All Your Meme Are Belong to Us

7:47 PM Tuesday, December 6, 2005

[Is there really such a thing as a meme?]

Meme, shmeme. There's no such thing as a meme. Or is there? According to a philosophical principle called "Occam's Razor" all unnecessary explanations for anything should be shaved off like unwanted hair. Thank you, Mr. Occam (aka the Franciscan friar William of Ockham), I will forthwith attempt to debunk the theme "meme." Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, who wrote and lectured about selfish genes and, by analogy, ideas as memes, promoted the notion that the spread of cultural artifacts among humans can be explained by a process analogous to Darwinian natural selection and the evolution of species. The science of such a process has been called "mimetics," derived from genetics. Dawkins may be an effective and informed proponent of evolutionary biology, but I think that a perfectly good word, "theme", if used in place of "meme," would make a lot more sense, unless the words cliché, fad, buzzword, slogan, motto, tagline, tag, or mantra provide even more clarity.

For me, it is irrational and unscientific to advocate for "intelligent design" as an explanation for the origin of species. When it comes to the spread of ideas and themes, however, I think that "intelligent design" is a lot better explanation than so-called mimetics. (OK, OK, I'm willing to drop the "intelligent" and just call it "design.") In other words, people coin phrases or words or ideas or pseudo-ideas which are spread through the culture. (Now that I think of it, perhaps the "coin" metaphor is more apt than Dawkins' gene metaphor: do bad "memes" drive out the good like bad money?)

Now that I, with Occam's help, would have consigned memes and mimetics to the sweepings of the barbershop floor, however, I am going to salvage a lock or two, because there may actually be a valid, if only pop-cultural use for the word meme: a contraction of mindless+theme. I understand that meme comes from the Greek (if you must know, look it up), but there are already classic "memes" that replicate like bird flu. My favorite is "all your base are belong to us," but I also like, "but wait, there's more," and "I'm from the government and I want to help you." I must confess a nagging suspicion that the most mindless of early 21st Century themes is: the fad buzzword meme itself.

| Technorati Tags: Memes Ideas Culture Evolution