meme as meme

topic posted Thu, May 24, 2007 - 11:06 PM by  Heide
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I was trying to explain what a meme is to my sister and realized that by relating this to her, and not just the telling of it, but by passing on the concept so that she would then see the world differently.... was really a meme in itself. Or at least that is what I got from our conversation. I felt like I was learning more than she was right at that very moment - epiphany-like to a certain extent..., even though I was the one explaining to her.... See, now I know that my sister will not just understand the definition of meme, but she will see the world differently, and come to experience memes on her own. So by passing on that concept have I not passed on a meme?

I have not been really active in this tribe so I don't know if this has all been discussed previously. I just thought it was a very thought provoking conversation for me the other day and I wanted to share...
posted by:
Heide
Washington
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  • Re: meme as meme

    Thu, May 24, 2007 - 11:53 PM
    yeah!
    It's called the metameme.
    Unfortunately the metamemes transmission and survival rates are quite low. In some ways this actually seems logical but in others kind of sad. It really needs a good hook. A tag line that explains it easily and intriguingly.
    I'm glad you got some epiphianic moments discussing it!
    When I read the book "the meme machine" my brain was practically inside out from it and it was really fun for me to approach everything from this strange decentralized perspective.
    And then there were all the days that i tried to pass on the metameme without much success. It's a difficult concept to grasp, a concept about concepts, and moreover I don't think its very welcome by potential host memeplexes as it does pose a threat.
    In a metaphorical sense.
    • Re: meme as meme

      Fri, May 25, 2007 - 1:41 PM
      Is there actually any use for the concept of a metameme? Or is is not rather redundant? Like calling the word 'word' a meta-word because it is what it describes...

      Out of interest does anyone know whether the term 'metameme' used in the literature at all?

      Cheers.
      • Re: meme as meme

        Sat, May 26, 2007 - 12:36 AM
        Well it's used in the mememachine.
        It's always where things end up when trying to transfer the metameme to someone else, so they can see the process as it happens. I think it's pretty obvious.
        • Re: meme as meme

          Sat, May 26, 2007 - 9:33 AM
          Meta (from Greek: μετά = "after", "beyond", "with"), is a prefix used in English in order to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter. The Greek meta is equivalent to the Latin post. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta

          I prefer the term "deep meme," but "metameme" works too. Religion is a deep meme. So is money. I like the example of "word" being a "metaword." Not so silly when you think about it.

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