A Non-Technical & Highly Speculative Look at Memes: Part 2

We are continuing from here:

https://mirror.xyz/lght.eth/CFNNJmVmVGFulU1qb07q5zAYevIC2bo5Te4_mgZmWr0

Part 1 was an introduction to the contextual sphere through which we will try to unpack meme. The brief synopsis of that essay is:

  • meme comes from Richard Dawkin’s The Selfish Gene as a corollary to gene but in a mental context as opposed to a biological one

  • the term meme is multi-faceted

  • memes transfer data (information, emotions, etc)

Cultural Definitions

The next step is to look at this term as if we were trying to place it into a dictionary.

meme (n.)

The foundation of a meme’s noun capability is in its transfer dynamics. The meme becomes functional the moment another individual understands the context within it.

Social media is a birthing ground for contextual relevance. Why type out repetitive phrases when you could send colorful images that emotes the same sentiment with more nuance and flavor?

Examples:

contextual communication devices

In this segment of defining the term, the images themselves are memes. They bring context to another individual without word-language or speech.

meme (v.)

verbish

The ‘active’ layer of meme brings a level of sovereignty to the individual and hive-mind. ‘To meme’ is to accomplish the transferring mechanic of the contextual object from one individual to the next.

Examples:

the act of meme-ing

Here meme is an action on top of the noun definition of meme. It only occurs after the initial definition is met.

To spread an object that has zero contextual relevance is like to talking to pavement in Swahili. To meme (v.) is to amplify an objects mindshare in another individual.

The example above is the act of meme-ing $pepe coin into the mindshare of fellow Twitter users. The object (meme (n.)) is $pepe. The action (meme(v.)) is the spreading of the object through various patterns, word-language, etc.

To be continued…

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