/qrmemes/ - QResearch Meme Garage

Memesis

Evolution of Memes On The Network: From Chain Letters To The Global Brain

Francis Heylighen

1996

Center "Leo Apostel", Free University of Brussels

Memes as Replicators

An essential charachteristic of genes, the units of biological information, is that they replicate: they produce copies of themselves, and thereby spread and increase in numbers.

Sometimes mutations or copying errors are introduced, producing different variants.

Only the best or 'fittest' will manage to spread widely.

This is the process of natural selection, which weeds out inadequate genes.

Variation and selection together produce evolution, the perpetual creation of new, better adapted genes.

A Memetic Analysis of Policy Making

Hans-Cees Speel

1997

Faculty of Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management Department of Policy Analysis, The Netherlands

The 'meme' is one of the most central concepts in evolutionary policy processes. It is defined as a replicator: 'a piece of data that is copied from individual to individual withouth too much alteration' (However, we will argue in the next section that a meme can also be an interactor. In an evolutionary framework a meme is a replicator, a term that was first used for genes (Dawkins, 1976).

Cultural r/k Selection

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 1

Anger Fog

1997

Copenhagen NV, Denmark

The new model introduced in this article provides a way of explaining important social phenomena based on cultural selection therory. The model is defined in terms of memetic fitness determinants, and some mechanisms are outlined. The article finally discusses how the theory can trow new light on human cultural history and contribute to a better understanding of various cultural phenomena, including religion, ideology, art and music.

Macromemetics: Towards a Framework for the Re-unification of Philosophy

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 1

Derek Gatherer

1997

Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Memes are not transmitted independently. A religious education, for instance, imparts an enormous bundle of memes to an idividual which are generally delivered all together or not at all.

They are, to borrow from genetic terminology, 'linked'. Indeed many of these memes may be dependent on each other (in what Speel as termemd a 'memeplex'). The process of growing up and living in a certain culture at a certain time means that an individual is very likely to share a vast quantity of memes with other individuals in the same circumstances. This is what may be termed the meme pool of that group or society.

Models for Interacting Populations of Memes: Competition and Niche Behavior

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 1

Michael L Best

1997

Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Richard Dawkins coined the term meme to describe replicating conceptual units. In studying the polulation dynamics of ideas we consider the meme to be the largest reliably replicating unit within our text corpus.

Through text analysis we identify memes within a corpus and cluster together together those texts which make use of a common set of memes. These clusters describe species-like relationships among the texts.

The Origin and Evolution of Culture and Creativity

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 1

Liane Gabora

1997

Center for the Study of the Evolution and Origin of Life, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Like the information patterns that evolve through biological processes, mental representations, or memes, evolve through adaptive exploration and transformation of an information space through variation, selection, and transmission.

Since unlike genes, memes do not come packaged with instructions for their replication, our brains do it for them, strategically, guided by a fitness landscape that reflects both internal drives and a worldview that is continually updated through meme assimilation.

The Six Essentials? Minimal Requirements for the Darwinian Bootstrapping of Quality

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 1

William H Calvin

University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

Selectionism emphasizes carving patterns, memes reminds us of minimal replicable patterns, but a full-fledged Darwinian process needs six essential ingredients to keep going, to recursively bootstrap quality from rude beginnings.

While there may be situations ("Sparse Darwinism") in which a reduced number sufffice, another five ingredients, while not essential, greatly enhance the speed and stability of a Darwinian process.

While our best examples are drawn from species evolution, the immune response, and evolutionary epistemology, the Darwinian process may well be a major law of the universe, right up there with chemical bonds as a prime generator of interesting combinations that discover stratified stabilities.

Basic Questions In Memetics: Life-Cycle, Reproduction And Resources

Szabolcs Szamado

1998

Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary

The basic understanding of any organism starts with the description of its morphology, environment, behaviour and its life-cycle by which it propagates itself. Memes are no exeptions. Although various studies have addressed these basic questions and, of course, most major work about cultural evolution has something to say about it, there is still no general conclusion, and there is still no general terminology.

The lack of a proper description of the memetic life-cycle is especially disturbing since in its absence it is hard to evaluate the weight of different selective forces, it is hard to build any mathematical model concerning meme population-dynamics or demography and it is hard to decide the importance of different kinds of resources.

The aim of the present paper is to give a detailed description of the memetic life-cycle and to investigate some of its consequeces.

Controversies in Meme Theory

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 2

Nick Rose

1998

University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

Meme theory and the notion of cultural evolution present the posibility of a fundamentally new way of understanding human culture. Yet some of the speculation within meme theory has become confusing and ambigulous. Four areas of meme theory are critically reviewed.

These are ambiguity in the definition of a meme and confusion regarding the distinction between replicator and phenotype, the problem of inheritance of aquired characteristics, the relationship between memetics and sociobiology, and the selction or mutation of memes being carried out by conscious foresight.

While I suggest directions which might resolve these problems, the purpose of this short review is to help generate the wider debate required to settle these important issues.

Memes on Memes - A Critique Of Memetic Models

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 2

Michael L Best

1998

Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

In these pages and elsewhere a lot has been made of the "new science of memetics". I argue that this phrase misleads. First, work on evolutionalry models and indeed replicator based models of cultural phenomena is not terribly new, through too much current work in the field ignores this history.

Second, the scientific progress made in the area, if by scheince one means formalized models, is often quite immature.

On Modelling in Memetics

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 2

Bruce Edmonds

1998

Manchester Metropolitan University

In this paper I consider that part of memetics which aims to be a formal science. At this time its development in this direction has just begun. As in similarly young fields there is an initial proliferation of possible models and lots of informal 'chat' about the proper designation of its subject matter.

In this article I take a step back and apply the evolutionary metaphor to the field of memetics itself. I conclude that in order for the field to evolve as a science, better and more stringent selection criteria need to be applied. In particular I advocate the validation and verification of models with respect to other models, so that they form a completely explanatory chain from an abstraction of evolutionary and genetic processes to data from the domains of actual cultural communication.

Units, Events and Dynamics in Memetic Evolution

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 2

Aaron Lynch

1998

An evolutionary recursive replicator theory of mental/brain information is presented. With all replicator theories resting at least tacitly upon the fundamental notions of causation and of calling two or more entities "the same" with respect to an abstraction, the concept is rendered explicit in defining the terms "mnemon" and "meme".

It is argued that memetics may have no "absolute" system of memory abstractions much as physics has no absolute coordinate system (framework of space-time abstractions).

What's in a Meme? Reflections from the perspective of the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 2

John S Wilkins

1998

Australia

This paper is intended as a focal article to raise philosophical issues about the nature of memes and memetic theory.

To bring consistency to memetic analysis, researchers need to understand and agree upon the theoretical role of memes and the generalized model of evolution in which it occurs as a theoretical term.

Why The 'Thought Contagion' Metaphor is Retarding the Progress of Memetics

Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission, 2

Derek Gatherer

1998

Liverpool John Moores University, UK

The most generally accepted definition of the meme, as a 'unit of information residing in a brain' (Dawkins 1982), implies a meme-host duality which is the basis of many current developments in memetics, in particular the notion that the passage of such memes from mind to mind constitutes a process that may be considered as 'thought contagion'.

A critique of religious belief and other non-rational systems of thought, as 'mind viruses' has been built upon such a meme-host duality. This paper provides two objections to the 'thought contagion'/ 'mind virus' theory.

Memetics - A Growth Industry In US Military Operations

Major Michael B Prosser

2006

United States Marine Corps

DISCUSSION

• Defining memes. Memes are "units of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation," and

as ideas become means to attack ideologies. Meme-warfare enters into the hotly contested

battlefields inside the minds of our enemies and particularly inside the minds of the undecided.

• Formations charged with Information Operations (IO) Psychological Operations

(PsyOps), and Strategic Communications (SC) provide an existing construct for memes and the

study of memes, memetics, to grow and mature into an accepted doctrinal discipline.

• Epidemiology of insurgency ideology. Using the analogy that ideologies possess the

same theoretical characteristics as a disease (particularly as complex adaptive systems), then a

similar method and routine can/should be applied to combating them. Memes can and should be

used like medicine to inoculate the enemy and generate popular support.

• Private sector meme application. 3M Corporation employed an innovation meme

designed to cultivate an employee culture, which accepts and embraces innovation in product

development. As a practical matter, 3M executives endorsed and employed the lead user

process in new product development, which translated into a thirty percent profit increase. The

innovation meme was key to 3M’s profit increase.

• The proposed Meme Warfare Center (MWC). The MWC as a staff organization has

the primary mission to advise the Commander on meme generation, transmission, coupled with a

detailed analysis on enemy, friendly and noncombatant populations. The MWC aims for a full

spectrum capability of meme generation, analysis, quality control/assurance and organic

transmission apparatus. The proposed MWC structure lays in stark contrast to the ad hoc nature

of current IO and JPOTF formations.

Ridicule As A Weapon

J Michael Waller

2006

The Institute of World Politics

Demonization of the enemy is the general default position of American message-making against international threats. The history of warfare shows, however, that while demonization can build and maintain alliances and coalitions, and is important to maintain national unity in a protracted conflict, it can inadvertently aid the enemy’s own war aims.

A Memetics Compendium

Dr. Robert Finkelstein

2008

University Of Maryland University College

The purpose of this Compendium is to provide a broad overview of memetics based on a variety of papers by various authors. These digital papers were gathered from the Internet during 2006 to 2008, assembled, and, in some cases, edited for grammar, spelling, and clarity; all of the papers were transformed into a common format (font, font size, appearance) for coherence to ease reading. The compendium was developed as part of memetics research conducted for an Agency of the Department of Defense (DOD).

In the more than 30 years since the meme was identified as an entity of interest, there has been almost no research to determine whether memetics can be placed on a scientific basis so that its phenomena and effects can be quantified, predicted, and controlled. Most of the research of memetics, such as it is, has been conducted in scattered efforts, often as personal projects on the part of dedicated academics, mostly outside the U.S. There have been no significant, coherent efforts until now, where there is an effort to explore whether a scientific framework can be established for memetics.

The papers were selected subjectively, based on their perceived relevance to the subject and interest to the reader. For the ease of locating papers in the Compendium, they are arranged alphabetically by author, rather than topic.

Presentation And Tutorial: Military Memetics

Dr. Robert Finkelstein

2011

University Of Maryland University College

This presentation is based on projects Robotic Technology Inc. performed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 2006-2009, and we thank DARPA for their vision and support.

The Internet And Memetics

Garry Marshall

2016

Middlesex University, London, UK

The functioning and usage of the Internet are examined in terms of memes and memetics. It is shown that memetic systems can be distinguished at various levels of Internet operation, and that these systems become increasingly simple as they move further from the user level. In this way, memetics provides a unified framework for examining the overall behaviour of the Internet and its users.

Operationalising Memetics - Suicide, the Werther Effect, and the work of David P Phillips

Paul Marsden

2016

University of Sussex, UK

One of the major challenges currently facing memetics is the issue of how to successfully operationalise the emerging paradigm. In other words, how can we exploit the innovitive analytical framework of memetics in order to generate a body of theoretically informed emporical research?

Thoughts As Tools: The Meme In Daniel Dennett's Work

Kelby Mason

2016

Most people interested in memes know of Daniel Dennett, at least by name; he seems to be the resident pholosopher-mascot and is often mentioned in the context of memetics. It is therefore worthwhile to examine more closely his work in philosophy, to see how it relates to his memetics.

Originally, I was going to discuss some of the objections to memetics raised by orthodox biologists, and how Dennett's ontology might deal with them. This proved to be beyond the scope of this paper, however, and instead I have chosen to focus specifically on the claim that memetics is reductionistic. I shall examine first Dennett's naturalism, then how this interacts with the alleged reductionism. Next I discuss the apparent threat of memetics to humanity's self-image, and finally some genuine problems posed by Dennett's treatment of memetics.

What makes a meme successful? Selection criteria for cultural evolution

Francis Heylighen

2016

Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

Meme replication is described as a 4-stage process, consisting of assimilation, retention, expression and transmission. The effect of different objective, subjective, intersubjective and meme-centered selection criteria on these different stages is discussed.

On the Origins of Memes by Means of Fringe Web Communities

Savvas Zannettou, Tristan Caulfieldz, Jeremy Blackburny, Emiliano De Cristofaroz,

Michael Sirivianos, Gianluca Stringhiniz, and Guillermo Suarez-Tangilz

2018

Cyprus University of Technology, University College London,

University of Alabama at Birmingham, Boston University, King’s College London

Internet memes are increasingly used to sway and manipulate public opinion. This prompts the need to study their propagation, evolution, and influence across the Web. In this paper, we detect and measure the propagation of memes across multiple Web communities, using a processing pipeline based on perceptual hashing and clustering techniques, and a dataset of 160M images from 2.6B posts gathered from Twitter, Reddit, 4chan’s Politically Incorrect board (/pol/), and Gab, over the course of 13 months.