Written Worlds May Not be Memes

Think of the number of things you are likely to say to someone else today -- or the number of words you will hear other people speak. You might listen to the radio, watch television, have dinner with other people, help your children with the homework, answer the phone to people far away. Most of what is said in these conversations will never be passed on again. Most of it will not reappear as 'Then he said to her...' or 'And did you know...' Most will die at birth.

Written words may not fare much better. The words on this pag have at least got as far as being read by you, but may well get no further. Even if you do pass them on, you may scramble them for easier recall or because I have not made myself clear, so the copying fidelity will not always be high. Millions of newspapers are printed each day but by a week a later most of the copies have gone and most people have forgotten what was in them. Books may do a little better -- though in the United States alone something like one hundred thousand new books are published every year. Not all of them can be influential or memorable. And while some scientific papers are widely read and quoted, it is rumoured that the majority are nto read by anyone at all!

Some examples of ideas that won't become memes, with the surprising inclusion of books.