Memetics was invented by Richard Dawkins, and is a theory for understanding the spreading of useful information patterns (ideas). The word "meme" is a parallel to "gene", and signifies that this is a metaphor which likens the spreading of ideas to that of the spreading of genes. In this metaphor, ideas are taken to be akin to viruses, "infecting" their hosts in a symbiotic state.

This theory has been very popular in certain circles, such as the FutureCulture mailinglist and other places where information theory is considered important, yet some scepticism has been uttered. Nevertheless it is interesting to see a theory which demonstrates self-reference (the idea of a "meme" is itself a meme), yet seems to have some usefulness as a tool for analysis of culture.

A good point to start is to look at the FAQ for alt.memetics or to search Altavista for "memetics and meme". A shorter introduction is given by the Jargon File 3.0.0's entries on meme and memetics (beware: by accessing this link you risk exposure to a vast meme complex native to hacker culture...)

Texts that deal with memetics

• Memes, Metamemes and Politics, by Keith Henson
• .rez on memes
• Memetics; The nascent science of ideas and their transmission by J.Peter Vajk
• A memetic lexicon, by Glenn Grant
• The New Meme, by David Brin (stored on the Kaleidoscope Web site)
• .rez has written a paper on what he calls the autologue, which is a study of how discourse on the net revolves around a memetic attractor, iterated and reiterated by the participants.
• Of Man, Mind and Machine by Joshua S. Lateiner.
• A whimsical Communique on Net Viruses
• The New Meme, a short piece by David Brin.

Links to more memetics sites

• The Principia Cybernetica Web has more information on memes, contained here.
• Arkuat aka Eric Watt Forste has a Meme Workshop page.
• Onar Åm has a web page on The Origins of Knowledge, including memetics and more.
• Searching Lycos, Altavista or Excite is bound to uncover some pointers.

Last updated: October 3rd 1996 (created August 13th 1994)

Marius Watz - Mail to: mariusw@notam.uio.no