Selections From a Memetic Lexicon

Auto-toxic Dangerous to itself. Highly auto-toxic memes are usually self-limiting because they promote the destruction of their hosts (such as the Jim Jones meme; any military indoctrination meme-complex; any "martyrdom" meme). (GMG) (See exo-toxic.) bait The part of a meme-complex that promises to benefit the host (usually in return for replicating the complex). The bait usually justifies, but does not explicitly urge, the replication of a meme-complex. (Donald Going, quoted by Hofstadte...

 Meme Strategies for Replicating into Minds

In addition to the survival-oriented memes that are still with us, there are some more types of memes that don't seem to particularly help or hurt our survival, but by their very nature are fit to spread effectively-these are memes that are fit simply because they are variations on the idea Spread this meme: - Tradition. A strategy-meme to continue what was done or believed in the past is automatically self-perpetuating. It doesn't matter whether the tradition is good or bad, important or ir...

 Is Beethoven's <em>Fifth Symphony</em> a meme, or only th...

Whether by coincidence or by memetic transmission, Beethoven is the favourite example for illustrating this problem. Brodie (1996) uses Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Dawkins (1976) uses the Ninth and Dennett (1995) uses both the Fifth and the Seventh. Dennet adds that the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth are a tremendously successful meme, replicating all by themselves in contexts in which Beethoven's works are quite unknown. So are they the meme, or the whole symphony? If we cannot answe...