Musings on Memes

Memes are units of thought.?Richard Dawkins coined the term in “The Selfish Gene” – conceived as analogous to phonemes (the smallest unit of speech), or morphemes (the smallest unit of meaning in a word) – propagating, combining, and recombining, analogously to genes.?A concept, reduced to its core.

Today, on the Internet, memes are often presented as pronouncements – of fact or wisdom.?As opposed to thoughts that can be built on – hypotheses that can be explored & tested, questions that can be considered.?Koans that stimulate further thought & insight.

The next time you see a Meme on Facebook, do you do a facepalm, and exclaim “oh… that’s how it works” (or, “damn, why didn’t I think of that?”).?Does it compel you to respond in a constructive way, that build on or extends the thought??Do you walk away scratching your head, deep in thought??Or is it a trite piece of drivel, or a statement designed to provoke confrontation?