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I'm writing this just to comment on your use of the word "meme"; it's not intended to be a criticism* but the expression of an observation.

In your fourth sentence, it seems that are using "meme" to specifically denote an idea or statement that is unsupported or unverified. This is not wrong, but I have not seen this particular usage of the word before. It does differ from Dick Dawkins' original meaning: he used "meme" to denote the component in cultural evolution whose role is analogous to that of genes in biological evolution. But I find your use to be an interesting development in the development of "meme" and the memes it signifies†.

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* However, I do believe the conversation has been framed improperly: e.g., the groups "baristas" and "analytical thinkers" do not have mutually exclusive membership, but instead intersect significantly. There exists many an analyst barista who brews Brazilian whilst brooding about Bruegel at Bruegger's Bagels, plenty espresso-synthesists with scholastic emphases on existentialists' expressions of Parisian café culture (dissertation: "Bean & Nothin'ess"), and please don't get me started on those poor doctoral students who must lecture on Melville in the morn then manage a late shift at the mall latte-mill aptly named after Ahab's first mate.

† Indeed, for me, I find to be the memetics of "meme" a remarkably meta matter, and that fact is itself alone the motivation to make my remarks (I must mention, if I may).



Are you familiar with Rap Genius? If not, they use "meme" as catch-all-word-for-units-of-culture pretty often, too. Interesting phenomenon for sure


Criticism accepted. Clearly, you're a lot more philosophically alliterate than me.


Terence McKenna defined a meme as “the smallest unit of an idea that still has coherency,” and he sure created a lot of them.


Beautifully said!




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