memetics

Memetics is an approach to evolutionary models of information transfer based on the concept of the meme. Just as memes are analogous to genes, memetics is analogous to genetics.
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<philosophy> /me-met'iks/ The study of memes.
As of mid-1993, this is still an extremely informal and speculative endeavor, though the first steps toward at least statistical rigor have been made by H. Keith Henson and others. Memetics is a popular topic for speculation among hackers, who like to see themselves as the architects of the new information ecologies in which memes live and replicate.
[Jargon File]
(2000-01-09)