meme

3 definitions found

meme - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  meme
      n 1: a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior)
           that is passed from one person to another by non-genetic
           means (as by imitation); "memes are the cultural
           counterpart of genes"

meme - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  meme
  
     <philosophy> /meem/ [By analogy with "gene"] Richard Dawkins's
     term for an idea considered as a replicator, especially with
     the connotation that memes parasitise people into propagating
     them much as viruses do.
  
     Memes can be considered the unit of cultural evolution.  Ideas
     can evolve in a way analogous to biological evolution.  Some
     ideas survive better than others; ideas can mutate through,
     for example, misunderstandings; and two ideas can recombine to
     produce a new idea involving elements of each parent idea.
  
     The term is used especially in the phrase "meme complex"
     denoting a group of mutually supporting memes that form an
     organised belief system, such as a religion.  However, "meme"
     is often misused to mean "meme complex".
  
     Use of the term connotes acceptance of the idea that in humans
     (and presumably other tool- and language-using sophonts)
     cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas has become
     more important than biological evolution by selection of
     hereditary traits.  Hackers find this idea congenial for
     tolerably obvious reasons.
  
     See also memetic algorithm.
  
     [Jargon File]
  
     (1996-08-11)
  

meme - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  meme
   /meem/, n.
  
     [coined by analogy with `gene', by Richard Dawkins] An idea
  considered
     as a replicator, esp. with the connotation that memes parasitize
     people into propagating them much as viruses do. Used esp. in the
     phrase meme complex denoting a group of mutually supporting memes
  that
     form an organized belief system, such as a religion. This lexicon is
     an (epidemiological) vector of the `hacker subculture' meme complex;
     each entry might be considered a meme. However, meme is often misused
     to mean meme complex. Use of the term connotes acceptance of the idea
     that in humans (and presumably other tool- and language-using
     sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas has
     superseded biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits.
     Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons.