An idea that, like a gene, can replicate and evolve. Examples of memes (and meme systems) include political theories, proselytizing religions, and the idea of memes itself.
Term coined by Richard Dawkins in his book, THE SELFISH GENE (1976) to contrast with genes. It applies to ideas, thought-patterns, actions, fashions, etc. that replicate themselves within a culture and are passed from mind to mind possibly over many generations and to many cultures. Dawkins defines the meme as a unit of intellectual or cultural information that survives long enough to be recognized as such, and which can be passed from person to person.
A unit of cultural information that represents a basic idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and subjected to mutation, crossover, and adaptation.
A self-replicating idea that propogates through people and networks, much like comptuer viruses. A thought-gene. Coined by Richard Dawkins.
a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one generation to another by nongenetic means (as by imitation); "memes are the cultrual counterpart of genes"
a basic idea that spreads through the population in a manner analagous to a gene (though more quickly, of course)
a (cognitive) information-structure able to replicate using human hosts and to influence their behaviour to promote replication
a concept invented by neo-Darwinist, Richard Dawkins, in his book The Selfish Gene
a concept mentioned by Richard Dawkins that is a description of a thought or an integrated group of thoughts, in terms of how humans think
a concept that begins to gain currency without the aid
a contagious concept (like a virus) that spreads quickly causing people to change their behavior
a contagious idea that replicates like a virus, passed on from mind to mind
a contagious idea that spreads from mind to mind via the many and varied channels of culture, media and/or social interaction, and not necessarily with the consent of the receiver
a cultural practice that we acquire from each other by imitation
a cultural unit of inheritance
a hand-me-down doctrine of belief or attitude from a parent, a familial setting, a cultural setting, or even a racial construct
a idea or behavior one person can pass on to another
a idea that behaves like a virus--that moves through a population, taking hold in each person it infects
a mental entity that colonises the brains of people, much as a virus colonises a cell
an atomic unit for human communication, which for instance can be a concept, an idea, a phrase or a word
an idea, and when we think things are a certain way or should be a certain way, it's hard to hold on to something
an idea, a pattern of information that duplicates itself via human contact
an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture
an idea, be in art, mode of dress etc
an idea expressed in words that seems to take on a life of its own, spread and propagate itself
an idea, or a particular way of thinking about what an idea is
an idea or a unit of thought
an idea or behaviour that exhibits some 'lifelike' characteristics as it is adopted by groups and individuals
an idea or joke that has spread through a community, and is widely known
an idea or word passed from mind to mind somewhat as a gene is passed from generation to generation
an idea so hot that it propagates like virus
an idea that acts like a virus
an idea that behaves in society like a virus does in a body
an idea that can be imitated
an idea that has a life of its own
an idea that infects peoples brain (like viruses) without the permission or willingness of a person
an idea that is passed on from one human generation to another
an idea that passes from one conscious mind to another and spreads
an idea that replicates itself through repetition, the way a gene replicates itself through reproduction
an idea that spreads through society just like a biological virus
an idea, the kind of complex idea that forms itself into a distinct memorable unit
an idea transmitted from person to person like a virus
an idea, which can spread like a virus
an idea which may have little foundation in actual fact
an irrecoverable and slightly innacurate self-replicating (id)entity with almost limitless power
a package of information created, replicated and transformed in the minds of people
a "particle" or "virus" of thought - an idea which is in some ways self-contained, and which spreads like a virus
a piece of cultural information that is transmitted between people
a piece of information passed from one mind to another
a reproducible idea and as such is the basic unit of cultural transmission
a self-explanatory symbol, using words, action, sounds, or in this case, pictures, that communicate an entire idea
a self-perpetuating concept, not a specific snapshot of an event
a self-propagating idea, a unit of cultural imitation that, much like a biological or computer virus, effectively programs its own retransmission
a self-propagating idea that spreads through information networks, virally infecting them and their users with the idea, thus creating new modalities of reality through the expression of memory and shared experience
a self replicating piece of information
a term coined by the author and zoologist Richard Dawkins
a thought, an idea of any kind
a thought, idea or belief that replicates over time
a thought that spreads through society, taking on a life of its own
a thought virus that passes from mind to mind, a contagious notion that can spread across a population like wildfire
a unit of cultural inheritance - a thought, idea, belief, etc
a unit of cultural replication, a cultural instruction if you will, that codes for the cultural equivalent of sneezing
a unit of ideological thought
a unit of information in a mind such that more copies of itself get created in other minds
a unit of information that is replicated across people cultures etc
a unit of information that replicates from brains or retention systems, such as books, to other brains or retention systems
a unit of information that replicates within the mind much in the manner that a virus replicates within its host
a unit of knowledge the gets spread by replication throught various media (minds, computers, books, etc)
a universal symbol that immediately conveys meaning no matter the culture or context of the symbol's origin
a word, idea, or behavior that spontaneously spreads through a given social group
viral encapsulated idea, with built-in feedback loop.
(Rhymes with "dream".) A coherent idea or concept that lives in many people's minds. Memes spread from mind to mind via various communication mechanisms. Successful memes spread quickly to many "hosts", who can be thought of as "infected" by the meme.
an information complex which captures the imagination and is therefore replicated. When it spreads rapidly through a population it is called a (memetic) virus. By self-replication across populations and down the generations it is the basis for cultural evolution. When it spreads with exponential rapidity it becomes a paradigm shift.
An infectious idea, concept, or belief
A memory item, or a portion of an organisms neurally-stored information, identified using the abstraction system of the observer, whose instigation is dependant on an istigations of causation regarding intricate recombinant lograms, evocations, or preprogrammed behaviors &/or emotional behavioristic responses by feeding off of already open chains of information replication - (black box repeaters) - as well as reproducing through, which, when active, and mutate to adapt.
Memes are the DNA of human society, influencing every aspect of mind, behavior, and culture. Each of us can be categorized within human society depending upon our value systems and life conditions. Books have been written that give labels and descriptions to these different categories within human society, such as Strategy of the Dolphin by Beck and Cowen.
noun. A meme is considered to be a discrete idea that replicates itself, with the connotation that memes replicate themselves and are propagated by people through social and technological networks, much like both real and computer viruses.(Coined by Richard Dawkins) Usage: "The sarcastic meme of 'Our friends, the Saudis' continues to spread across the Intenet" Note: Although not strictly speaking a 'blog specific' term, meme is very widely used in the Blogosphere (qv). Also see: Meme hack, Meme war
an idea that is capable of replicating itself. Memes are often likened to viruses, since they propagate themselves in much the same way as viruses do. The success of the official story of the 9/11/01 attack in spite of glaring red flags can be understood by viewing it as a carefully-constructed meme, appealing to people's prejudices and subconscious desires. Memetic engineering is utilized to spread disinformation.
A term coined by Richard Dawkins, who defines it as "a unit of cultural inheritance, hypothesized as analogous to the particulate gene and as naturally selected by virtue of its 'phenotypic' consequences on its own survival and replication in the cultural environment."
A concept, notion, or thought; generally can be passed on to others. The information equivalent of a gene.
Contagious ideas. Term is used to explain viral marketing. Source: Meme Central
(pron. `meem') A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern. (Term coined by Dawkins, by analogy with "gene".) Individual slogans, catch-phrases, melodies, icons, inventions, and fashions are typical memes. An idea or information pattern is not a meme until it causes someone to replicate it, to repeat it to someone else. All transmitted knowledge is memetic. (Wheelis, quoted in Hofstadter.) (See meme-complex).
a unit of cultural transmission or of imitation (coined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene [Dawkins89] ).
Word coined by Richard Dawkins for the units of human culture, skill, language etc which can be looked on as evolving in a similar way to genes.
a contagious idea (coined by Richard Dawkins)
An idea, skill or habit passed from person to person. The term was coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, and English biologist, in his book The Selfish Gene.
The term "meme" (IPA: , to rhyme with "theme", not or ), coined in 1976 by the zoologist and evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins, refers to a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another. Dawkins said, Examples of memes are tunes, catch-phrases, beliefs, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. A meme propagates itself as a unit of cultural evolution and diffusion — analogous in many ways to the behavior of the gene (the unit of genetic information).