<<OK, silly question guys...is there anything that can be thought that
could not be considered a meme? Technically, anything that can be
thought can be replicated to another mind. Is there some threshold of
tendency-to-replicate that must be crossed before it is considered a
meme?>>
Good question, Robert. Actually, you're right. While any thought (or even
unconscious attitude) could be considered a meme, remember why we have
coined the term: it's to study the evolutionary effects of the spread of
mental or cultural programming. Thus, we usually use the word meme to talk
about those ideas that seem to have interesting patterns or methods of
replication. For instance, in academia, the approval of the people in
authority (as in a cult, the language is loaded to call this "peer"
approval) is necessary for a new theory to pass through the gate of a
"respected" academic journal to spread to other minds.
Bottom line, if you have any doubt whether something is a meme, check with
me. As the world's most noted expert in the field, I am really the final
arbiter of what is or isn't a meme.
Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme"
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/votm.htm
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