The Universal Tool

What we see as inane humour probably holds the blueprint to the future.

- Arnab Mukherjee

If you’ve been reading the cover stories in sequence, by now, you are probably well versed with the true nature of the meme. At least by itself, a meme is more than just the humorous images that you share online, and in fact, encapsulates any cultural idea or trend that is passed on from person to person. And in case, we got you thinking if there is some underlying phenomenon deeper than what is observable with a cursory glance - hats off to us *cue self back pats*

But the real task lies ahead. There is something deeper and more organic underlying the entire meme culture and internet behavior in general, something that distinguishes what a meme is and at the same time connects all the memes into a single, giant, amalgamate that does way more than offer you your daily dose of humor. To truly grasp this idea, we have to go down the proverbial rabbit hole.

MEME = GENE = VIRUS ?

While the analogy between memes and genes is surely one that makes it easier to grasp the definition of the meme as given by Richard Dawkins, it is not entirely true, or rather, it is not the entire truth. What comes in handy, though, is an alternative line of thought in memetics – one that perceives the meme as a virus.