BCM101 New Media

Histories/Industries/Practices
Week 8 – April 29, 2009

Memes
(Or I can HAs
CHEEZBURgER?)
 "...the gene, the DNA molecule
happens to be the replication entity
that prevails on our planet...”

Richard Dawkins (1976), The

Selfish Gene, Oxford University
Press, London.

Any cultural entity that an observer

might consider a replicator can be
a meme: tunes, catch-phrases,
fashions, etc.

Language seems to 'evolve' by non-genetic

means and at a rate which is orders of
magnitude faster than genetic evolution. Just as
genes propagate themselves in the gene pool
by leaping from body to body via sperms or
eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the
meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a
process which, in the broad sense, can be
called imitation (Dawkins, 1976, p.189).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ynse/1531699476/sizes/o/
Neal Stephenson's
Snow Crash (1992)
The franchise and the virus work
on the same principle: what thrives
in one place will thrive in another.
You just have to find a sufficiently
virulent business plan, condense it
into a three-ring binder - its DNA-
xerox it, and embed it in the fertile
lining of a well-traveled highway,
preferably one with a left-turn
lane.
(pg. 178)
Meme: a unit of cultural transmission

sleeveface.com
handwriting meme
A History of Internet Memes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lemonad/2217510074/sizes/o/
Imitation:
Imitation how a meme
replicates

Longevity:
Longevity varies
significantly
http://www.flickr.com/photos/culturecat/483024542/sizes/o/

Fecundity:
Fecundity the ability to
spread

Fidelity (copying): memes are

not high-fidelity repliators
 I HAZ PROBLMZ WID UR META4

Agency

Utility

Henry Jenkins takes issue with the biological metaphor of viral video and the concept of
the meme.
Spreadable Media

Spreadable Media - empahsises the act of

spreading and reconsiders the relationship
between value (as a system of economic
exchange) and worth (sentiment and social
gesture).
BCM101 New Media
Histories/Industries/Practices
Week 8 – April 29, 2009

Memes
(Or I can HAs
CHEEZBURgER?) 1
 "...the gene, the DNA molecule
happens to be the replication entity
that prevails on our planet...”

Richard Dawkins (1976), The

Selfish Gene, Oxford University
Press, London.

Any cultural entity that an observer

might consider a replicator can be
a meme: tunes, catch-phrases,
fashions, etc.

Language seems to 'evolve' by non-genetic

means and at a rate which is orders of
magnitude faster than genetic evolution. Just as
genes propagate themselves in the gene pool
by leaping from body to body via sperms or
eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the
meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a
process which, in the broad sense, can be
called imitation (Dawkins, 1976, p.189).
2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ynse/1531699476/sizes/o/
Neal Stephenson's
Snow Crash (1992)
The franchise and the virus work
on the same principle: what thrives
in one place will thrive in another.
You just have to find a sufficiently
virulent business plan, condense it
into a three-ring binder - its DNA-
xerox it, and embed it in the fertile
lining of a well-traveled highway,
preferably one with a left-turn
lane.
3
(pg. 178)
Meme: a unit of cultural transmission

sleeveface.com
handwriting meme
A History of Internet Memes

4
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lemonad/2217510074/sizes/o/
Imitation:
Imitation how a meme
replicates

Longevity:
Longevity varies
significantly
http://www.flickr.com/photos/culturecat/483024542/sizes/o/

Fecundity:
Fecundity the ability to
spread

Fidelity (copying): memes are

not high-fidelity repliators 5
 I HAZ PROBLMZ WID UR META4

Agency

Utility

Henry Jenkins takes issue with the biological metaphor of viral video and the concept of
the meme.
6
Spreadable Media

Spreadable Media - empahsises the act of

spreading and reconsiders the relationship
between value (as a system of economic
exchange) and worth (sentiment and social
gesture). 7