When everything is a meme, nothing is. That is why often there is a distinction made between the Richarf Dawkins type of meme and the modern internet meme.
Everything is a meme, and they behave exactly like genes. They replicate themselves, perfectly or imperfectly, and are then subject to competition for users’ attention which will affect their future replication.
Another meme is attempting to outcompete the screenshot genus of memes, by using you as a propagation tool: the “screenshots of text are not memes” meme.
Edit: downvote me if you want but you can’t deny the facts. The idea I expressed in this comment was also a meme whose chances of propagation were diminished from your downvote.
This is just a silly over-intellectualization of a weird word you want to mean “thing, but fancier”. I agree with the person you’re replying to. If everything is a meme then the term is meaningless.
Alright man. Let’s say, hypothetically, that I tell you “everything in the universe is matter”
Then I proceed to tell you what matter is, that it’s made of protons, electrons, and neutrons, which are further comprised of subatomic particles.
Then I explain how this theoretical approach is applicable to anything and everything and how incredibly useful it is to think of stuff in this way. And how its basic composition allows for many different configurations and interactions of matter. Incredibly hot plasma caused by nuclear fusion in stars. The insane density of neutron stars. And how this is the most correct model we have to date.
Now you may respond in one of a few ways:
You can say “huh, that’s really neat” and move on. Or maybe learn more about it.
Or you can say “that’s really cool, but I only care about the stuff that we can see on earth” which is totally reasonable and which is what many people are doing in this thread.
You could also say “that’s dumb, only the stuff we can see on earth should be called matter” which is similar to the preceding response, but is not reasonable at all and is what OP is doing.
Or you could say “that’s dumb, if everything is matter then the term is meaningless” which is just an arbitrary semantic application of a phrase which, for some reason, you and OP are treating as a universal maxim and completely leaving out all context and nuance pertaining to the situation. Syndrome can say “when everyone’s super, no one will be” in the Incredibles because that is a difference of degree, while this is a categorical difference.
I explained that a meme is any piece of information that can be transmitted with or without modification, because that is the definition. If you want to stop there and say that “if everything is a meme, then nothing is” that’s your prerogative. But I am not over-intellectualizing, you are under-intellectualizing.
That is the working definition we have and it’s useful because all the rules of evolution that apply to genes also apply to memes, and so it tells us a lot about how humans interact with and exchange information. It would not work if the definition were any different. If you want to change the definition to eliminate things you don’t like, or that don’t fit within a specific community, I guarantee you will leave out things that you would say are memes unintentionally.
If you don’t want lazy text screenshots in a meme community, that’s fine. But that does not mean they are not memes.
When everything is a meme, nothing is. That is why often there is a distinction made between the Richarf Dawkins type of meme and the modern internet meme.
“When everything is made of genes, nothing is”
This is just an assertion, and a false one too.
Everything is a meme, and they behave exactly like genes. They replicate themselves, perfectly or imperfectly, and are then subject to competition for users’ attention which will affect their future replication.
Another meme is attempting to outcompete the screenshot genus of memes, by using you as a propagation tool: the “screenshots of text are not memes” meme.
Edit: downvote me if you want but you can’t deny the facts. The idea I expressed in this comment was also a meme whose chances of propagation were diminished from your downvote.
This is just a silly over-intellectualization of a weird word you want to mean “thing, but fancier”. I agree with the person you’re replying to. If everything is a meme then the term is meaningless.
Alright man. Let’s say, hypothetically, that I tell you “everything in the universe is matter”
Then I proceed to tell you what matter is, that it’s made of protons, electrons, and neutrons, which are further comprised of subatomic particles.
Then I explain how this theoretical approach is applicable to anything and everything and how incredibly useful it is to think of stuff in this way. And how its basic composition allows for many different configurations and interactions of matter. Incredibly hot plasma caused by nuclear fusion in stars. The insane density of neutron stars. And how this is the most correct model we have to date.
Now you may respond in one of a few ways:
You can say “huh, that’s really neat” and move on. Or maybe learn more about it.
Or you can say “that’s really cool, but I only care about the stuff that we can see on earth” which is totally reasonable and which is what many people are doing in this thread.
You could also say “that’s dumb, only the stuff we can see on earth should be called matter” which is similar to the preceding response, but is not reasonable at all and is what OP is doing.
Or you could say “that’s dumb, if everything is matter then the term is meaningless” which is just an arbitrary semantic application of a phrase which, for some reason, you and OP are treating as a universal maxim and completely leaving out all context and nuance pertaining to the situation. Syndrome can say “when everyone’s super, no one will be” in the Incredibles because that is a difference of degree, while this is a categorical difference.
I explained that a meme is any piece of information that can be transmitted with or without modification, because that is the definition. If you want to stop there and say that “if everything is a meme, then nothing is” that’s your prerogative. But I am not over-intellectualizing, you are under-intellectualizing.
That is the working definition we have and it’s useful because all the rules of evolution that apply to genes also apply to memes, and so it tells us a lot about how humans interact with and exchange information. It would not work if the definition were any different. If you want to change the definition to eliminate things you don’t like, or that don’t fit within a specific community, I guarantee you will leave out things that you would say are memes unintentionally.
If you don’t want lazy text screenshots in a meme community, that’s fine. But that does not mean they are not memes.
That’s just a bad analogy but alright 👍
I don’t see how but go off I guess
Wrong