A Brief, Almost Plausible Theory of Memes

Perhaps you’ve been told that meme comes from a variant of gene - a unit of cultural information, replicating through the human hive mind the way genes carry DNA. That’s part of it.

Meme shares an etymology with mesmerize. They connect with our subconscious mind, the part that puts aside skepticism and is greatly susceptible to ideas that cozy up to our preconceptions. Memes mesmerize, hypnotize, captivate, bedazzle and affirm our priors in the most gratifying way. They are to the mind what junk food is to our gut.

Memes are partly like genes. They’re also partly like magic spells.

They don’t spread by reason - they spread like pop songs with catchy tunes, images, messages, variants on themes.

They’re less evolving ideas than mesmerizing daydreams, less reliant on a well-supported argument than a well-supported feeling, the Muzak of concepts.