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Dawkins listed the following three characteristics for any successful replicator:


Memes versus genes


For genes to be transmitted, you need a generation. Memes only take minutes to replicate, and thus have potentially much higher fecundity (see Competition between Memes and Genes). On the other hand, the copying-fidelity of memes is in general much lower. If a story is spread by being told from person to person, the final version will be very different from the original one. It is this variability or fuzziness that perhaps distinguishes cultural patterns most strikingly from DNA structures: every individual's version of an idea or belief will be in some respect different from the others'. That makes it difficult to analyse or delimit memes. This does not imply that meme evolution cannot be accurately modeled, though. After all, genetics was a well-established science long before the precise DNA structure of genes was discovered.

Examples of memes in the animal world are most bird songs, and certain techniques for hunting or using tools that are passed from parents or the social group to the youngsters (Bonner, 1980). In human society, almost any cultural entity can be seen as a meme: religions, language, fashions, songs, techniques, scientific theories and concepts, conventions, traditions, etc. The defining characteristic of memes as informational patterns, is that they can be replicated in unlimited amounts by communication between individuals, independently of any replication at the level of the genes.

Modelling memes

Memetics can be defined as an approach trying to model the evolution of memes . Memes undergo processes of variation (mutation, recombination) of their internal structure. Different variants will compete for the limited memory space available in different individuals. The most fit variants will win this competition, and spread most extensively. This spreading can in principle be modelled mathematically (see e.g. Boyd & Richerson, 1985; Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman, 1981; Lumsden & Wilson, 1981; Csanyi, 1991; Lynch, 1998), although in practice it will be very difficult to determine the exact values of the parameters of the model. A more practical, qualitative approach is to formulate specific criteria for the fitness of a meme, relative to other memes, taking into account the subsequent stages of the memetic life-cycle.


Variation, replication and selection on the basis of meme fitness determine a complex dynamics. This dynamics will be influenced by the medium through which memes are communicated, and the copying-fidelity, fecundity and longevity it allows. Perhaps the most powerful medium for meme transmission is the computer network, and this implies some specific characteristics for memes on the net.


See also:

Copyright© 2001 Principia Cybernetica - Referencing this page

F. Heylighen,

Nov 23, 2001 (modified)
Aug 1993 (created)


Metasystem Transition Theory

The History of Evolution

Social Evolution

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Structure of memes

Meme replication: the memetic life-cycle

Meme fitness

Memetic Selection Criteria

Competition between Memes and Genes

Memes: Introduction

Memetic Lexicon

Memes on the Net

Links on Evolutionary Theory and Memetics


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