# What is a 'Meme'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-meme/727527 "2015-08-11T05:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-meme/727527/41 "2015-08-13T19:50:51Z")
A meme is a self replicating information virus. It’s entirely possible that this digital world we’re building will eventually support far more complex information life, in the same way that primordial earth did… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-meme/727527/42 "2015-08-13T20:15:18Z")
> [@tnetennba](#): > > Do a google search on “Internet meme” and find results only before June 2005. I looked on Google (not useful since they don’t show the old page) and [archive.org](http://archive.org), but couldn’t find anything useful. Also, you’ve moved the goalposts. My comment was about the word _meme_ alone as being a synonym for image macro. “Internet meme” is much more specific. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-meme/727527/43 "2015-08-13T20:28:56Z")
> [@leahcim](#): > > On the other hand, a gene that causes horrific birth defects such that no one who possesses it lives past the age of five, still counts as a “gene”, even though it will not be very successful at spreading. On that ground, the thought, “you must never let anyone else know that you are having this thought, nor act any differently because of it”, should still count as a (spectacularly unsuccessful) meme. I’d say that a defective gene is still a gene because of its history, and because most of what makes it a gene is still there, but disabled in some way. A random sequence of nucleotides isn’t a gene. I’d dispute that your example is a meme. Otherwise there’s not much to distinguish memes from a random collection of pixels or letters. However, I can imagine a splinter faction of a religion that adds “you must not tell anyone about it” to their meme-bundle, and starts failing because of it–in that case, the religion as a whole is still a meme, even though it is unlikely to be successful (Fight Club notwithstanding). > [@leahcim](#): > > I also object to the idea that a successful meme must explicitly instruct you to take more than ordinary effort to spread it. My list wasn’t meant to be a hard list of requirements, nor be comprehensive. It was just a few properties that the most successful memes tend to have. Yours is another good example: memes that, by their nature, encourage a large population of potential meme-recipients (whether by encouraging lots of children or otherwise) are liable to be successful. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-meme/727527/44 "2015-08-13T20:31:36Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > It is a hard g. Graphics has a hard g so so does gif. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong and should be shunned. Do you pronounce SCUBA as “skooba” or “skuhba”? (recalling that the U comes from _underwater_ and has an _uh_ sound) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-meme/727527/45 "2015-08-13T20:54:49Z")
By the Dawkins definition, religion can certainly counts as a “meme,” but so can MANY other things. Any idea, any ideology, any concept, any story, any work of art, any tidbit that automatically makes the viewer think, “This is so cool, I HAVE to share it with everyone I know” can be a meme. “Jesus was the Son of God and you will be happy in Heaven forever if you believe in him” can be a meme, if countless people who hear this story share it. But “A duck’s quack doesn’t echo” is also a meme. So is a joke a friend just e-mailed you. Nota bene, a meme can be true or false, as long as it compels new readers or listeners to pass it on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-meme/727527.md?page=2)