Mulling over the definition a few times to try and get the flavor of it, I remained undecided as to whether or not I liked the taste. To think of a book as a “unit of cultural information” somehow seemed so utilitarian. A little research later, I discovered that Richard Dawkins coined the word meme from the Greek, mimema (The Selfish Gene, 1989, p.192), which basically translates as, “that which is to be imitated.” His argument is that certain concepts or ideas related to skills, habits, catch phrases, song, clothing, etc., are passed on from person to person in a manner that he describes as a process of replication, (ibid). For Dawkins meme is analogous to gene, and as such should be considered as “living structures” much in the same way as genes, and propagate themselves by a process of imitation. According to Dawkins, by passing on ideas, beliefs, phrases, songs, etc., to other individuals, you are in essence using their minds as hosts for “propagating” memes from individual to individual much in the same way “that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell,” (ibid).
To me it seems that to describe “imitation” in terms of living structures in the same way as “genes” strikes me as one of those wild inductive leaps that smacks more of contrivance than science. And yet “meme” seems to have replicated itself in such fervor that it is becoming more evident as to how many people are beginning to make it a part of their everyday vernacular. Do a search on Google and you’ll not only find “book memes,” but you can also find “learning memes,” “personal memes,” “logical memes,” and so on. Even more curious is a recent e-mail that people are passing on to each other that’s called a “meme baton.” I’ve received three invitations to participate, and so far have decided to take a pass. Two of the “meme batons” had to do with music and one had to do with books. The purpose of the “meme baton” is to answer a series of questions, and then pass it on to three other people:
You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
The last book you bought is?
What are you currently reading?
Five books you would take to a deserted island?
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
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