contagion

        😮 yawning😂 laughter👏 applause👀 looking where everybody else is looking🌊 the stadium waveThese are useful starting examples because copying is immediately visibl

        • is_parent Experiment 🔒 ·

          One person suddenly looks intensely at the ceiling.How many people look too?Did information pass?Was anything learned?Would you call it a meme?
      • is_parent 2 · Gestures

        🤝 handshake✋ high five👊 fist bump✌ peace sign🫶 hand-heartfinger heartsair quotesA tiny movement can carry socially learned meaning.

        • is_parent Gesture = Movement + Convention ·

          The physical movement alone is not enough.A raised thumb means something because other people already know how to interpret it.The same movement can mean differ
      • is_parent 3 · Rituals

        🎂 birthday cake + candles + song + wish🥂 touching glasses before drinking🎆 counting down at New Year🪵 knocking on wood🤞 crossing fingers💰 throwing a coin into a

        • is_parent The Elevator ·

          Enter.Turn around.Face the door.Avoid prolonged eye contact.Become strangely silent.Who taught us this?Many everyday conventions are acquired without an explic
        • is_parent The Queue ·

          At the highest floor of the Eiffel Tower, there are two elevators facing each other. If human beings were fully rational beings, two equally long queues should
      • is_parent 4 · Words

        “Actually...”“However...”“You know?”“At the end of the day...”euh… [øː] , bah ouiблядь, f*ck, vole ...Language is full of units which seem to "live their own l

        • is_parent Catchphrases ·

          A phrase can detach itself from its original situation.It becomes reusable.People recognize it.They repeat it because others recognize it.Recognition itself can
      • is_parent 5 · Earworms

        A melody enters through the ears.Hours later it is still playing internally.You hum it.Somebody else hears it.Now it may inhabit another mind.An earworm is almo

        • is_parent Sound Memes ·

          nursery rhymesfootball chantsadvertising jinglesmelodies with changing lyricsTikTok audio fragments detached from their original contextThe carrier can change w
      • is_parent 6 · Drawings

        ♥ a heart that looks nothing like an anatomical heart★ a five-pointed star☀ a circle with rays🏠 a square house with a triangular roof💡 a light bulb meaning “ide

        • is_parent The Cool S ·

          Who knows how to draw the “Cool S”?Who taught you?Where did you first see it?Do you know who invented it?Why did generations of schoolchildren reproduce it?A ne
      • is_parent 7 · Interface Memes

        💾 floppy disk = save🔍 magnifying glass = search⚙ gear = settings🗑 bin = delete♥ heart = like☰ three lines = menuThe original object can disappear while its symb

        • is_parent Memes Can Outlive Their World ·

          Many people click a floppy disk icon without ever having saved a file onto a floppy disk.The symbol has become detached from the technology that produced it.Its
      • is_parent 8 · Fashion

        ripped jeansmulletsmoustachesCrocsrolling trouser legsparticular sneaker stylesblack clothing in particular creative milieusBodies become media.

        • is_parent Fashion Evolves ·

          Someone adopts a style.Others notice it.Some imitate it.Some exaggerate it.Some reject it.Some revive an older version thirty years later.Replication produces v
      • is_parent 9 · Food & Household Knowledge

        family recipessourdough starterscutting sandwiches diagonallyparticular ways of folding pizza“five-second rule”putting a wet phone into riceUseful, useless and

        • is_parent Transmission ≠ Truth ·

          A meme does not have to be true to spread.It does not have to be useful.It does not have to benefit its host.It merely needs properties that allow further trans
      • is_parent 10 · Social Formats ·

        the elevator pitchbrainstorming with Post-itsthe agenda slidethe TED-style talk“three things I learned...”the Venn diagramthe iceberg diagramSometimes the meme
      • is_parent 11 · Internet Memes

        image macrosreaction GIFs“POV:”“starter pack”“nobody: / absolutely nobody:”“tell me X without telling me X”“how it started / how it's going”The Internet did not

        • is_parent Template + Variation ·

          Internet memes make one property especially visible:a stable template + many mutations.Distracted Boyfriend.Drake Hotline Bling.Woman Yelling at a Cat.The image
      • is_parent 12 · Stories & Rumours ·

        urban legendsschoolyard rumoursghost stories“a friend of a friend once...”life hacksfolk explanationsStories are compressed, reconstructed and altered every tim
      • is_parent 13 · Beliefs ·

        superstitionsstereotypesideas about successideas about beautyideas about what a “proper career” looks likeideas about how families, schools or workplaces should
    • is_parent From Meme to Memeplex

      Memes rarely live alone.They support, trigger and protect one another.A fashion includes clothes, vocabulary, gestures, music, places and identities.A professio

      • is_parent Replication ·

        Something is encountered.Something is reconstructed.Something is expressed again.Another person encounters it.Replication does not require perfect duplication.
      • is_parent Variation ·

        Misremember it.Translate it.Improve it.Simplify it.Exaggerate it.Parody it.Combine it with another meme.Every transmission is an opportunity for mutation.
      • is_parent Selection ·

        Some variants disappear.Some are remembered.Some are repeated.Some fit a particular medium particularly well.Some become part of institutions and persist for ce
      • is_parent What Makes a Meme Successful? ·

        easy to remember?easy to reproduce?emotionally intense?funny?useful?beautiful?shocking?socially rewarded?already familiar?And are these the same properties that
      • is_parent The Memethical Question ·

        A communication system optimized only for replication may reward whatever replicates best.But the fastest-spreading cultural environment is not necessarily the
    • is_parent Exercise · Find One

      Think of one meme you encountered today.Not necessarily an Internet meme.Where did you encounter it?What was its external form?What did you reconstruct internal

      • is_parent Exercise · Classify It ·

        gesture?ritual?phrase?melody?visual convention?interface convention?fashion?social script?story or belief?memeplex?Or perhaps: not a meme at all?
      • is_parent Three Questions to Keep ·

        1. What is being copied?2. Why does this variant survive?3. What kind of cultural environment does its survival create?
    • is_parent Memes in Alltag ·

      A handshake.A birthday song.A stupid little drawing in a school notebook.A phrase you suddenly notice yourself saying.A floppy disk that survived its floppy dis
  • is_parent Replication + Variation + Selection = Evolution 🔒 ·

    Replication + Variation + Selection = Evolution
  • is_parent Freud, Dawkins, Rizzolatti 🔒 ·

    Freud, Dawkins, Rizzolatti
  • is_parent The second replicator 🔒 ·

    The second replicator
  • is_parent Theory of cultural evolution 🔒 ·

    Theory of cultural evolution
  • is_parent Visual memes – glyphs, emojis, latrinalia &c. 🔒 ·

    Visual memes – glyphs, emojis, latrinalia &c.
  • is_parent Earworms, mindworms, moving memes::Fashion, Style, Art &c. 🔒 ·

    Earworms, mindworms, moving memes::Fashion, Style, Art &c.
  • is_parent Mediated memes, Urban memes 🔒 ·

    Mediated memes, Urban memes
  • is_parent Memplexes 🔒 ·

    Memplexes
  • is_parent Memes in Law, Politics & Propaganda 🔒 ·

    Memes in Law, Politics & Propaganda
  • is_parent Memes & Cyberspace 🔒 ·

    Memes & Cyberspace
  • is_parent Memes, Memecoins, AIs 🔒 ·

    Memes, Memecoins, AIs
  • is_parent Memes revisited 🔒 ·

    Memes revisited
  • is_parent The Congress 🔒 ·

    The Congress