Kastalia Knowledge Management System · Glasperlenspiel template · knot 2709
Memes in Alltag
Session 0 · Memetics begins at home.
Before Internet memes, before ideology, before theory: gestures, tunes, habits, rituals, phrases, drawings, interfaces and everyday acts of copying.
Ancestors (1 superordinated path)
Descendants (at least 33 branches originate here)
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Memes in Alltag
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Session 0 · Memetics begins at home.Before Internet memes, before ideology, before theory: gestures, tunes, habits, rituals, phrases, drawings, interfaces and e
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Meme
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“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 -
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Memethical Engineering
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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 (e.g. Tanganyika laughter epidemic of 1962)👏 applause / standing ovation👀 looking where everybody else is looking🌊 the stadium waveThese ar -
is_parent 2 · Gestures
🤝 handshake ✋ high five 👊 fist bump ✌ peace sign 🫶 hand-heart air quotes 😘 kiss (hand ? cheek ? lips ?) nodding (vertical ? horizontal ?) A tiny movement can ca -
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 -
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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 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 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 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 8 · Fashion
ripped jeansmulletsmoustachesCrocsrolling trouser legsparticular sneaker stylesblack clothing in particular creative milieusBodies become media. -
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 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 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
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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
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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?
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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
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