It seems the word "meme" has been around for some 30 years, but to my knowledge, this week is the first time I've encountered it. My earlier post "Have You Ever" is a meme, which I didn't know at the time I posted it. So mem is my word for the day. Here's the definition, according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.
The term "meme" (to rhyme with "theme"), coined in 1976 by the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, refers to a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another. Dawkins said, Examples of memes are tunes, catch-phrases, 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). Often memes propagate as more-or-less integrated cooperative sets or groups, referred to as memeplexes or meme-complexes. The idea of memes has proved a successful meme in its own right, achieving a degree of penetration into popular culture rare for a scientific theory.
Proponents of memes suggest that memes evolve via natural selection — in a way very similar to Charles Darwin's ideas concerning biological evolution — on the premise that variation, mutation, competition, and "inheritance" influence their replicative success. For example, while one idea may become extinct, other ideas will survive, spread and mutate — for better or for worse — through modification.
HUH???
Anyway, as I understand it, a meme can be a chain letter or one of those "getting to know you lists" that you receive via e-mail from time to time. So my next post will be my very own Christmas meme. Look out!
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