A Memetic Lexicon _________________ by glenn grant, memeticist version 2.0 excerpted from boing boing neurozine, which i highly recommend. write them at po box 12311, boulder ,co. 80303 and get an issue "an idea is something you have; an ideology is something that has you." ----Morris Berman This is a collection of neologisms which may prove useful in the study of mimetics. A meme (pronounced meem) is an idea that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the meme--similar to the way a t-phage virus reproduces by hijacking the dna of a bacterium. unlike a virus, which is encoded in dna molecules, a meme is nothing more than a pattern of information, one that happens to have evolved a form which induces people to repeat that pattern. Individual slogans, ideas, catch-phrases, melodies, icons, inventions, and fashions are typical memes. Whether memes can be considered true life forms or not is a topic of debate, but this is irrelevant: they behave in a way that is similar to life forms, allowing us to combine the analytical techniques of epidemiology, evolutionary science, immunology, linguistics and semeiotics into an extremely effective system known as "memetics". Rather than debate the inherent "truth" or lack of "truth" in an idea, memetics is largely concerned with how that idea gets itself replicated. Memetics is vital to the understanding of cults, ideologies, and marketing campaigns of all kinds, and it provides the best immunity from dangerous information-contagion. The neophyte reader, for instance, should be aware that he/she has just been infected with the meta-meme, the meme about memes.... in the lexicon below, names in parenthesis refer to who first coined and defined each word, although some definitions have been paraphrased and altered. "GMG" is the author. sources: Richard Dawkins, the selfish gene Keith Henson, "Memetics", whole earth review #57:50-55. Douglas Hoffstadter, metamagical themas Howard Rheingold, "Untranslatable Words", whole earth review #57:3-8 Meme: (pron. meem) A contagious information pattern that replicates by parasitically infecting human minds and altering their behavior, causing them to propagate the pattern.(term coined by Dawkins by analogy with "gene") an idea or information pattern is not a meme until it causes someone to replicate it, and repeat it to someone else. ALL transmitted knowledge is memetic. note that a meme need not necessarily reflect the "truth" to be successful. memetic replication depends more on the appeal of the logical structure than on its truthfulness.(Wheelis, as quoted by Hoffstadter)(see meme- complex) Auto-toxic: dangerous to itself. highly autotoxic 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 exotoxic) Bait: the part of a meme-complex that promises to benefit the host (usually in turn for replicating the complex). the bait usually justifies, but does not explicitly urge, the replication of the meme-complex.(D. Going, quoted by Hoffstadter). also called the reward co-meme. (in many religions, "salvation" bait co-memes are "eternal bliss", "security","prosperity","freedom".)(see hook, threat, infection strategy). belief space: since a person can only be infected with and transmit a finite number of memes, there is a limit to their belief-space. (Henson) memes evolve in competition for niches in the belief space of individuals and societies. co-meme: a meme which has symbiotically co-evolved with other memes, to form a mutually-assisting meme-complex. also called symmeme (GMG) cult: a sociotype of an auto-toxic meme-complex, composed of (or recruiting) memebots or memoids (GMG). characteristics of cults include : self-isolation of the infected group or at least of new members; brainwashing by repetitive exposure (including dependent mental states); genetic functions discouraged (through celibacy, sterilization, devalued family) in favor of replication (proselytizing); leader-worship ("personality-cult"). (Henson) earworm: a tune or melody that infects a population rapidly. (Rheingold); a hit song (such as "Don't worry be happy")(f. german ohrwurm=ear-worm) endmeme,the :the millennial meme (see) (gmg) exo-toxic: dangerous to others, highly exo-toxic memes promote the destruction of persons other than their hosts, particularly those who are carriers of rival memes. (such as:nazism, the inquisition, pol pot) (see meme-allergy)(GMG) hook: the part of a meme complex that urges replication. the hook is most often effective when it is not explicit, but a logical consequence of the meme's content. (hofstadter) (see bait, threat) ideosphere: the realm of memetic evolution as the biosphere is the realm of genetic evolution. the entire memetic ecology (Hoffstadter). the health of an ideosphere can be measured by its diversity. immuno-depressant: anything that tends to reduce a persons memetic immunity. common immuno-depressents are : travel, disorientation, physical and emotional exhaustion, insecurity, emotional shock, loss of home or loved ones, fututre shock, culture shock, isolation stress, unfamiliar social situations, certain drugs, loneliness, alienation, paranoia, repeated exposure, respect for authority, escapism, and hypnosis (suspension of critical judgement). recruiters for cults often target airports and bus terminals because travellers are likely to be subject to a number of these immuno-depressants. (GMG) (See cult) immuno-meme: see vaccine infection strategy: any memetic strategy which encourages infection of a host. common infection strategies are "villain vs victim","fear of death", and "sense of community". in a meme complex, the bait embodies the infection strategy. jokes encourage infection by being humorous,tunes by evoking various emotions, slogans and catch-phrases by being terse and continually repeated.(see replication-strategy;mimicry)(GMG) membot: a person whose entire life has become subordinated to the propagation of a meme, robotically and at every opportunity. (such as :jehova's witnesses, mormons, krishnas) due to internal competition, the most vocal and extreme memes tend to rise to the top of their socio-types hierarchy. a self- destructive membot is a memoid. (GMG) meme-allergy: a form of intolerance; a condition which causes a person to react in an unusually extreme manner when exposed to a specific semiotic stimulus, or meme-allergen.. Exo-toxic meme-complexes typically confer dangerous meme- allergies on their hosts. often the actual meme-allergens need not be present in a semiotic stimuli to trigger a c\reaction, but merely perceived to be present. common meme-allergies include homophobia, paranoid anti-communism, and pornophobia. common forms of meme-allergic reaction are censorship, belligerent verbal abuse, vandalism, and violence.(GMG) meme-complex: a set of mutually-assisting memes which have co- evolved a symbiotic relationship. religious and political dogmas, social movements, artistic styles, traditions and customs, chain letters, paradigms, languages, etc... are meme-complexes. also called m-plex or scheme (Hofstadter). types of co-memes commonly found in a scheme are called the :bait;hook;threat; and vaccine. A successful scheme commonly has certain attributes: scope ( a paradigm that explains much); opportunity for carriers to participate and contribute; conviction of its self evident truth (carrying authority); staves off dread of meaninglessness by offering order and a sense of place. (WHeelis, as quoted by Hofstadter). memeoid or memoid: a person "whose behavior is so strongly influenced by a meme that their own survival becomes inconsequential in their own minds." (Henson)(such as kamikaze, shiite terrorists, jim jones followers, any military personnel) HOSts, carriers and membots are not necessarily memoids.(see auto-toxic, exo-toxic) memetic: related to memes memetic drift: accumulated mis-replications; (the rate of) memteic mutation or evolution. written text tends to slow the drift of dogmas. (Henson) memeteic engineer: One who constantly devises memes, through meme-splicing and memetic synthesis, with the intent of altering the behavior of others. writers of manifestos and commercials are typical memetic engineers. (GMG) memetecist: 1) one who studies memetics. 2) a memetic engineer memetics: the study of memes and their social effects memotype: 1) the actual information-content of a meme, as distinct from its socio-type. 2) a class of similar memes.(GMG) meta-meme, the : The concept of memes, considered as a meme itself. millennial meme, the : Any of several currently epidemic memes which predict catastrophic events for the year 2000, including the battle of armageddon, the rapture, the thousand-year reign of jesus, the "immanent new age" meme is simply a pan-denominational version of this (also called the endmeme). Millennial hysteria, the widespread expectation of the end of the world, is already causing great damage to society, leading to apathy, lack of concern for the environment and nuclear proliferation, increasing cultism and survivalism, witch-hunts, new age mindlessness, and so on. It is hoped that knowledge of memetics will help reduce chances of repeating history: in the years leading up to 1000, bloody wars were fought over holy relics,which were thought to be "safe passage" tickets to the second coming. mimicry: an infection strategy in which a meme attempts to imitate the semeiotics of another successful meme, such as pseudoscience(Creationism, ufology,new age), pseudo- rebelliousness(heavy metal), subversion by forgery(situationist detournement). (GMG) replication strategy: any memetic strategy that encourages a meme's host to repeat it to other people. The hook co-meme of a meme complex. (GMG) retro-meme: a meme which attempts to splice itself into an existing meme-complex (such as marxist-leninists trying to co-opt other sociotypes) (GMG) scheme: a meme complex sociotype: 1)the social expression of a memotype, as the body of an organism is the physical expression (phenotype) of the gene (genotype). Hence, the protestant church is one sociotype of the bible's memotype 2) a class of similar social phenomena (GMG) threat: The part of a meme complex that encourages adherence and discourages misreplication ("damnation to hell" is the threat co-meme in many religious schemes) (see bait,hook,vaccine) (Hofstadter) tolerance: a meta-meme which confers resistance to a wide variety of memes (and their sociotypes), without confering meme- allergies. in its purest form, tolerance allows its host to be repeatedly exposed to rival memes, even intolerant rivals, without infection of meme-allergic reaction. Tolerance is the central co-meme in a wide variety of schemes particularly "liberalism" and "democracy". Without it, a scheme will often become exo-toxic and confer meme-allergies on its hosts. since belief space is finite, tolerance is not necessarily a virtue i na scheme, but it has co-evolved in the ideosphere in much the same way co-operation has evolved in the biosphere. (Henson) vaccime: any meta-meme which confers resistance or immunity to one or more memes, allowing that person to be exposed without being infected. also called immuno-meme. most meme-complexes include vaccines to protect against rival meme-complexes. common immuno-memes are "faith","loyalty","skepticism",and "tolerance". a violently extreme immuno-memetic infection is called a meme- allergy. (GMG) vector:a medium, method, or vehicle for the transmission of memes. almost any communication medium can be a memetic vector(GMG) villain vs victim: an infection strategy common to many meme- complexes. placing the potential host in the role of victim and playing on their insecurity, as in:"The bourgeois is oppressing the proletariat"(hosfstadter) often dangerously toxic to host and society in general. also known as the us-and-them strategy. Share-Right (s),1990, by Glenn Grant, 1850 Lincoln Ave. #803, Montreal, Quebec, H3H1H4. You may reproduce this material only if your recipients may also reproduce it, you do not change it, and you include this notice.