Memes

Distribution

In order for a meme to grow there must be a medium of communication through which it can infect more minds. This can be something as simple as a common language to a more complex social network such as the internet. In order for a meme to spread effectivley there must be a certain amount of understanding. If a meme is misinterpreted as it is spread, then a new meme is being spread, one that is slightly different from the predecessor, but different none the less. Misinterpretation occurs when the infectee does not have sufficient information to fully comprehend the meme, or simply cannot understand the content of the meme. This is something which should be avoided when one wishes to actively distribute a meme, as it will not lend strength to your meme, but a completely different, and potentially competing meme. Misinterpretation often occurs when memes are communicated through story-telling mediums such as literature or movies, as this tends to create an ambiguity of the message, allowing the subjective interpretation of the reader to dictate which memes will be passed on.

Everyone is a distributor of memes, by your very actions and conversations you will spread certain ideas to your peers. However, some groups and individuals purposefully spread a meme to infect more and more people. Advertising is a perfect example of this principle as a medium. Advertising exists to spread ideas, to infect as many people as possible with a certain meme, a purposeful viral infection. When one takes a meme and breaks it down into either a logical argument, a fictitious example, a movie, a song, discourse, etc, one is directly spreading that meme.

Certain direct memetic distributions are often under attack by those who disagreee with the meme being spread. Peace rallies are an excellent example of this conflict. Many argue that these rallies to stop war in various parts of the globe are accomplishing nothing and having no effect on the world or the war(s) in question. Critical books on international politics, poverty, etc also come under the same hammer- that they argue for some kind of proaction and yet by their very nature, they accomplish no enaction, they are merely a vessel for a meme. This is not an argument against distribution, it is simply pointing out that distribution is not enaction, that distribution serves to spread a meme into new minds and to reinforce it in minds in which the meme was already present. Memes can only survive if they continually infect new minds, and this is only done through distribution from those who have the meme. Events such as peace rallies also serve to reinforce the meme in those who already believe it, so that they do not loose hope in the meme becoming enacted, or are reinspired in their faith in the meme. Distribution is not useless, it is essential to strengthen the meme, enaction is what determines the meme's effect on the physical world.

Enaction

Enaction is the method by which the principles and ideas of the meme are realized in the world. Turn to any political system in the world to see a meme enacted and realized. The democratic processes in the western world are the enaction of the democratic meme, those who practice a religion enact that meme whenever they practice. Enaction is simply living out, or putting into pratice what a meme instructs. Memes which are enacted have much more power then memes which are simply distributed, as these memes are the ones that govern our lives. The democracy meme rules our political structure, and the many Christian memes dictate the ethics and practices of most people of the globe. These are the memes what most people will have in common, they are the memes which are taught in schools and churches, and the memes which as carried out in the political, and economic world. Enacted memes are also the memes which will cause physical conflict.

Meme enaction and distribution are two sides of the same coin in that one will quite naturally cause the other. When a meme is enacted in a certain context, it can lead to a distribution of that meme. For example, when a country changes it's type of government, say from democracy to fascism; the meme of fascism will be distributed through the actions taken to make it realized in the previously democratic state. When somone is shot by the fascist government, part of the meme is enacted, namely-"Rule through fear", and that same part is distributed to all those that witness the shooting. Another great example is evangelism. In certain religions, adhenrets are expected to go out and preach to non-believers, this accomplishes both distribution and enaction at the same time. Meme distribution can also cause enaction quite easily. For example, when someone is converted to a relgion, they have been infected by the meme (the meme has been distributed), and then they will begin to follow the requirements of the meme (enaction).

Ideals are memes that are distributed but never enacted. Ideals are often strived for, but never fully carried out. Any attempt at encation of an ideal usually ends up enacted a meme which is not the same as the ideal, but close. For example, the ideal of a peaceful world is often attempted in small scales at peace rallies and at larger scales by international politics, but the meme is yet to be enacted, as these actions are never enough to make the full content of the meme realized.

Conflict

We see memetic conflict every day- in debates, in Right vs. Left politics, between religions, everywhere. Some memes simply do not get along with others, and we like to defend them more than we like to accept the fact that our beliefs could be wrong. This is the first 'battlefield' of memes- intellectual conflict. Here the idea's strength depends soley on it's logical soundness, validity, it's range of argument, adaptibility, as well as charisma of the speaker. Here the content of the memes are investigated, scrutinized, defended, and reduced to absurdity. Whenever two opposing ideas meet, such as pacifism and military imperialism, there will be an inevtiable intellectual conflict, either in printed format, such as an essay or book, or between two or more adherents through the dialectic or debate. Whether or not such a conflict between any two persons comes about is a mater of their own choice, that is, whether such intellectual conflict will become manifest between the adherents. The conflict between the memes will exist in the abstract, idealist realm regardless of the whether or not the adherent make it apparent.

Ideas such as memes will also conflict in the physical realm. This is most apparent on a large scale, between the memes of two or more societies or groups of people. The governing memes of a free society in which people can, for the most part, do as they please will obviously contrast with the governing memes of a fascist society. If these two societies come into contact (either through expanding borders or through some lines of comminucation) the memes of governance will conflict intellectually and physically. This happens because of the meme's nature. Memes will grow by infecting more minds, but if that mind already has a meme that is contrary to the former, the mind reacts intellectually by denying that meme. But sometimes the meme does not stop there, memetic authorities will demonize and create propaganda against the contrary meme, as it threatens the strength, and therefore the existence, of the meme. Memes such as these, that is memes that govern the movements and behaviors of a society and its laws, are usually too ingrained to be defeated on an intellectual level. It can happen in small instance, with small groups converting from the previous meme to the newly encountered one, thus creating sub-cultures and even rebellions and resistance movements, but for the most part the citizenry will stick to it's own memes. Therefore the only way for the memes to grow and defend themselves is to physically remove the minds from the meme- in other words, to kill the adherents or force them to convert through torture (though the latter does not necessarily bring about full and genuine belief in the meme, more a general acquiescence to its influence). Note that some memes may never get to the point of physical conflict if some part of the meme itself is pascifistic or perscribes tolerance of other ideas. However this usually results in one-sided conflicts instead of peace.

Memes move through several stages of belief: Experience, exposed, aware, remembered, known, understanding, belief, passe.

Many people believe that memes shape the future of humanity, that we are in a sense at the mercy of our ideas.

External Links

• Memetics Guide

LAMP Memepedia Great Quotes