ANNOTATION:
Mathematical/Symbolic Memetics + Strong Definitions: other URLs

This paper is also re-published at http://www.mcs.net/~aaron/mememath.html, with an improved title, and a clearer abstract. The 1991 version defines the term "meme" as a "homoderivative mnemon." Translated concisely into more familiar terms, the definition is

MEME. Noun. A memory item, or portion of an organism’s neurally-stored information, identified using the abstraction system of the observer, whose instantiation depended critically on causation by prior instantiation of the same memory item in one or more other organisms’ nervous systems. ("Sameness" of memory items is determined with respect to the above-mentioned abstraction system of the observer.)

ABSTRACT

An evolutionary recursive replicator theory of mental/brain information is presented. Noting that all replicator theories rest at least tacitly upon the fundamental notions of causation and of calling two or more entities "the same" with respect to an abstraction, the concept is rendered explicit in defining the terms "mmemon" and "meme." A symbolic calculus of mnemon conjugations and replication events follows. Differential equations are developed for meme host population versus time in a two-meme system, modeling the dynamics whereby events at the individual level give rise to trends at the population level. This lays a foundation for computerized simulations and the falsification or verification of specific memetic hypotheses. Mechanisms of creativity as a population phenomenon are examined, with the memetic perspective yielding a novel explanation for the temporal clustering of independent co-creations. Creation and propagation are integrated into a theory of evolution by variation and natural selection of memes.

An upgrade of this paper is also online, as is the first chapter of a published book, THOUGHT CONTAGION. Links for these documents are at http://www.mcs.net/~aaron/thoughtcontagion.html.

--Aaron Lynch