Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative |Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences |Personality | Philosophy | Social |Methods | Statistics |Clinical | Educational | Industrial |Professional items |World psychology |
Biological:Behavioural genetics Evolutionary psychology Neuroanatomy Neurochemistry Neuroendocrinology Neuroscience Psychoneuroimmunology Physiological Psychology Psychopharmacology(Index, Outline)
Memetics is an approach to evolutionary models of information transfer based on the concept of the meme.
The term comes from a transliteration of a Greek word and was used in 1904 by the German evolutionary biologist Richard Semon in his work Die Mnemische Empfindungen in ihren Beziehungen zu den Originalenempfindungen, translated into English in 1921 as The Mneme.
In his book The Selfish Gene (1976), the ethologist Richard Dawkins coined the slightly different term "meme" to describe a unit of human cultural evolution analogous to the gene, arguing that replication also happens in culture, albeit in a different sense. In his book, Dawkins contended that the meme is a unit of information residing in the brain and is the mutating replicator in human cultural evolution. It is a pattern that can influence its surroundings and can propagate. This created great debate among sociologists, biologists, and scientists of other disciplines, because Dawkins himself did not provide a sufficient explanation of how the replication of units of information in the brain controls human behavior and ultimately culture, since the principal topic of the book was genetics. Dawkins apparently did not intend to present a comprehensive theory of memetics in The Selfish Gene, but rather coined the term meme in a speculative spirit. Accordingly, the term "unit of information" came to be defined in different ways by many scientists.
The modern memetics movement dates from the mid 1980s (a January 1983 Metamagical Themas column by Douglas Hofstadter in Scientific American was influential). The study differs from mainstream cultural evolutionary theory in that its practitioners frequently come from outside of the fields of anthropology and sociology, and are often not academics. The massive popular impact of Dawkins' The Selfish Gene has undoubtedly been an important factor in drawing in people of disparate intellectual backgrounds. Another crucial stimulus was the publication in 1992 of Consciousness Explained by Tufts University philosopher Daniel Dennett, which incorporated the meme concept into an influential theory of the mind. In his 1993 essay Viruses of the Mind, Richard Dawkins used memetics to explain the phenomenon of religious belief and the various characteristics of organised religions.
However, the foundation of memetics in full modern incarnation originates in the publication in 1996, of two books by authors outside of the academic mainstream: Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme by former Microsoft executive turned motivational speaker and professional poker player, Richard Brodie, and Thought Contagion: How Belief Spreads Through Society by Aaron Lynch, a mathematician and philosopher who worked for many years as an engineer at Fermilab. Lynch conceived his theory totally independently of any contact with academics in the cultural evolutionary sphere, and apparently was not even aware of Dawkins' The Selfish Gene until his book was very close to publication.
Around the same time as the publication of the books by Lynch and Brodie, a new e-journal appeared on the web, hosted by the Centre for Policy Modelling at Manchester Metropolitan University Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission. (There had been a short-lived paper memetics publication starting in 1990, the Journal of Ideas edited by Elan Moritz. [1]) The e-journal soon became the central point for publication and debate within the nascent memetics community. In 1999, Susan Blackmore, a psychologist at the University of the West of England, published The Meme Machine, which more fully worked out the ideas of Dennett, Lynch and Brodie and attempted to compare and contrast them with various approaches from the cultural evolutionary mainstream, as well as providing novel, and controversial, memetic-based theories for the evolution of language and the human sense of individual selfhood.
The memetics movement split almost immediately into those who wanted to stick to Dawkins' definition of a meme as "a unit of information in the brain", and those who wanted to redefine it as observable cultural artefacts and behaviours. These two schools became known as the "internalists" and the "externalists". Prominent internalists included both Lynch and Brodie; the most vocal externalists included Derek Gatherer, a geneticist from Liverpool John Moores University and William Benzon, a writer on cultural evolution and music. The main rationale for externalism was that internal brain entities are not observable, and memetics cannot advance as a science, especially a quantitative science, unless it moves its emphasis onto the directly quantifiable aspects of culture. Internalists countered with various arguments: that brain states will eventually be directly observable with advanced technology, that most cultural anthropologists agree that culture is about beliefs and not artefacts, or that artefacts cannot be replicators in the same sense as mental entities (or DNA) are replicators. The debate became so heated that a 1998 Symposium on Memetics, organised as part of the 15th International Conference on Cybernetics, passed a motion calling for an end to definitional debates.
The most advanced statement of the internalist school came in 2002 with the publication of The Electric Meme, by Robert Aunger, an anthropologist from the University of Cambridge. Aunger also organised a conference in Cambridge in 1999, at which prominent sociologists and anthropologists were able to give their assessment of the progress made in memetics to that date. This resulted in the publication of Darwinizing Culture: The Status of Memetics as a Science, edited by Aunger and with a foreward by Dennett, in 2000.
In 2005, Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission ceased publication and published a set of 'obituaries' for memetics. This was not intended to suggest that there can be no further work on memetics, but that the exciting childhood of memetics, which began in 1996, is finally drawing to a close, and that memetics will have to survive or become extinct in terms of the results it can generate for the field of cultural evolution. Memetics as a social, Internet-fueled popular scientific movement is now probably over. Many of the original proponents have moved away from it. Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett have both expressed some reservations as to its applicability, Susan Blackmore has left the University of the West of England to become a freelance science writer and now concentrates more on the field of consciousness and cognitive science. Derek Gatherer found the academic world of the north of England to be unsympathetic to his ideas, and gave up to work as a computer programmer in the pharmaceutical industry, although he still publishes the odd memetics article from time to time. Richard Brodie is now climbing the world professional poker rankings. Aaron Lynch disowned the memetics community and the words "meme" and "memetics" (without disowning the ideas in his book).
Susan Blackmore (2002) re-stated the meme definition as whatever is copied from one person to another person, whether habits, skills, songs, stories, or any other kind of information. Further she said that memes, like genes, are replicators. That is, they are information that is copied with variation and selection. Because only some of the variants survive, memes (and hence human cultures) evolve. Memes are copied by imitation, teaching and other methods, and they compete for space in our memories and for the chance to be copied again. Large groups of memes that are copied and passed on together are called co-adapted meme complexes, or memeplexes. In her definition, thus, the way that a meme replicates is through imitation. This requires brain capacity to generally imitate a model or selectively imitate the model. Since the process of social learning varies from one person to another, the imitation process cannot be said to be completely imitated. The sameness of an idea may be expressed with different memes supporting it. This is to say that the mutation rate in memetic evolution is extremely high, and mutations are even possible within each and every interaction of the imitation process. It becomes very interesting when we see that a social system composed of a complex network of microinteractions exists, but at the macro level an order emerges to create culture.
Dawkins responds in A Devil's Chaplain that there are actually two different types of memetic processes. The first is a type of cultural idea, action, or expression, which does have high variance; for instance, a student of his who had inherited some of the mannerisms of Wittgenstein. However, he also describes a self-correcting meme, highly resistant to mutation. As an example of this, he gives origami patterns in elementary schoolsexcept in rare cases, the meme is either passed on in the exact sequence of instructions, or (in the case of a forgetful child) terminates. This type of meme tends not to evolve, and to experience profound mutations in the rare event that it does. Some memeticists, however, see this as more of a continuum of meme strength, rather than two types of memes.
Another definition, given by Hokky Situngkir, tried to offer a more rigorous formalism for the meme, memeplexes, and the deme, seeing the meme as a cultural unit in a cultural complex system. It is based on the Darwinian genetic algorithm with some modifications to account for the different patterns of evolution seen in genes and memes. In the method of memetics as the way to see culture as a complex adaptive system, he describes a way to see memetics as an alternative methodology of cultural evolution. However, there are as many possible definitions that are credited to the word "meme". For example, in the sense of computer simulation the term memetic programming is used to define a particular computational viewpoint.
Memetics can be simply understood as a method for scientific analysis of cultural evolution. However, proponents of memetics as described in the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission believe that 'memetics' has the potential to be an important and promising analysis of culture using the framework of evolutionary concepts. Keith Henson who wrote Memetics and the Modular-Mind (Analog Aug. 1987) [2] makes the case that memetics needs to incorporate Evolutionary psychology to understand the psychological traits of a meme's host. [3] This is especially true of time varying host traits, such as those leading to wars.
The application of memetics to a difficult complex social system problem, environmental sustainability, has recently been attempted at thwink.org. Using meme types and memetic infection in several stock and flow simulation models, Jack Harich has demonstrated several interesting phenomenon that are best, and perhaps only, explained by memes. One model, The Dueling Loops of the Political Powerplace, argues that the fundamental reason corruption is the norm in politics is due to an inherent structural advantage of one feedback loop pitted against another. Another model, The Memetic Evolution of Solutions to Difficult Problems, uses memes, the evolutionary algorithm, and the scientific method to show how complex solutions evolve over time and how that process can be improved. The insights gained from these models are being used to engineer memetic solution elements to the sustainability problem.
In Selfish Sounds and Linguistic Evolution (2004, Cambridge University Press), Austrian linguist Nikolaus Ritt has attempted to operationalise memetic concepts and use them for the explanation of long term sound changes and change conspiracies in early English. It is argued that a generalised Darwinian framework for handling cultural change can provide explanations where established, speaker centered approaches fail to do so. The book makes comparatively concrete suggestions about the possible material structure of memes, and provides two empirically rather rich case studies.
Memeoid is a neologism for people who have been taken over by a meme to the extent that that their own survival becomes inconsequential. Examples include kamikazes, suicide bombers and cult members who commit mass suicide. Compare with Zombie
The term was apparently coined by H. Keith Henson in "Memes, L5 and the Religion of the Space Colonies," L5 News, 1985 pp 5-8, [4] and referenced in Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene, 2nd ed., page 330. ISBN 0-19-286092-5.
Memotype is the actual information-content of a meme.
A meme-complex (sometimes abbreviated memeplex, sometimes miss-pronounced/spelled Memoplex) is a collection or grouping of memes that have evolved into a mutually supportive or symbiotic relationship. Simply put, a meme-complex is a set of ideas that reinforce each other. Meme-complexes are roughly analogous to the symbiotic collection of individual genes that make up the genetic codes of biological organisms. An example of a Memeplex would be a religion.
cs:Memetikada:Memetikde:Memetikes:Memticahu:Memetikanl:Memept:Memticasv:Mem
See original here:
Memetics | Psychology Wiki | Fandom
- Memetics - Wikipedia - December 21st, 2022 [December 21st, 2022]
- Mind - Wikipedia - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
- Spiral Dynamics - Wikipedia - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
- Whats in a Meme? - Richard Dawkins - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- What is a meme? What you need to know about the cultural phenomena - USA TODAY - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- The Science fiction horror story that came true and we're living in now. - Daily Kos - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- What is Memetics? | Virtusa - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Memetics. Meme means copy. Bio means two. | by Ilexa Yardley | The ... - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Memes: What are They and Why They Are Important - July 9th, 2022 [July 9th, 2022]
- Antisemitism on the rise in America: An explainer and research roundup - Journalist's Resource - May 28th, 2022 [May 28th, 2022]
- GameStop stock split: What you need to know - finder.com.au - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea - Wikipedia - March 27th, 2022 [March 27th, 2022]
- Francis Heylighen - Wikipedia - March 11th, 2022 [March 11th, 2022]
- Social Cohesion | Healthy People 2020 - March 11th, 2022 [March 11th, 2022]
- AMC Dips 4% Despite Strongest Earnings in 2 Years - The Tokenist - March 11th, 2022 [March 11th, 2022]
- The Rise of MemeCoins: Will They Survive 2022? - International Business Times - January 24th, 2022 [January 24th, 2022]
- The Department Of Transportation Should Leave Advertising To The Kardashians - Above the Law - December 3rd, 2021 [December 3rd, 2021]
- Power of memes - The Manila Times - November 23rd, 2021 [November 23rd, 2021]
- An Interview With The World-Famous Artist Who Created The Internet's Favourite Fake Lineup Shot - Wavelength Magazine - November 21st, 2021 [November 21st, 2021]
- Meme sounds JAYUZUMI SOUNDBOARDS - November 11th, 2021 [November 11th, 2021]
- Hideo Kojimas The Creative Gene is a heartfelt tribute to pop culture - The A.V. Club - October 17th, 2021 [October 17th, 2021]
- TikTok memetics: Gen Z is reshaping the world, and fast - Geektime - October 7th, 2021 [October 7th, 2021]
- meme | Definition, Meaning, History, & Facts | Britannica - September 12th, 2021 [September 12th, 2021]
- MINDFULNESS | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary - September 12th, 2021 [September 12th, 2021]
- Why Ethereum's Price Is Built on Firmer Ground Than Bitcoin - CoinDesk - CoinDesk - June 28th, 2021 [June 28th, 2021]
- Are Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey Working in Tandem to Spread BTC FUD? - The Tokenist - June 28th, 2021 [June 28th, 2021]
- The pandemic dividend: The other two viruses we dont think about - Deccan Herald - December 30th, 2020 [December 30th, 2020]
- Army Of Contact-Tracing Workers Being Recruited To Help Combat Coronavirus Pandemic - CBS San Francisco - May 22nd, 2020 [May 22nd, 2020]
- Controlling the Narrative? - Church Militant - February 10th, 2020 [February 10th, 2020]
- Snow Crash TV Series Adaptation is Coming to HBO Max - Epicstream - December 22nd, 2019 [December 22nd, 2019]
- 'Snow Crash' TV Series in the Works at HBO Max - /FILM - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- Book That Inspired Facebooks Chief VR Researcher And Coined Metaverse To Get HBO Series - UploadVR - December 18th, 2019 [December 18th, 2019]
- Celebrate the Arts at Blackout Black Friday - Memphis Flyer - November 30th, 2019 [November 30th, 2019]
- The Hi-Tech Traditionalist: From Samizdat To Memetics What Is Similar And What Is Different Between Soviet And American Dissidents - Tsarizm - November 15th, 2019 [November 15th, 2019]
- Who Elected Zuckerberg Head of the Thought Police? - The Real News Network - November 4th, 2019 [November 4th, 2019]
- Memes, memes everywhere | SunStar - Sun.Star - August 22nd, 2017 [August 22nd, 2017]
- The matter with memes - The GUIDON - August 20th, 2017 [August 20th, 2017]
- Keywords nolvadex - Can you buy nolvadex over the counter - The Santa Clara - August 20th, 2017 [August 20th, 2017]
- Ajanta pharma kamagra soft tabs picture - Kamagra soft tablets - Filipino Express - August 16th, 2017 [August 16th, 2017]
- Skin care specialist school - Does cialis require a prescription in usa - Bournville Village - August 16th, 2017 [August 16th, 2017]
- Alt-Right? No, the Far Right. - Patheos (blog) - August 14th, 2017 [August 14th, 2017]
- Female viagra pills name - Buy female viagra online cheap - Bournville Village - August 9th, 2017 [August 9th, 2017]
- Red viagra - Viagra and red bull safe - Bournville Village - August 8th, 2017 [August 8th, 2017]
- The Most Influential Memes on the Internet - Fox Weekly - July 28th, 2017 [July 28th, 2017]
- The Pro-Trump Media Is Full Of Offensive Memes And Trolls, But Is It A Hate Group? - BuzzFeed News - July 26th, 2017 [July 26th, 2017]
- Lasix g6pd deficiency - Salix lasix furosemide - The Village Reporter and the Hometown Huddle - July 17th, 2017 [July 17th, 2017]
- Dangers of drugs - Side effects of long term use of sodium valproate - The Village Reporter and the Hometown Huddle - July 15th, 2017 [July 15th, 2017]
- Internet Memes Are Changing The Way We Communicate IRL - HuffPost UK - July 14th, 2017 [July 14th, 2017]
- The Meme-ing of Life - Aitkin Independent Age - July 7th, 2017 [July 7th, 2017]
- Memefacturing dissent! Breaking down the 'science' of memes in India - Mid-Day - July 1st, 2017 [July 1st, 2017]
- Meme-Gene Coevolution - Susan Blackmore - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Editorial: Circumspect, respect - Sun.Star - June 3rd, 2017 [June 3rd, 2017]
- Harambe one year on: How the gorilla became an internet meme - The Independent - May 28th, 2017 [May 28th, 2017]
- Here's one reason why people are fighting on planes so much - New York Post - May 18th, 2017 [May 18th, 2017]
- American Arrested After Airplane Brawl in Tokyo - NEWS.com.au - May 17th, 2017 [May 17th, 2017]
- Science explained: Viral memes for Boar reading teens - The Boar - May 17th, 2017 [May 17th, 2017]
- What Are Billbugs And How Do I Get Rid Of Them? | MeMetics - May 13th, 2017 [May 13th, 2017]
- TruthHawk - Memetics, Information, Society - May 2nd, 2017 [May 2nd, 2017]
- The Skeptical Zone | "I beseech you, in the bowels of ... - April 19th, 2017 [April 19th, 2017]
- Film: Ghost in the Shell - The Yale Herald - April 17th, 2017 [April 17th, 2017]
- Can NATO Weaponize Memes? - Foreign Policy (blog) - April 13th, 2017 [April 13th, 2017]
- Memes could be the key to predicting the future | Digit.in - Digit - April 7th, 2017 [April 7th, 2017]
- Memeology: Where did memes begin? - Dailyuw - March 29th, 2017 [March 29th, 2017]
- What is a Meme? | The Daily Meme - March 23rd, 2017 [March 23rd, 2017]
- Do Daniel C. Dennett's memes deserve to survive? - Spectator.co.uk - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- On Memetics and the Transfer of Cultural Information - Paste Magazine - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- The Meme Culture of America is Taking Over - TrendinTech - February 26th, 2017 [February 26th, 2017]
- Row erupts as East London gallery accused of showing 'alt-right' and 'racist' art - Art Newspaper - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Is America Prepared for Meme Warfare? - Motherboard - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The scientific controversy behind memes - Varsity Online - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Thagomizer and Four Other Invented Words - Big Shiny Robot! - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Cognitive science: Dennett rides again - Nature.com - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Mem Wikipedia - December 7th, 2016 [December 7th, 2016]
- Philosophy of Religion Religion and Memetics - November 23rd, 2016 [November 23rd, 2016]
- Memetics Story - November 23rd, 2016 [November 23rd, 2016]
- Applied Memetics LLC - Jobs - November 21st, 2016 [November 21st, 2016]
- Memetics - Chielens - November 16th, 2016 [November 16th, 2016]
- Meme - Wikipedia - October 19th, 2016 [October 19th, 2016]
- MeMetics - Your Trusted Online News and How-to Site - September 20th, 2016 [September 20th, 2016]
- Memetics and Infohazards Division Orientation - SCP Foundation - August 23rd, 2016 [August 23rd, 2016]