A meme is a unit of cultural transmission, a self-replicating idea that thrives based on its ability to spread through human minds, much like how genes propagate through biological organisms.
The most powerful memes in human history are:
- Missionary religions
- Capitalism and free markets
- Technological innovation and optimism
Memes live and die by their evolutionary fitness. They compete for limited resources, like attention and capital. They are not inherently good or bad.
Like organisms, memes mutate and evolve by incorporating evolutionarily beneficial components from other memes.
Memes are often compared to mind-viruses, genes, and even organisms. They have many phenotypes. It can be difficult to isolate the invariant properties of memes, and describe their componenent parts. This classification system is a means by which we can build a foundational understanding of memes and begin to study how they can be engineered.
Here's a synthesized framework for classifying memes, focusing on the most essential elements for understanding their nature and spread:
- Central concept/belief
- Key narratives/examples that embody it
- Essential invariant elements that define it
Example: For "flat earth" meme - core concept of earth being flat, narrative of conspiracy cover-up, invariant element of distrust in institutions
- Primary spread vectors
- Required resources
- Ease of transmission
Example: For "viral dance" memes - primary vector is social media, requires only phone camera, very easy to copy
- Environmental factors favoring spread
- Built-in defense mechanisms against criticism
- Competitive advantages over rival memes
Example: For "crypto ideology" - thrives in economic uncertainty, defends via "you just don't understand it", competes well with traditional finance beliefs
- Common mutations/variations
- Adaptation capabilities
- Stability vs volatility of core elements
Example: For "diet fads" - core remains "this is the natural way to eat" while specific foods/rules mutate frequently
- Feedback loops
- Group identity elements
- Status/social capital dynamics
Example: For "luxury brand culture" - feedback loop of exclusivity driving desire, group identity through shared brands, status from ownership
- Primary emotional drivers
- Psychological reward mechanisms
- Motivation structures
Example: For "conspiracy theories" - emotions of feeling special/informed, reward of pattern recognition, motivated by desire to understand complex events
- Central concept: One's religion contains exclusive truth and path to salvation that must be shared
- Key narratives: Stories of prophets, conversion tales, miraculous transformations
- Invariant elements: Divine authority, universal applicability, moral imperative to spread
Example: Early Christian apostles spreading the gospel, facing persecution, yet converting entire regions
- Primary vectors: Personal testimony, organized preaching, sacred texts, ritualistic practices
- Required resources: Dedicated evangelists, meeting places, educational materials
- Ease of transmission: Moderate complexity, but simplified through parables and personal narratives
Example: Mormon missionaries using a structured approach: initial contact, relationship building, staged revelations of doctrine
- Environmental factors: Thrives during social upheaval, uncertainty, or cultural transitions
- Defense mechanisms: Faith-based epistemology, martyrdom narratives, prophecy fulfillment claims
- Competitive advantage: Offers comprehensive worldview, community support, eternal rewards
Example: Early Christianity absorbing pagan holidays while maintaining core doctrine, making transition easier for converts
- Mutations: Denominational splits, cultural adaptations, modernization of practices
- Adaptation: Incorporation of local customs, translation into new languages and contexts
- Stability: Core salvation narrative remains while practices evolve
Example: Catholicism maintaining core doctrine while allowing indigenous practices in Latin America
- Feedback loops: Converting families creates multi-generational commitment
- Group identity: Strong in-group bonding through shared beliefs and practices
- Status dynamics: Recognition for bringing new converts, leadership roles for effective evangelists
Example: Megachurches creating complete social ecosystems: schools, dating pools, business networks
- Primary emotions: Fear of damnation, joy of salvation, sense of purpose
- Reward mechanisms: Community acceptance, spiritual experiences, answered prayers
- Motivation: Eternal life, divine approval, cosmic significance
Example: The intense emotional experience of "being saved" reinforcing belief and motivating evangelism
- Central concept: Voluntary exchange and private property rights lead to optimal outcomes through market forces
- Key narratives: Rags-to-riches stories, invisible hand metaphor, creative destruction driving progress
- Invariant elements: Property rights, price signals, individual economic freedom
Example: The iPhone story - individual profit motive leading to revolutionary innovation benefiting society
- Primary vectors: Economic education, business media, personal experience with markets
- Required resources: Basic economic literacy, examples of market success
- Ease of transmission: Complex in theory but reinforced by daily market interactions
Example: Children learning through simple activities like lemonade stands or trading cards
- Environmental factors: Thrives in periods of technological innovation and visible prosperity
- Defense mechanisms: Attributes failures to government intervention ("not real capitalism")
- Competitive advantage: Aligns with observable patterns of innovation and wealth creation
Example: Soviet Union's collapse serving as powerful narrative against alternative systems
- Mutations: From mercantilism to industrial to digital/platform capitalism
- Adaptation: Absorbing critiques through market-based solutions (e.g., intellectual property markets, prediction markets)
- Stability: Core market mechanism persists while forms of capital/exchange evolve
Example: Evolution from physical markets to stock markets to cryptocurrency, each maintaining price discovery while expanding what can be traded
- Feedback loops: Success in capitalism increases belief in the system
- Group identity: Entrepreneur/investor culture, markets as moral framework
- Status dynamics: Wealth and business success as social proof of merit
Example: Silicon Valley culture where startup success confers both wealth and moral authority
- Primary emotions: Hope for personal success, pride in self-reliance, fear of alternatives
- Reward mechanisms: Material success, sense of earned achievement
- Motivation: Personal enrichment aligned with social good
Example: Entrepreneur narratives combining personal gain with changing the world for better
- Central concept: Technological progress is the primary driver of human flourishing and problem-solving
- Key narratives: Moore's Law, falling costs of goods, exponential innovation curves, previous technology pessimism proven wrong
- Invariant elements: Faith in human ingenuity, inevitability of progress, abundance through innovation
Example: Norman Borlaug's Green Revolution saving a billion lives despite Malthusian predictions
- Primary vectors: Tech success stories, startup culture, popular science communication, visible technological breakthroughs
- Required resources: Examples of transformative technologies, historical progress data
- Ease of transmission: High due to tangible benefits in everyday life
Example: Smartphone evolution demonstrating continuous improvement and expanded capabilities
- Environmental factors: Thrives in periods of visible technological advancement
- Defense mechanisms: Points to historical track record of pessimists being wrong
- Competitive advantage: Offers actionable hope versus defensive pessimism
Example: COVID vaccine development speed countering general pessimism about pandemic response
- Mutations: From mechanical to digital to AI/biotech optimism
- Adaptation: Absorbs new fields (nanotech, space, longevity) while maintaining core thesis
- Stability: Progress narrative remains while specific technologies change
Example: Evolution from "computers will augment humans" to "AI will augment humans" - same optimistic frame, new technology
- Feedback loops: Tech success creates wealth which funds more tech development
- Group identity: Builder culture, solve-it-with-technology mindset
- Status dynamics: Being seen as a creator/innovator rather than critic/pessimist
Example: Silicon Valley's builder culture where technological solutions are the default answer
- Primary emotions: Wonder at possibilities, excitement about future, disdain for stagnation
- Reward mechanisms: Seeing predictions come true, participating in progress
- Motivation: Being part of humanity's ascent, solving grand challenges
Example: SpaceX launches reigniting space age optimism and vision of multi-planetary humanity
- Central concept: Systems that observe/refer to themselves create meaningful paradoxes and loops that are fundamental to consciousness and meaning
- Key narratives: Bach's musical canons, Escher's drawings, Gödel's incompleteness theorems
- Invariant elements: The presence of hierarchy that somehow "loops back" to itself in an unexpected way
Example: A security camera showing its own feed on the monitor it's filming, creating an infinite regression
- Primary vectors: Academic writing, popular science books, mathematical/philosophical discussions
- Required resources: Significant cognitive bandwidth, familiarity with abstract thinking
- Ease of transmission: Relatively difficult due to complexity, but made accessible through metaphors and examples
Example: Hofstadter's use of engaging analogies and puzzles to transmit complex mathematical concepts
- Environmental factors: Thrives in intellectual environments interested in consciousness, AI, mathematics
- Defense mechanisms: Its self-referential nature makes it resistant to reductionist criticism
- Competitive advantage: Provides a unified framework for understanding seemingly disparate phenomena
Example: When AI researchers try to disprove consciousness as "just computation," the very act of making that argument becomes a strange loop
- Mutations: From pure mathematics to cognitive science to AI theory
- Adaptation: Has evolved to incorporate new discoveries in neuroscience and artificial intelligence
- Stability: Core idea of self-reference remains stable while applications expand
Example: The concept has evolved from formal systems theory to discussions of artificial consciousness while maintaining its essential character
- Feedback loops: Understanding strange loops often leads to seeing them everywhere, reinforcing the concept
- Group identity: Creates a shared vocabulary among cognitive scientists, philosophers, and mathematicians
- Status dynamics: Mastery of the concept signals intellectual sophistication
Example: Communities of Hofstadter readers who share and discuss examples of strange loops they encounter
- Primary emotions: Wonder, intellectual excitement, the thrill of paradox
- Reward mechanisms: "Aha!" moments when recognizing new strange loops in unexpected places
- Motivation: Desire to understand consciousness and self-awareness
Example: The profound satisfaction of recognizing how one's own understanding of strange loops is itself a strange loop