Re: meme notation (was Re: The Unfathomable)

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• [ Next ]In reply to: Lee Daniel Crocker

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On Thu, 4 Nov 1999 17:49:34    CampMars wrote:


>Forgive my ignorance but I've been on this list for a long time and I still 

>have no freakin' idea what meme is.  Could someone please give me a 

>definition...

>Eric

>

The term meme was coined around 1975 by Richard Dawkins, the great Oxford University zoologist.  He noted that genes are the fundamental units of biological reproduction and that sometimes ideas, catchy tunes and chain letters sometimes replicate themselves from mind to mind in a way analogous to genes.
He called these self-replicating entities memes.  
The most accessible example is that tune you hear somebody whistling and you find yourself humming it even though you don't want to and may not even like the tune!
It has replicated itself in you, if only for a moment.
And now, the meme of the meme has just reproduced itself!

Steve


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• [ Next ] In reply to: Lee Daniel Crocker