memesis: meme-x and memetics
the history of the memetic approach

at least since the early seventies several authors have tried to adopt the principle of evolution by selection to understand the continuous change in cultural behaviors [BoRi85, BoRi85, Calv96a, Camp74, Cloa75].
 

richard dawkins popularized the memetic approach. he coined the term 'meme' as an analog to the biological unit of inheritance, the gene or the genetic replicator [Dawk76, Dawk82a]. the rather simple distinction between genetic replicators as 'genes' on the one hand, opposed to all non-genetic replicators as 'memes' has been firmly imprinted in the evolutionary thinking about cultural information [Denn90, Denn91, Denn96, HePl89, Hofs85a, Hull82, Hull88a, Hull88b, Lync91, Lync96, West94].
 

richard dawkins

since its initial conception, the term 'meme' has been used under very different meanings and in very different contexts, infecting a wide variety of disciplines. among the most known is dennett [Denn90, Denn91, Denn96], who sees the human mind as being built up with memes comparable to the programming of a computer.
 

memetics and related evolutionary approaches

[Hull82, Hull88a, Hull88b] defines the meme as replicator, and adds interaction to account for evolution by natural or artificial selection. he thus describes selection processes in science and biology using exactly similar definitions.
 

perhaps the most popular informal use of the term describes memes as 'viruses of the mind'. parallels to both biological and computer virus varieties have been drawn [Dawk76, Dawk93].

memetic lexicon