Pre-Internet Folklore

Memetics

A Talk About Memes In Which You Will Not Be Rick Roll'd, Probably.

by Naomi Most     naomi@nthmost.com

5MoF      12/17/2009

Evolutionary Behavior Defined"the inductive control of development by ecology and/or the construction of ecology by development, which results in differential success at repetition, and includes somatic, reproductive, and replicative processes, thereby resulting in changes in frequency in hereditary elements in the population."

In other words:

Environments Host Stuff

Stuff Makes Environment Different

Stuff Changes to Survive in New Environment, or Doesn't.

Every Possible Objection to Memetics Addressed in One Slide

Do memes exist?  YES

Do memes exist beyond just some silly metaphor?  YES

Can we measure the impact and development of memes: YES...

        (realizing that genes are digital and memes are analog)

Can Memetics be used to make predictions: ALMOST

Bonus: do these things exist?  

CURRENCY   TOMB RAIDER   NEWS   VENDETTA    IMPRESSIONISM    CALENDAR   CHESS   GREENSLEEVES   HACKERSPACE    KILROY    ALL YOUR BASE

Meme Characteristics  PRE-INTERNET     INTERNET

1. Cost to Replicate2. Skill to

Reproduce3. Competition4. Cost to Adopt5. Persistence

o Medium to High

o Generally High

o Lowo Higho High

• Low• Generally Low to Nil• High• Low• Low

LOW COMPETITION

VERY BORING

HIGH COMPETITION

HILARIOUS...results:

...as well as many other WILD AND CRAZY PLACES, wooooo

Kilroy Was Here

Che Goes Viral

Impaired Access to Truth+

Cartoonable Revolutionary+

Era of Marxism-as-Cool+

New Cheap Methods of Reproduction

+Artist Ego / Obsession

Semantic Qualities remaining to CHE meme after cartoonification:

YOUNG

HOPEFUL

AGAINST THE NORM

VAGUELY REBELLIOUS

ANDY WARHOL

meme persistence wins over truth and reason.

“We have a plan to deal with the misuse. We can’t attack everyone with lances like Don Quixote, but we can try to maintain the ethics of Guevara’s legacy.”  --Aleida March, Che's widow, 2005

very unlikely to go viral.

Why Do We Care?

Well, the military is staking a fair deal of research on it:

MEMETICS—A GROWTH INDUSTRY IN US MILITARY OPERATION, Major Michael B Prosser, US Marine Corps, 2008.

...and corporations already stake their profits on it:

NOTACON: MemeHacking

April 15th - 18th, 2010

notacon.org  /  memehacking.com

Naomi Most@nthmost

Call for Proposals!

Submit by Feb 15th, 2009