When speaking of memes, most people think of internet memes. The likes of which this and every other meme community is full of. That’s not what Dawkins means by a meme. What he means by it is a cultural analog to genes. A trait that passes from person to person as an idea or behavior. Shaking hands would an example of such meme.
Internet meme on the other hand generally comes in the form of a picture which is funny, ironic or relateable.
Yes, but it’s still also a meme in the Dawkins’ sense of the word, isn’t it? Or would it be classified as a memetic complex? I think it’s probably simple enough to be cathegorised as a meme.
The vast majority of posts on this community are internet memes that don’t fit that definition.
How come they don’t?
When speaking of memes, most people think of internet memes. The likes of which this and every other meme community is full of. That’s not what Dawkins means by a meme. What he means by it is a cultural analog to genes. A trait that passes from person to person as an idea or behavior. Shaking hands would an example of such meme.
Internet meme on the other hand generally comes in the form of a picture which is funny, ironic or relateable.
Yes, but it’s still also a meme in the Dawkins’ sense of the word, isn’t it? Or would it be classified as a memetic complex? I think it’s probably simple enough to be cathegorised as a meme.
Ideas more broadly = information
Just about any information that self-replicates it using humans, could be considered a meme.