Memes (Re: Fw: Re: Proverbs)

[rlarson at unlnotes01.unl.edu]

>>On Fri, 21 Dec 2001, Justin McBride wrote:
>>     Correct me if  I'm wrong, but isn't the study of the diffusion and
>> workings of such little "memory bugs" and general conecpts like them
called
>> 'memetics?'  It seems I recall reading about this field a few years
back,
>> but I can't remember where.  I believe it operates on a linguistic
analogy
>> principle, with its smallest units as 'memes' (compare to phon-emes,
>> morph-emes, sem-emes, etc.).

> John replied:
> I'm generally aware of the concept, and I've been meaning to read an
> article on memes in Scietific American for so long I've misplaced the
> issue.  I thought of mentioning the term in this connection, but decided
I
> had better read the article first, in case meme didn't mean what I
thought
> it did.

I believe the concept of "memes" was first introduced by
Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene".
The book is basically about the fascinating and completely
amoral working of genes in genetic evolution.  His last
chapter raises the concept of a "meme", which he sees as
a unit comparable to a gene operating at a cultural level.

I never bought the analogy, which seems grossly reductionist
and socio-politically naive to me, but I loved the rest of
the book.  Try to find a copy if you're interested in this
area; it's a fun read!

Rory