What Are Memes

Part I of Essay
A "meme" is an idea which can be passed from person to person, the basic unit of cultural transmission. Memes are often analogized to genes, as self replicating information patterns; or to viruses, organic or computer, which prosper by infecting new hosts (in this case hum ....

Part II of Essay
.... as an environment. A new idea arrives: "make your own bread with a breadmaker." Your neighbor’s mind environment may love Wonderbread, and be very hostile to breadmaking. However, he may fervently believe that OJ is innocent. You, on the other hand, may have a mind environment where breadmaking thrives, along with "OJ was guilty". So we see that a meme is nothing more than a pattern of information, one that happens to have evolved a form which induces people to repeat that pattern. Typical memes include individual slogans, ideas, catch-p ....