unprofessional presentation by:
according from British philosopher Richard Dawkins, the idea of meme itself is a:
cultural parallel to biological genes and considered them, in a manner similar to “selfish” genes, as being in control of their own reproduction and thus serving their own ends.
an idea, behavior, style, or cultural practice that spreads within a culture and is transmitted from one individual to another through imitation
In essence, memes are units of cultural evolution, & they can take various forms, including words, phrases, fashion trends, rituals, technologies, and more. Dawkins proposed that, just like genes in biology, memes undergo a process of natural selection and can replicate, mutate, and evolve over time
Memes are designed to be easily copied, modified, and shared. They often use recognizable formats and templates, making it simple for users to create their own versions. This remixability fuels their evolution and spread
Memes often draw on existing cultural references, pop-culture moments, and shared experiences. They rely on intertextuality, where meaning and humor arise from the interplay between the meme itself and the external context it evokes.
Memes spread rapidly through online platforms due to their shareable and relatable nature. They often go viral, reaching a wide audience in a short period
Internet memes may stay the same or evolve over time. They can mutate
in their meaning but maintain
their structure, or vice versa, such mutate
occurring by chance
or by deliberate means such as parody.
Memes propagate in a viral pattern, infecting
individuals in a pattern reminiscent of the SIR model
for spread of
disease.
Once a meme has been propagated to enough people, continued spread is inevitable. While Internet memes compete for viewer attention, resulting in shorter lifespan, they can also collaborate with each other to achieve greater survival. Also, paradoxically, a meme that experiences a popularity peak significantly higher than average is not expected to survive unless it is unique, whereas a meme with no such peak continues to be used with other memes and thus has greater survivability
Internet memes propagate in a similar pattern to infectious disease. The pattern, as depicted in red, shows an initial spike in popularity followed by a gradual taper to obscurity
Since many memes are derived from pre-existing works, it has been contended that memes violate the copyright of the original authors...
However, some view memes as falling under the ambit of fair use in the United States in which It is
still
disputed whether the use of memes constitutes copyright infringement
Some individuals who are subjects of memes (and thus the copyright holders) have made money through sale of non-fungible tokens in auctions.
One example is Disaster
Girl
, based on a photo of Zoe Roth at age 4 taken in Mebane, North Carolina, in January 2005.
After this photo became famous and was used hundreds of times without permission, Roth decided to sell the
original copy as an NFT for US$539,973 (equivalent to $583,142 two years ago) with agreement for a further
10 percent share of any future sales
- mostly from wikipedia
- britannica