·
In your own words, how would you define the term meme?
A meme is any noun – a concept or an
idea or a thing – that is passed through human consciousness and can be shared
among others. This entity, the meme, can be evolved and houses different
meaning for each individual.
·
What are some definitions of the term meme as it is used in
contemporary internet media and culture?
The most common definition of a meme
in popular culture would be that of the internet meme, a combination of picture
and text generally meant to for humor or witt and accessible by a wide
audience.
·
How does Richard Dawkins define the term meme?
Dawkins defines a meme similar to a
gene, with the full name of minimeme. He defines them primarily in a
non-material sense, living, existing, and multiplying only by human minds and
subsequent cultural behavior.
·
What is the connection between memetics and genetics established
by Dawkins? How can Darwinian thought be applied to media and culture?
Both genes and memes have three
general qualities needed to be successful: longevity, fecundity, and
copying-fidelity. He attempts to define an individual meme through relation to
an idea or theory, where there can be multiple aspects to it but the closer
they are in nature means they are more likely to be accepted by the same
people. In other words, they are more likely to live on if lumped together,
which is also the way that gene sequences in DNA are passed on. Dawkins also
touches on survival for each as an exploitation of their environment. Therefore
memes are stabilized making it difficult for others to invade.
Darwinian thought is most applicable
to media and culture through the concept of competition. The resource sought
after in this case is not bound by physics, but is the economy of the human
mind. Memes compete for time, space, attention, rather than organic compounds,
but like genes will die out if they are not received.
·
What problems do you see in applying biological theories to
culture?
My biggest beef with this argument is
the nature of the two things being compared. Genes are physical and apply to
all realms of reality, you could even say they exist outside of reality because
reality is a human invention and genes are not dependent on us. Memes, however,
are simply code generating meaning different for each person in each context. Memes
are not limited to the species homo sapien sapien, but they are nearly mutually
exclusive among the species they belong to and require cognition. In my eyes,
memes don’t actually exist.
Another problem I have with Dawkins
applying the theory of evolution to memes is the time scale each are in
accordance with. If the length of your wingspan represents the length of the
earth, and you shave one swipe of a nail file off your middle finger, you have
just wiped out all existence of human beings on earth. The theory of evolution,
whether for genes or for species, is evident in our current and previous
biodiversity. In the case of memes, it is arguable that systems of thought have
not really changed. There are still a select few with nearly all money and
power, women in most places are still regarded as the weaker sex, wars are
still fought, ancient religions are still practiced, so are things really
changing? On a small scale cultures are established and public thought shifts
and changes, but in the grand scheme is thought much different than it has
always been? I guess my question is do memes really evolve, and has any species around now been on the earth
long enough to tell? If memes are engrained in our nature, how can they really
evolve unless our species does?
·
How does the concept of the meme relate to creating artworks in
the context of "convergence media"?
Memes are the source material for visual art. Without memes or
the cross sharing of ideas and concepts and sounds and visualizations and
technique, etc. art would be stagnant or perhaps non-existent. It is through
cultural coding desire for communication beyond language that art gets made; it
is the visualization of a meme or series of memes to be taken in by other
individuals who will process it in a different way.
Are memes real?
Hegemonic Stability Theory
Guns, Germs, and Steel
The Sacred Canopy
....but I digress.
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