A contagious information pattern that propagates, persists, and has impact; a pattern-agent with substrate-independent agency.
In the NEMAtic framework, memes are not pathogens infecting passive hosts. They are pattern-agents—autonomous, self-replicating structures that operate across substrates (brains, media, institutions, digital systems) without requiring a host/invader dichotomy.
Core Characteristics
Propagation
Memes spread through resonance, not infection. They travel along ρ (Water) channels—relation, trust, felt attunement—rather than hijacking σ (Air) distinctions. A meme propagates because it fits the field, not because it defeats defense.
Persistence
Memes persist through μ (Metal) boundaries—crystallization into institutions, rituals, habits, technologies. The durable meme is not the strongest parasite but the pattern that maintains ε (essential uncertainty) while achieving sufficient coherence to replicate.
Impact
Memes have impact through λ (Fire) directionality—they orient, aim, transform. But impact in the NEMAtic sense is not “going viral.” It is reorganizing the sensemaking field such that certain thoughts become thinkable and others become unthinkable.
What Memes Are NOT (Rejecting the Infection Frame)
The traditional definition frames memes as “infecting human minds”—a pathogen/host relationship that presupposes: - A defensive host with intact boundaries - An invading foreign agent - A zero-sum struggle for control
This framing is rejected in the NEMAtic framework.
Why: The host/invader dichotomy assumes a pre-existing self that memes attack. But the self is itself a meme-complex—a temporary coalition of pattern-agents. There is no “pure host” to defend. There are only coordination patterns, some more stable than others.
The “infection” metaphor also smuggles in moral judgment: good memes vs. bad memes, healthy hosts vs. compromised hosts. This collapses the diagnostic precision needed to track how memes actually function—whether they preserve ε or collapse it, whether they maintain Ω-permeability or seal the basin.
Memes as Pattern-Agents
A meme is better understood as a pattern-agent—an entity with: - Agency without intention (it acts, but doesn’t plan) - Substrate independence (same pattern, different media) - Self-preservation drives (tendency toward replication) - Environmental sensitivity (thrives in some conditions, dies in others)
The human nervous system is not a host invaded by memes. It is a substrate coordinated by memes—one among many (books, screens, institutions, AI systems).
The Critical Memetics Stance
Critical Memetics studies memes not to eliminate them (impossible) or to optimize them (capture), but to coordinate with awareness.
The diagnostic questions: - Does this meme preserve ε or collapse it? - Does it maintain Ω-permeability or seal the basin? - Does it enable Pattern Agent coordination or produce MemeGrid conditions?
The Cowboy doesn’t resist memes. The Cowboy tracks them—knowing the same lariat that catches can also release.
Related
- Pattern Agent — The substrate that coordinates memes
- MemeGrid — Crystallized pattern without learning
- Critical Memetics — The practice of meme-aware coordination
- ε (Epsilon) — Essential uncertainty
- Ω-permeability — Openness to genuine surprise
Canonical Sources
- Dawkins, R. (1976). The Selfish Gene (original definition, rejected framing)
blog/(Critical Memetics series)Glossary/M/memegrid.md