What do Memes mean to Culture?

Several years back when I first got to witness all the rage about "memes" on the internet, I was not really sure what was happening.

That is when I went back to the dictionary to really understand what does "memes" mean.

As is the case with me for many things, I like going back to basics and in this case including the origins of the word "meme".

First introduced by Richard Dawkins in the last chapter of his book The Selfish Gene, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary,

meme is an element of culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, especially imitation

So what is the answer to the question, which also is the title of this article, what do memes mean to culture?

I would say that the question is an absurd one because a meme is nothing but a unit of the culture itself as defined in its origin by the British evolutionary biologist.

Dawkins goes on to explain the high survival value that memes have got and I cannot help but redirect you to read for yourself the chapter on Memes from the book, The Selfish Gene, to understand the power of memes, at least as they were conceptualized.

If you don't own a copy of the book but are serious about studying more about the original concept of memes, you could buy it on Kindle/Amazon. However, if you cannot/don't want to buy the whole book, I am providing a link to the chapter in the book available on the internet for you to quickly browse through.

At one point in the chapter, Dawkins writes and I quote,

When we die there are two things we can leave behind us: genes and memes

The various examples of memes as originally conceptualized are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. However, just like how memes are visualized to have the inherent characteristic to mutate, the understanding and application of memes also mutated.

In the foreword to the book The Meme Machine, Dawkins details how he originally used the word meme negatively to cut down the selfish gene to size. In the below video, Dawkins explains how he didn't intend that memes to be a contribution to human culture as they are applied today, yet they ironically have become one, in fact, in a significant way.

The dangers of the deliberate alteration of the memes as popularized by the internet culture have turned out to be the actual understanding of memes today.

Of all the use cases of memes, the one I approve and endorse the most is the nuanced humour they drive within all of us. In fact, in a world that is becoming highly unpredictable and unstable, memes have been a great way to cope with the tragedies of life.

In this Reddit group which claims to be the biggest community, run by teenagers for teenagers, with more than 2 million members, you will find an overload of memes with a strong tinge of the above use case I am referring to.

Since I stumbled upon it I visited the community a handful of times and admit that I don't understand everything that happens there because I am no more a teenager but this one below once caught my attention.

Look at the meme below to get a sense of how they are helping the newer generations deal with the world that has been passed onto them by their previous generations.

There are already many other use cases of the new age memes in the world of business, politics, entertainment and more, and there must be more mutations underway.

With this, I invite you to share in the comments, how you see the whole idea of memes, the original concept and how they are being adapted to.

By the way, can any article on memes be published without quoting Zomato and Elon Musk?

When AB de Villiers announced retirement from all forms of cricket last year, this tweet/meme from Zomato can summarize the emotions of the fans and food lovers.

And, Mr. Elon Musk who, like no other authority can, makes sure that money changes hands just through his tweet once had to say this about memes: