This was first published at memetic musings will be publishing (hopefully) more there. Original Research is time intensive.
This is the first of many parts of codifying Memetics into a more scientific field. It is a working draft.
This part will be focused on the ideas of memetic selection, evolution, and the life cycle of memes.
The Darwin Dichotomy
Memetics in the early days wanted to be taken seriously, and so they wholesale pilfered Darwin’s idea of natural selection. And on the surface it makes sense, memes have a fairly rapid evolutionary rate, and the “strongest” infects more hosts, which repeats the process.
Hence the frequent use of the phrase “viruses of the mind”. This wholesale adaptation of Darwinism has lead to the thinking of the Apex meme, memes which conquer minds with ease and occupy minds.
Yet, Memetic Darwinism fails upon closer inspection. The following is a systematic dismantling of Memetic Darwinism, and rebuilding the groundwork for memetics.