The term "meme" (IPA: [miːm], not "mem"), coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, refers to a unit of cultural information that can be transmitted from one mind to another. Dawkins said, Examples of memes are tunes, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. A meme propagates itself as a unit of cultural evolution analogous in many ways to the gene (the unit of genetic information). Often memes propagate as more-or-less integrated cooperative sets or groups, referred to as memeplexes or meme-complexes.
The idea of memes has proved a successful meme in its own right, achieving a degree of penetration into popular culture rare for a scientific theory.
Some proponents of memes suggest that memes evolve via natural selection — in a way very similar to Charles Darwin's ideas concerning biological evolution — on the premise that variation, mutation, competition, and "inheritance" influence their replicative success. For example, while one idea may become extinct, other ideas will survive, spread and mutate — for better or for worse — through modification.
Some meme-theorists contend that memes most beneficial to their hosts will not necessarily survive; rather, those memes which replicate the most effectively spread best; which allows for the possibility that successful memes might prove detrimental to their hosts.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme
meme作为“遗传因子”的话,到是更像我之前在31楼所说的“社会主流意识”
“个体的意志是生长在社会的意志这片土地上的,我们从社会获得情报,然后用这些带着社会群体立场的被污染过的情报来建筑灵魂,而所谓没有任何立场,完全客观的情报是不可能存在的,以这个前提进行发展,所谓灵魂的独立也是不完全的,不绝对的,独立也是存在共性的,也就是社会主流意识,这种意识以道德,宗教,法律,习惯等为名义束搏和影响着个人的意志和灵魂,让我们不自觉地做出妥协,在选择时做出系统默认的答案,并付诸于行动,所以说只要能够正确的影响甚至控制社会主流意识,灵魂的可控不无可能。”