Some might recognize that the word “meme” has its origins in evolutionary biology, as it was coined by none other than Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book “The Selfish Gene.” He based the word on the Greek “mimeme,” which itself comes from the Ancient Greek word “mīmēma,” meaning “imitated thing.”
Dawkins intended the word to represent the spread of ideas and concepts in culture while using evolutionary principles as a metaphor. In many ways, he was perhaps more correct than he could have ever suspected, as now, for example, entire ideas can simply be conveyed with single frames from “The Office” or images of specific cats.
To maintain the idea of a gene, Dawkins argued that certain ideas, once observed, will be replicated. As any seasoned internet user knows, memes tend to follow certain patterns and templates, which are passed on from user to user, putting together the tapestry of what is current online content.
As with certain genes, memes live or die through replication. If the meme isn’t funny or meaningful, it won’t be shared or recreated. And, very obviously, something needs to be somewhat relatable to be funny or meaningful. In this way, it’s actually easy to see just how much is shared throughout humanity, as seven different people on seven different continents can enjoy the same meme.
Dawkins himself has adjusted his definition of meme after seeing how the internet took off with the idea. In his original formulation, the meme changes "by random change and a form of Darwinian selection," while in reality, memes change and shift due to direct, intentional human interference.
While internet memes have been around since the 1990s, their shape and form have changed significantly since then. Connoisseurs of older memes might remember the days when most meme images were a picture with some text. Some even followed the standard form of a motivational poster, with a black frame, the “demotivational post.”
These days, online jokes have gotten more sophisticated and international, allowing meme creators to bypass borders and language barriers. The right combination of elements can communicate ideas and jokes far further than the whole sentences used in the 1990 meme era.
