Memes

I have become interested in memes, I think mostly because I like the name.

Defined as “An element of a culture or behavior that may be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, esp. imitation” they seem increasingly important. Seems like we live on this stuff – packets of information on Facebook, bytes of data in songs, and glitzy images that flash across our screens as we gaze into our phones. What laws govern these memes? Are they subject to the physical principles of entropy, gravity, and vectors? Or perhaps they conform to the quixotic principles of molecular genetics — memes, for example, in red states cannot transmit easily to blue states not because of competing hegemonies but rather divergent biologies!

In psychotherapy and psychiatric treatments, the concept of the meme is particularly interesting. Do patients and doctors share memes? Whose memes?

I contend that a process of self discovery predicated on the foundations of a safe, therapeutic relationship presages meaningful change… Is the currency of this change the meme? Could we trace memes from person to person, place to place using neuroimaging techniques?

Too many questions tonight about memes.
Further reading (only from Wikipedia of course):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins