The Study Of Memetic
Engineering
Yes. This is a thing.
By: _____
The Meme and Memetics
● The definition of a meme would be “An image, video,
piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that
is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often
with slight variations.”
● Memetics, sometimes known as memeology, is defined
as “The process of developing memes, through memesplicing and memetic synthesis, with the intent of
altering the behavior of others in society or
humanity.”
Where did the”Meme” come from?
● The term “Meme” was coined by English author, evolutionist, and atheist
Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene
● compared memes to genes as their cultural equivalent
● Memes became widespread via forums such as 4chan, Something Awful,
and Reddit
● about the 2001 blockbuster PlayStation game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of
Liberty because recurring clones of the main character are referenced
as memes
How Can I Learn? Why? What are the Benefits?
● Spring 2018: Brown University
introduced a course known as "Memes
and the Language of the Internet."
● Fall 2018: The University of
California in Berkeley introduced a
course on memes
● This skill set will prove useful in a
marketing department
The First Recorded Meme
● Very first known meme made by a
1921 cartoonist
● draws from the “Expectation vs.
Reality” gag in which two pictures with
similar content but vastly different
quality are shown side by side with a
caption beneath each
The First Internet Meme
● Called Baby Cha-Cha-Cha
● In 1996 autodesk animator Michael Girard and his colleague Robert Lurye
created it
● wished to prove you could animate different characters doing many
separate actions
● When it reached LucasArts it was transformed into a GIF
● It’s a good example of how memes spread quickly or slowly depending on
popularity.
The Dancing Baby
Revolutionary Discoveries
● people think extremely random
things are entertaining
● The picture to the right is not
normal and is not an immediate
threat, nor does it have any
particularly good qualities. It’s just
weird. So modern society perceives
it as funny
● Richard Pech said that people
attempt to lash out by going
against the norm, and that's
precisely what this does
MATH
The Perfect Meme
● This doesn't exist, people from different
upbringings have different tastes
● Unless everyone was identical, the perfect
meme would be different for everyone
● No meme will last forever as new generations
find them less popular, new ones will come to
light
● You may find the perfect meme for you, but
that doesn't mean it will be the perfect
meme for all
Richard Dawkins and His Studies
● This man coined the term “meme” and
designed in to be similar to the word “gene”
● This was in his 1976 book “The Selfish
Gene”
● He said that the “hijacking of the original
idea and that instead of mutating by random
change and spreading by a form of Darwinian
selection, they are altered deliberately by
human creativity
● It went from survival of the fittest to
simple imitation. Quite like the constant
reproduction of viruses.
Works Cited
Alex Burns, 13 Sept. 2019, www.alexburns.net/.
Atkinson, and Andrew Ross. “A Synthesis of the Memetic, Cognitive, and Group Selectionist Approaches to Religion.”
British Library EThOS - Search and Order Theses Online, University of Bristol, 1 Jan. 1970,
ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683394.
Castillo, Tony. “Understanding Memes: Arriving at a Better Definition In Terms of Cultural Evolution.” Understanding
Memes: 2003, www.as.wvu.edu/~kgarbutt/EvolutionPage/FinalPapers/Memes1.htm.
“Disinformation: Memetic Engineering.” Disinformation | Memetic Engineering,
web.archive.org/web/20060527003717/http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id133/pg1/.
Fulton, Wil. “I Found the World's First Meme With Help From Meme Historians.” Thrillist, Thrillist, 22 Aug. 2017,
www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/first-meme-ever.
Gardner, James. “Memetic Engineering.” Wired, Conde Nast, 4 June 2017, www.wired.com/1996/05/memetic/.
Godwin, Mike. “Meme, Counter-Meme.” Wired, Conde Nast, 20 Dec. 2017, www.wired.com/1994/10/godwin-if-2/.
Works Cited
“Meme.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Oct. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme.
“Meme: Definition of Meme by Lexico.” Lexico Dictionaries | English, Lexico Dictionaries,
www.lexico.com/en/definition/meme.
“Memetic Engineering - TEK-Gnostics.” TEK, www.tekgnostics.com/memetics.htm.
“Memetic Engineering.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 June 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetic_engineering.
“Memetic Engineering.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 June 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetic_engineering.
“Memetic Engineering.” Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/memetic_engineering.
“Memetic Engineering: a Framework for Organisational Diagnosis and Development.” Leadership & Organization
Development Journal, www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/01437730410544764/full/html.
“Memetic Engineering: Nootypes and the War for Man's Soul.” MasterSelf, 21 Nov. 2018, masterthyself.com/memeticengineering/.
“Memetics.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Oct. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics.
Works Cited
Pech, Richard J. “Inhibiting Imitative Terrorism through Memetic Engineering.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd (10.1111), 19 May 2003, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-5973.1102002.
“Richard Dawkins.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins.
Solon, Olivia. “Richard Dawkins on the Internet's Hijacking of the Word 'Meme'.” WIRED, WIRED UK, 4 Oct. 2017,
www.wired.co.uk/article/richard-dawkins-memes.
Viacom. “Internships, Digital Media- Summer 2020.” Internships, Digital Media- Summer 2020 - United States Indeed.com, 12 Oct. 2019, www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=964f08ada35ab311&from=tp-serp&tk=1dogq7tnb4esi801.