Memes as cultural drivers

A brief nerdography on memes.

The whole idea of memes comes from Richard Dawkins’ 1976 book titled “The Selfish Gene”.

Most of the book is about what Dawkins calls “universal darwinism”, which proposes the idea that all biology is driven by genes, but culture is driven by memes.

The study of Memetics, which Dawkins later distanced himself from, is described as "the study of self-replicating units of culture, based on the analogy with Darwinian evolution".

All around us is information copied by imitation, from person to person: Chairs, trousers, hairstyles, slang, manners - all of these things are here because humans have copied them and the ones around us are the winners in an evolutionary battle.

Then comes the concept of internet memes. People had a first row seat to easily see this process happening with Pepe.

Animation from "Feels Good Man" documentary

“Pepe is a wonderful example of a meme that escaped out there into the 'memosphere' and suffered all the things you’d expect of a meme.” - Dr. Susan Blackmore, psychologist and author of “The Meme Machine”.