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meme: /meem/, n. [coined by analogy with ‘gene’, by Richard Dawkins] An
idea considered as a replicator, esp. with the
connotation that memes parasitize people into propagating them much as
viruses do. Used esp. in the phrase meme
complex denoting a group of mutually supporting memes that form
an organized belief system, such as a religion. This lexicon is an
(epidemiological) vector of the ‘hacker subculture’ meme
complex; each entry might be considered a meme. However, meme is often misused to mean meme complex. Use of the term connotes
acceptance of the idea that in humans (and presumably other tool- and
language-using sophonts) cultural evolution by selection of adaptive ideas
has superseded biological evolution by selection of hereditary traits.
Hackers find this idea congenial for tolerably obvious reasons.
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