pre-internet folklore memetics
TRANSCRIPT
Pre-Internet Folklore
Memetics
A Talk About Memes In Which You Will Not Be Rick Roll'd, Probably.
by Naomi Most [email protected]
5MoF 12/17/2009
Evolutionary Behavior Defined"the inductive control of development by ecology and/or the construction of ecology by development, which results in differential success at repetition, and includes somatic, reproductive, and replicative processes, thereby resulting in changes in frequency in hereditary elements in the population."
In other words:
Environments Host Stuff
Stuff Makes Environment Different
Stuff Changes to Survive in New Environment, or Doesn't.
Every Possible Objection to Memetics Addressed in One Slide
Do memes exist? YES
Do memes exist beyond just some silly metaphor? YES
Can we measure the impact and development of memes: YES...
(realizing that genes are digital and memes are analog)
Can Memetics be used to make predictions: ALMOST
Bonus: do these things exist?
CURRENCY TOMB RAIDER NEWS VENDETTA IMPRESSIONISM CALENDAR CHESS GREENSLEEVES HACKERSPACE KILROY ALL YOUR BASE
Meme Characteristics PRE-INTERNET INTERNET
1. Cost to Replicate2. Skill to
Reproduce3. Competition4. Cost to Adopt5. Persistence
o Medium to High
o Generally High
o Lowo Higho High
• Low• Generally Low to Nil• High• Low• Low
LOW COMPETITION
VERY BORING
HIGH COMPETITION
HILARIOUS...results:
...as well as many other WILD AND CRAZY PLACES, wooooo
Kilroy Was Here
Che Goes Viral
Impaired Access to Truth+
Cartoonable Revolutionary+
Era of Marxism-as-Cool+
New Cheap Methods of Reproduction
+Artist Ego / Obsession
Semantic Qualities remaining to CHE meme after cartoonification:
YOUNG
HOPEFUL
AGAINST THE NORM
VAGUELY REBELLIOUS
ANDY WARHOL
meme persistence wins over truth and reason.
“We have a plan to deal with the misuse. We can’t attack everyone with lances like Don Quixote, but we can try to maintain the ethics of Guevara’s legacy.” --Aleida March, Che's widow, 2005
very unlikely to go viral.
Why Do We Care?
Well, the military is staking a fair deal of research on it:
MEMETICS—A GROWTH INDUSTRY IN US MILITARY OPERATION, Major Michael B Prosser, US Marine Corps, 2008.
...and corporations already stake their profits on it:
NOTACON: MemeHacking
April 15th - 18th, 2010
notacon.org / memehacking.com
Naomi Most@nthmost
Call for Proposals!
Submit by Feb 15th, 2009