- published: 27 Apr 2016
- views: 226870
A meme ( /ˈmiːm/; MEEM)) is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.
The word meme is a shortening (modeled on gene) of mimeme (from Ancient Greek μίμημα Greek pronunciation: [míːmɛːma] mīmēma, "something imitated", from μιμεῖσθαι mimeisthai, "to imitate", from μῖμος mimos "mime") and it was coined by the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (1976) as a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, fashion and the technology of building arches.
Proponents theorize that memes may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition and inheritance, each of which influence a meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behaviors that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread and (for better or for worse) mutate. Memes that replicate most effectively enjoy more success, and some may replicate effectively even when they prove to be detrimental to the welfare of their hosts.
You're not in love with me
I'm in love with you
You barely even noticed
What's good about me
So I'll keep on tapping my way
This song as my cane
For someone who dares
Take on this man inside of me
You could hardly see
Falling away
So I'll keep on swimming my way
Through that pitch black part of me
Singing this tongue tied and twisted melody
There you go falling into that sea of people
Falling away
You're falling away
It's gone without a trace
I'm singing love songs again
You're falling away
Those dark streets inside of me
How further can they be
Now I can finally see
That pretty seed inside of me
The one thing I need inside of me
And that beast ingrained in me
Is bursting to see
What you and I can be
You're falling away