14 lines
2.6 KiB
HTML
14 lines
2.6 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>meme</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../M.html" title="M"/><link rel="previous" href="meltdown--network.html" title="meltdown, network"/><link rel="next" href="meme-plague.html" title="meme plague"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">meme</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="meltdown--network.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">M</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="meme-plague.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="meme"/><dt xmlns="" id="meme"><b>meme</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/meem/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [coined by analogy with ‘gene’, by Richard Dawkins] An
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idea considered as a <a href="../R/replicator.html"><i class="glossterm">replicator</i></a>, esp. with the
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connotation that memes parasitize people into propagating them much as
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viruses do. Used esp. in the phrase <span class="firstterm">meme
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complex</span> denoting a group of mutually supporting memes that form
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an organized belief system, such as a religion. This lexicon is an
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(epidemiological) vector of the ‘hacker subculture’ meme
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complex; each entry might be considered a meme. However, <span class="firstterm">meme</span> is often misused to mean <span class="firstterm">meme complex</span>. Use of the term connotes
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acceptance of the idea that in humans (and presumably other tool- and
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language-using sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas
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has superseded biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits.
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Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="meltdown--network.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../M.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="meme-plague.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">meltdown, network </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> meme plague</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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