New Horizons for Learning: What is a Meme?

What is a Meme?

Can ideas propagate themselves? Can thoughts and concepts behave like viruses, "infecting" everyone who hears them? Some people think that ideas can behave as "competing, self-replicating entities," transferring information in the same way that genetic information is transmitted from generation to generation, cell to cell. In the July, 1995 issue of Wired Magazine you'll find an article about Richard Dawkins who has some interesting theories about evolution and information. We've found some links that may be of interest to people who are intrigued by the ways communication is changing as humans experiment with new and more efficient mass communication on the Web.

Useful Links:

Internet Resources related to Principia Cybernetica
An interesting website with links to articles about cybernetic culture and research. The Links on Evolutionary Theory and Memetics point you to articles on mental models and how they influence groups and individuals.
Meme: An Electronic Newsletter:
You can subscribe to MEME, an irreverent look at Internet and source of this definition of the word: meme: (pron. 'meem') A contagious idea that replicates like a virus, passed on from mind to mind. Memes function the same way genes and viruses do, propagating through communication networks and face-to-face contact between people. Derived from the word "memetics," a field of study which postulates that the meme is the basic unit of cultural evolution. Examples of memes include melodies, icons, fashion statements and phrases.
Visit the WWW home of Meme at Into the Matrix: http://memex.org/welcome.html