> but "meme" itself is a singular unit of culture
Yup. It's not a coincidence that it sounds like "gene". The idea was precisely to treat it like that - memes get passed from generation to generation, get mutated, mix with other memes.
Ironically enough, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance videogame from 2013 had a villain character who went on a monologue about memes, and a lot of people were confused by the way he used that term. But he described that original Dawkins definition really well.
> We are all pawns, controlled by something greater: Memes. The DNA of the soul. They shape our will. They are the culture — they are everything we pass on. Expose someone to anger long enough, they will learn to hate. They become a carrier. Envy, greed, despair… All memes. All passed along.
Re:The PS5 Has Been Jailbroken
by KineticLensman on Monday October 03, 2022 @09:26AM
(#33067197)
> but "meme" itself is a singular unit of culture
Yes, as per Richard Dawkins.
A joke that doesn't get repeated virally isn't a meme.
Re:The PS5 Has Been Jailbroken
by fredoliveira on Monday October 03, 2022 @09:32AM
(#33067267)
Not exactly. Memes are just cultural bits that get passed around, and virality is more like a measurement of how much they get passed around. Jokes have intrinsic memetic qualities (like this innate desire to get told again, for comedic value), which makes them great memes.
A meme is NOT necessarily a joke. An "internet meme", a subset of memes, is generally a joke, but "meme" itself is a singular unit of culture, and includes many non-funny things
I would argue also that all jokes are memes: that all jokes ultimately have a core meme to them.