Memetics

BY LETTER

Memetics

Image from Arik + M. Grandjean

The Meme is mightier than the Nuke.
- Finnegan "Jerry" Dann, Interplanetary Age Social Engineer, Avalon Orbital

Memetic engineering is the art, science, and practice of directing the opinions, thoughts, ideologies, traditions, and behaviors of a population through a variety of methods. These methods may include influencing prominent leaders individually, hijacking or subverting existing communications networks, creating new propaganda and advertising, forming new educational institutions, changing laws, subtly re-organizing social networks, inducing immigration, and possibly other unconfirmed methods.

The difference between individual psychological or neurological manipulation and memetic engineering is one of scale. Memetic engineering operates on the scale of entire populations and societies, usually across time spans of months, years or even centuries- though rapid memegeneering initiatives certainly occur. Social engineering may require detailed knowledge about local cultures, practices, and even the day-to day lifestyles of individual Sophonts. Adapting an ideology to hundreds of different clades and species will usually require a superb understanding of each clade's particular socializing practices. Ubiquitous surveillance, Cliology, and other intensive anthropological practices allow detailed knowledge of localized and globalized cultures. Due to the complexity of these tasks of synthesizing and interpreting this information, and the required societal influence/power involved, modosophonts are rarely capable of using anything more than the cruder and more primitive memgeneering methods to much effect. Though highly effective memegeneering does not require a top-down authority according to transapient sources, it does apparently require significant, frequent access to a culture through several decentralized, extremely coordinated sources. For this reason, effective social/ memetic engineering is impractical over interstellar distances without the aid of wormholes and/or local avatar representatives, like the Fed Reps who made the interstellar governance of the first federation possible. In addition, since many of the most effective social engineering initiatives require regular access to individuals in the targeted environment, memetic engineering will usually require on-the-ground presence and intimate access within the important social networks.

A second factor in the complete dominance of memetic engineering tradition by figures S1 and above is the transapient ability to produce far more cultural content than a group of modosophonts and to persuade modosophonts to use it through extraordinary mastery of any particular clade's social skills (usually by way of appropriate eidolon/exoself). This productivity can increase exponentially with S-level.

Transapient sources say that even for them, memetics is an inexact science, like ecological management or climate engineering. It often remains almost impossible to make detailed predictions of a population of sophonts beyond a few days or months in advance due to the nature of complex systems. In addition, the task of social engineering apparently becomes exponentially more complex with S-level. Nevertheless, social/memetic engineering has remained crucial for managing the stability in a vast array of cultures across interplanetary and interstellar distances for much of terragen history. Though governing entities and memegineers may preform a few explicitly stated acts of cultural change, the vast majority of social engineering is reportedly un-confirmed and unknown by the affected sophonts at the time, despite constant conspiracy theories and speculation otherwise.

At the broadest levels of sephirotic society, transapient sources report that archailects utilize social engineering within the capacity of Noetics - managing the generalized noosphere of the planets, orbital habitats, and megastructures. This may actually mean that many archailects manage only the broadest levels of communication and leave the details to their subsidiary elements or leave the actual governing to the modosophonts themselves. It may instead mean that some archailects manage the cultural content down to the very level of billions of sophont minds through brute force methods (though this is would be rare).

In order to alter particular targeted individuals, social engineers may require the technique of actually altering brain chemistry or convincing small groups to adopt particular body changes. More subtle methods may include slightly altering the minds, memories, or even brains of particular crucial individuals within an organization, if necessary.

The line between psychological engineering and memetic engineering is blurry and many techniques of convincing populations to change themselves apply to individuals as well, only on a smaller, and usually more specific scale. Techniques may range from cult-like admission practices to physical augmentation.

These methods are technically not classed under social engineering, and regarded as more of a related sub-discipline, like metallurgy and cement mixing is to bridge engineering. More often, however, non-intrusive means are apparently sufficient for altering opinions. These techniques may include alterations to urban planning, introduced technologies, customized search results, ads, stories, virches, laws, and ideological tracts.

In addition, powerful social engineering groups may act as particularly charismatic exoselves, avatars, or even entirely new sophonts as tactical seeds or cultural leaders within a population. The time that these organizational changes will take to make effect may range from months to decades.

Once these ideologies have percolated into a population, the growing changes will entrench themselves in ever more solid institutions through architecture, laws, body modifications, and traditions in a matter of time ranging from months to decades.

Image from Anders Sandberg

Memetics uses a variety of approaches to change or stabilize the cultures of the Terragen Sphere. Some social engineers will first gather anthropological information about the given population, then use a combination of further research and brainstorming to arrive at potential design solutions and appropriately viral ideologies. After some refinement through a repeated prototyping process among a small set of test populations (either virtual or real), the social innovator implements the practices/ meme complexes/ ideologies/ or urban planning concepts as seeds in the appropriate populations . These initial seed populations, which may range from hundreds to billions in number, will then independently spread the new culture and adapt it appropriately through mass media, word of mouth, and other transmission methods.

Social engineers can also spread a seed population through a wide variety of methods. There are rumors through history, (rarely confirmed) that social engineers use immigration as a tactic. Although significant portions of modosophont interplanetary and interstellar travel can be explained by the usual causes of commerce, travel, and expansion, sophontologists/ historians speculate that a significant, undisclosed percentage of this may also in fact be directed inoculations of seed populations to increase diversity and/or strategically place particular cultural groups where they might have the most influence.

Though unsophisticated social engineering in general has existed since the information age in the form of advertising, marketing, and top-down government social engineering programs, the recognizably sophisticated form of memetics emerged by the late interplanetary age. Those who developed it resurrected an older term, referring to the viral appearance of ideas in a very literal sense, that had been popular for a while in the 1st century AT. Memetics as known from the Solsys Golden Age through to the present day relates to the older idea/concept more or less in the way that chemistry relates to the agricultural age idea of alchemy. The re-use of the term still bothers a few purists with a historical bent but it became well entrenched over the course of the Golden Age and has been used in Anglic-derived languages ever since.

Articles

Adbomb - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, based on original by Michael Beck
Subliminal memebot broadcast devices, scattered them around a designated area, they release a message into the brain of everyone in the area, usually an advertisement. Banned throughout much of the Civilized Galaxy, they are widely used in market state free zones such as the NoCoZo, and out towards the Periphery where the reach of the noetic and other big ai states is not very strong.
Advertising - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A way of increasing demand by actively bringing the product to the attention of consumers.
Advocate - Text by M. Alan Kazlev; based on original by Robert J. Hall
A specialist in the study and dissemination of advanced knowledge, in philosophical and legal fields, and in memetics.
Aesopica Fantastica - Text by Mark Ryherd
A collection of virches used as a didactic tool for the express purpose of teaching and reinforcing morals. Other common names for the series are Xin Daodejing and Virches of Virtue.
Anima - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A concept used in philosophy, metaphysics, and memetic engineering; meanings and applications vary.
Animadvert - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Any of a number of corporate organic life forms, mostly subsapient, which have slogans, logos, and even freebies and consumer liteware incorporated into their genetic structure, and hence expressed in their phenotype and/or secreted or excreted.
Attractor - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
An archetype or state that is characterization of the long-term behaviour of a dissipative dynamic system. Over long periods of time, the state space of some dynamical systems will contract toward this region. The Archailects are said to be dynamic systems that characterize particular attractors. Likewise, certain biological forms, certain memes, certain technological solutions, and so on, are known to have emerged independently on completely different planets or among different alien races.
Auto-Toxic Meme - Text by Glenn Grant
Dangerous to itself. Highly auto-toxic memes are self-limiting if they promote the destruction of their hosts at a greater rate than they propagate from host to host. Suicide cult memes, any military indoctrination meme-complex; and "martyrdom" memes are examples.
Automethodology - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Meta-memeticity / methodology developed by Diamond Network AI, possibly during the later First Federation period. It involves creating a novel methodology and area of knowledge, usually by adapting or mimicking other methodologies and fields, but sometimes by formulating a completely new system. Most methodologies involve dense and obscure ontologies, incomprehensible even to other ai. While some automethodologies are actively parasitic on established knowledge-formats, others simply mimic, without doing any harm.
Autopoiesis - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Self-organization or self development - the concept that all things move toward the fulfillment of their inner nature.
Bad Philosophy - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Generally, philosophical arguments or theses that are poorly thought out, make sloppy use of reasoning, are deliberately devious or misleading, or otherwise faulty or harmful.
Belief - Text by Steve Bowers
Acceptance of a worldview or memeticity on faith or trust, without critical intellectual analysis.
Belief System - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Any personally held philosophy, religion, ideology, or worldview; a type of meme-complex, usually pertaining to a metaphysical or a-rational assumption of of how the universe works. Both secular religions, like atheism, Buddhism, and Platonic Materialism, and supernaturalist religions, like Christianity and Solarism, are examples of a belief-system.
Belief-Space - Text by Glenn Grant
Since a person can only be infected with and transmit a finite number of memes, there is a limit to their belief space. Memes evolve in competition for niches in the belief-space of individuals and societies.
Biomodvert, Biomadvert - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A biomodified life form hybridised with a madvert.
Censorship - Text by Glenn Grant
Any attempt to hinder the spread of a meme by eliminating its vectors. Hence, censorship is analogous to attempts to halt diseases by spraying insecticides. Censorship can never fully kill off an offensive meme, and may actually help to promote the meme's most virulent strain, while killing off milder forms.
Conformer - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
An individual, organism, or virtual, whose physiological, informational, or memetic state (e.g., body temperature, data protocol, belief structure, fashion-statements) are identical to, and varies identically with, that of eir surrounding environment.
Conreligion - Text by Anders Sandberg
Constructed religion, a religion that has been deliberately formulated rather than being received as revelation or tradition.
Council for Doctrine - Text by Ben Higginbottom
Elite group of memetic engineers in the service of the Solar Dominion to ensure the mental well-being of the Dominions population and the continuing worship of Borde-Tiphareth.
Countersociomemetics - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Use of Social Psychology and Sociomemetics to reduce the effectiveness of social and memetic conditioning, or even turn the original conditioning into something completely different. An important element of memetic warfare and subversion. Sociomimeticists are either SI:1 or higher, or are SI:<1 sentients with implanted or augmented sociomemetic wetware, software, or firmware.
Cryptomemegineering - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Memegineering that is obscure, hidden, and untraceable, even by average memegineering standards.
Cryptomemetic Index - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The degree to which an engineered meme cannot be detected, even by conventional memetic analysis. It is based on a complex of factors, most of which are incomprehensible to subsingularitan sophonts.
Cybernetics - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Stephen Inniss
In popular usage, the study of the creation of cyborgs through the use of dryware/hylotech such as mechanical, electronic, and bionic implants, augments, and neuroprostheses. In technical usage, the study of communication and control systems based on regulatory feedback, with application in a number of fields such as sociology, memetics, biology, engineering, artificial intelligence, and information theory.
Deep Ecology - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Memeticity that asserts that nature should be preserved for its own sake, and that all beings have intrinsic value. An important axiom of almost all Bioist philosophies and religions.
Dragon's Egg - Text by Darren Ryding
A "Trojan Horse" virus powerful enough to subvert a minor archailect, occasionally used in the most subtle forms of memetic engineering.
Ecological Responsibility - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A major aspect of Bioism, this refers to the importance of preserving the health of one's biosphere, and especially of all natural garden worlds. In some memeticities (many forms of Zoeticism and Biosophism for example) biospheres are themselves considered living entities.
Edutainment - Text by John B
A section of media designed to be entertaining to a given audience while inculcating/infesting them with specific memes and/or knowledge, either overtly or covertly.
Emplex - Text by Michael Jones
An extension of traditional sound-based music, incorporating multi-sensory inputs and memetic engineering.
Exo-toxic - Text by Glenn Grant
Dangerous to others. Highly exo-toxic memes promote the destruction of persons other than their hosts, particularly those who are carriers of rival memes. Historical examples include Nazism, the Inquisition, and the Geminga Orthodoxy. (See also meme-allergy.)
Fundying, Fundying-Up, Pulling a Fundy - Text by Mike Parisi
Popular colloquialism meaning to act consciously, with deliberation and premeditation, but in such a way that consistently undermines, contradicts, discredits, thwarts, or foils one's own stated or supposed objectives, goals, values, or purpose.
Funware - Text by John B
Addictive software which uses gameplay as a way of using the player's mental resources.
Gigo - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Results generated from faulty or incorrect original premises. Such misleading results may be called gigoical. See also gigology.
Hallucinomemic - Text by John McPherson
An idea that induces hallucinations ("Some things have to be believed to be seen.")
Hook - Text by Glenn Grant
The part of a meme-complex that urges replication. The hook is often most effective when it is not an explicit statement, but a logical consequence of the meme's content. (See also bait, threat.)
Host - Text by Glenn Grant
A sentient or sophont who has been successfully infected by a meme. See also infection, membot, memeoid.
Ideology - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, clade, or culture.
Ideosphere - Text by Glenn Grant
The realm of memetic evolution, as the biosphere is the realm of biological evolution. The entire memetic ecology. The health of an ideosphere can be measured by its memetic diversity.
Immunemetic - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Neural nano-device that provides a CNS filter to screen out subversive memetics. Does not work against high toposophic subversion.
Immuno-depressant - Text by Glenn Grant
Anything that tends to reduce a person's memetic immunity.
Infection Strategy - Text by Glenn Grant
Any memetic strategy that encourages infection of a host. Jokes encourage infection by being humorous, tunes by evoking various emotions, slogans and catch-phrases by being terse and continuously repeated. Transapient-initiated memes have incredibly subtle (to ordinary sapient) strategies, sometimes not even recognised as memes by their targets. There are also transingularitan (transapient) strategies that ordinary sapienst are immune to by virtue of their lack of receptivity (see replication strategy; mimicry).
Infection, Memetic - Text by Glenn Grant
Successful encoding of a meme in the memory of a human being.
Isolation Strategy - Text by Peter Kisner
Method of avoiding viral attacks by isolating one's awareness from the rest of the universe.
Jensanism - Text by John Snead
A politico-religious meme characterized by a devotion to an anarcho-communist lifestyle, direct democracy, consensus rule, and large emotionally and physically unrestrained public festivals, most commonly found on struggling new colonies and in various fringe sub-cultures.
Knowledge Manipulation - Text by Tony Jones
Techniques allowing knowledge within the sophont brain to be rewritten at will, once the detailed structure of a given sophont brain had been mapped to a sufficient level of detail.
Logooze - Text by John B
Common slang term in the outer system for a slug-like device that etches or pigments mottoes or sigils of organizations onto random objects as a form of advertising. Most are bionano systems, but occasional mechanical or synano variants have been found. there are occasional variants allegedly designed to apply medusa fractals or other aggressive technologies. Occasionally termed "Madvert Goo", especially if self-replicating.
Madfundie - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Madverts created by or incorporating a fundiebook, or memeticities thereof. More enthusiastic, friendly, and tenacious than ordinary fundiebook, sometimes masquerading as a genuine corporate madvert, before revealing itself to an unwitting sentient.
Madfundiegoo - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A self-replicating madfundie swarm. As with ordinary fundiegoo, madfundiegoo is considered a nuisance and outbreaks are usually immediately eliminated by higher Minds whenever they occur in their jurisdiction.
Meme - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Self-reproducing and contagious idea, thought structure, or other information pattern which is propagated in ways similar to that of a gene.
Meme Bug - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A sentient being modified to memetically infect higher toposophics. May be malicious or harmless. Meme Bugs are usually subsapient, but there are also sapient and even transapient variants. Their whole purpose is tied up with carrying the meme and infecting the target. Some types of Madverts are Meme Bugs that have been reversed engineered and given a different payload.
Meme Mule - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A type of memenger, a sophont modified to transport memes from one place to another, but who is not aware of the purpose of the memes e carries. Often the memes are of a higher toposophic level than the mule emself. While having a strong sense of duty and service to the transapient or archailect on whose behalf they are transporting the memes, Meme Mules are not themselves affected by the memes they carry. They may unload the memes via docking stations (DNI upload), or even through their unconscious actions may trigger the desired responses in the target society or environment.
Meme Pool - Text by Glenn Grant
The full diversity of memes accessible to a culture or individual. Learning languages and traveling are methods of expanding one's meme pool.
Meme-Allergy - Text by Glenn Grant
A form of intolerance; a condition which causes a person to react in an unusually extreme manner when exposed to a specific semiotic stimulus, or meme-allergen. Exo-toxic meme-complexes typically confer dangerous meme-allergies on their hosts. Often, the actual meme-allergens need not be present, but merely perceived to be present, to trigger a reaction. Common meme-allergies include homophobia, paranoid anti-Communism, and porno phobia. Common forms of meme-allergic reaction are censorship, vandalism, belligerent verbal abuse, and physical violence.
Meme-complex, Memeplex - Text by Glenn Grant
Also sometimes called a memeticity. A set of mutually-assisting memes which have co-evolved a symbiotic relationship. Religious and political dogmas, social movements, artistic styles, traditions and customs, chain letters, paradigms, languages, and so on are meme-complexes. Types of co-memes commonly found in a scheme are called the: bait; hook; threat; and vaccine. A successful scheme commonly has certain attributes: wide scope (a paradigm that explains much); opportunity for the carriers to participate and contribute; conviction of its self-evident truth (carries Authority); offers order and a sense of place, helping to stave off the dread of meaninglessness.
Memegeneer - Text by John B
Perhaps the most disliked professional, and among the most feared. Skilled at memetic creation, dispersion, mutation, agglomeration, and destruction, memegineers are the most flexible of the mindworker class of professionals.
Memenger - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
(Pronounced Me men jer.) A meme messenger; a sophont that acts like messenger RNA in transmitting memetic instructions from one society, polity, habitat, or civilization to another, as part of the message transmission within the ecology of an archailect. Usually the message is transmitted once, there is no replication or virus like behavior (unlike memetic infectors. Depending on the target population, a memenger may be biont, cyborg, artificial (vec, aioid, ai, etc), or virtual.
Among the many types of memengers are:
- Meme Mule,
- Memoid, and
- non-replicating Meme Bug.
Memetacorp, Metacorp - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Not a corporation, but an "instructor" or "controller" that through memetic association or template that organises a number of corporations. Memetocorps are almost all transapient run and organised (often a metemtocorp is simply a transapient, or a group or loose association of such), and their suggestions and modus operandi can appear completely paradoxical, ridiculous, even counter-productive, to ordinary sapients. Nevertheless, they get results, often in the most unexpected way.
Memeter - Text by John B
Memeters are a common anti-memetic interface between a sophont and an appropriate guardian (sophont or otherwise). Memeters indicate both current and cumulative memetic affect on the bearer. The better models also simulate likely future actions and the memeload that such activity would engender. They are especially common in angelnetted NoCoZo core worlds, both in virch- and in real-space.
Memetic Art - Text by Anders Sandberg
Crafting skillful memes, spreading them into society. Partially a form of hacking, partially storytelling the form also has a somewhat competitive aspect.
Memetic Demons - Text by Peter Kisner
The darker side of memetic totems; self-replicating ideas and belief systems with negative social and psychological effects.
Memetic Drift - Text by Glenn Grant
Accumulated mis-replications; the rate of memetic mutation or evolution. Recorded data tend to slow the memetic drift of dogmas.
Memetic Engineering, Memgineering - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The practical application of memetics in order to influence behaviour, especially on a mass-scale.
Memetic Infector - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A sapient being used to infect societies or communities with a particular memeset. Memetic infectors resemble ordinary sophonts, but may differ psychologically, often having fanatical or one-sided enthusiasm for the meme-plex they are carrying. Infectors may be replicators (viruses) or non-replicators (memengers).
Memetic Self-replicating Swarm - Text by Steve Bowers and John B
Self replicating swarm of entities dedicated to converting as much of the universe as possible into copies of itself by memetic, persuasive, and/or evangelical means. Also known as Persuasive, Evangelical or Campaigning Swarm.
Memetic Totems - Text by Peter Kisner
Sentient/quasi-sentient meme acting as a guide or totem for a group of sophonts (also Totemic memes or memetic angels or spirits).
Memetic War - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A war of ideology and persuasion rather than weaponry or military might. Most transapients and archai uses memetics when dealing with lower toposophics and subsingulitaritans, few resort to anything as crude as actual hardware or software weaponry. Examples of memetic warriors might be PR agents, priest, poets, empaths.
Memeticity - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A coherent aggregation of component memes that itself constitutes a larger meme. Philosophies, ideologies, worldviews, and religions are all memeticities. An alternative and somewhat more common term for memeticity is memeplex.
Memetoselection - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The process whereby memes are favoured or selected against, according to darwinian mechanisms that favour the strongest memes. Memetoselection may be natural or artificial.
Memex - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A meme designer expert system. Developed from the original advertising and marketing support systems of the Information Age into a sophisticated tool for memetic manipulation during the Solsys and Interstellar Eras.
Memicry - Text by Glenn Grant
An infection strategy in which a meme attempts to imitate the semiotics of another successful meme. Such as: pseudo-science, pseudo-rebelliousness, subversion by forgery, etc.
Memoid - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A sophont who has been programmed by a higher toposophic to carry a memetic payload and infect a target community or environment.
Memotype - Text by Glenn Grant
[1] The actual information-content of a meme, as distinct from its sociotype.
[2] A class of similar memes.
Meta-Meme - Text by Glenn Grant
Any meme about memes (such as: "tolerance", "metaphor").
Miv - Text by Mike Parisi
Memetic Inversion Virus. A particularly insidious type of data-corrupting virus, ranging from sub-sophont to the rare but dreaded transapient types.
MoMi - Text by John B
Model of Memetic Interactions. An early post-Technocalypse model of how memes interact and, in certain conditions, generate steady states of attraction and repulsion within a limited number of sophonts. While outdated and sociopolitically unpalatable to many modern polities, it is still utilized in some schools of baseline memetics as an early step in generating ongoing memetic interactions in a calculable form.
Multipart Memetic Assault - Text by John B
A subset of multipart memes. A (typically virulent) meme that is dispersed as multiple relatively harmless memes which only become virulent when they're brought into conjunction within a sophont's mind.
Novelty Node - Text by Stephen Inniss
In memetics, a region or time of particular memetic influence, one that generates new concepts, philosophies and fashions that influence a broad region and may have effects lasting for decades, centuries, or even millennia. A number of such nodes have been or are presently active within the Terragen sphere. Some of these are associated with full-blown Renaissance Events.
Overwatch Processor - Text by John B
A briefly-popular dedicated system linked to a being's perceptive faculties and a large database (which manufacturers always recommended be constantly updated, usually at an additional subscription fee).
Patternism, Cladistic Patternism - Text by Stephen Inniss
The study of the deep seated cultural and aesthetic biases and resulting societal patterns specific to certain clades, and the way these produce and are produced by the physical environment and how they can be manipulated by memetic influence.
Polmusic - Text by Anders Sandberg
To'ul'hs of the Ho'mth'u culture view politics and music as an indivisible unity, and have developed political music as an art form. Over time polmusic has become a nearly universal political language across To'ul'h and post-To'ul'h clades within the MPA, as well as an elaborate academic-artistic discipline.
Precursor Knowledge - Text by John B
The body of previously accepted and mentally-integrated knowledge/facts/factoids in a person or in a community. In practical memetics, thorough knowledge of this system and its relationships is used to ensure that new memes are accepted as facts.
Propoghanda - Text by Peter Kisner and M. Alan Kazlev
In some Anglic-derived languages, a term derived from a play on words and having to do with relationships between transapients and ordinary sophonts and their attempts to sway one another's behaviour.
Psychohistory - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The science of historical prediction and macrosocial manipulation.
Repetition Implantation - Text by John B
Exposing a sophont to a given meme increases exponentially in effectiveness with arithmetic increases in exposures, as measured in net number of occurrences as well as in net number of contexts.
Replication - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The basic process of reproduction for information, whether biological, alife, nanological, memetic, or other; and the means by which genetic or instructional information is propagated.
Replication Strategy - Text by Glenn Grant
Any memetic strategy used by a meme to encourage its host to repeat the meme to other sophonts. The hook co-meme of a meme-complex.
Retromeme - Text by Glenn Grant
A meme which attempts to splice itself into an existing meme-complex.
Rumorware - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Technology of any sort, that has been reported but never actually been confirmed. In almost all cases the suggestion of such tech is a memetic ploy; and when occasionally such rumorware does turn out to be authentic that adds to the persuasiveness. Includes (some) Cryptotech, Vaporware, and so on.
Sapper Meme - Text by Keith Elis, in Anders Sandberg's Transhuman Terminology
An offensive (as opposed to benign or defensive) meme, intelligently-designed to infect a host, reduce the host's memetic immunity, and prepare the host for infection.
Sociomemetics - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
The science of the influence of memes upon individuals within a group context.
Sociotype - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, adapted from Glenn Grant
[1] The social expression of a memotype, as the body of an organism is the physical expression (phenotype) of the gene (genotype). Hence, the Divine Order is one sociotype of the Solarist memotype.
[2] A class of similar social organisations.
Sophmeme - Text by Thorbørn Steen
A sophont memesystem, a specialized form of sophstem. Sophmemes are almost always created by high transapients as a way to secure the stability of a meme or memeplex. While a normal memeplex may fall out of use or be overridden by other memes, a sophmeme will notice the danger to its existence and try to survive. This is a function of the complex relations between the different memes of the memesystem. Sophmemes are usually used by transapients to establish a meme in a system to which they only rarely have access, such as systems far from the nearest wormhole.
Statesbeing - Text by Stephen Inniss
From the Old Anglic term 'statesman'. A modosophont, or sometimes a distinct sub-personality of a transapient or archailect, who is experienced in the art of government and administration. Sometimes used in the superlative sense of one who shows especially notable skill and wisdom in directing the affairs of a government or dealing with important public issues.
Stendhal-Bomb - Text by Graham Hopgood
A memetic instrument most often utilized against baseline and nearbaseline human populations, consisting of art that is precisely tuned to the individual target or target group to elicit strong emotions.
Summer Debacle, The - Text by Anders Sandberg
A scandal and mystery related to the Summer civilization of Raman's World. This virtual civilization's exported artwork had unexpected side effects. Subsequently the entire civilization vanished without a trace.
Threat - Text by Hofstadter in Glenn Grant's Memetic Lexicon
The part of a meme-complex that encourages adherence and discourages mis-replication. (See: bait, hook, vaccine.)
Tolerance (memetics) - Text by Glenn Grant
A meta-meme which confers resistance to a wide variety of memes (and their sociotypes), without conferring meme-allergies. In its purest form, Tolerance allows its host to be repeatedly exposed to rival memes, even intolerant rivals, without active infection or meme-allergic reaction. Tolerance is a central co-meme in a wide variety of schemes, particularly "liberalism", and "democracy". Without it, a scheme will often become exo-toxic and confer meme-allergies on its hosts. Since schemes compete for finite belief-space, tolerance is not necessarily a virtue, but it has co-evolved in the ideosphere in much the same way as co-operation has evolved in biological ecosystems.
Totem - Text by Peter Kisner
A sentient meme, an entity (or entities) whose organizational patterns exist not as a virtual, but as a set of thoughts and behaviors within a creature or society. See also Memetic Totem.
Universal Religion - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Memeticity that asserts that since all is God, and there is only one God/Godhead/Reality, all religions and all spiritual teachings are simply different paths to that one supreme reality, none being more or less valid than any other.
UTism - Text by Glenn Grant
UTism is short for 'us-versus-them-ism.' Dogmatic adherence to a belief system can create an 'us vs. them' mentality in the believer. The 'us' group consists of sophonts who share our beliefs, and the 'them' group consists of those who hold conflicting beliefs.
Vaccime - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, modified from Glenn Grant
(pron. vak-seem) Any meta-meme or memeticity which confers resistance or immunity to one or more memes, allowing that person to be exposed without acquiring an active infection. Also called an immuno-meme. Common immune-conferring memes are "Faith", "Loyalty", "Scepticism", and "Tolerance".
Vector (epidemiology) - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Any medium, method, biotic organism, known net protocol, cultural environment, or vehicle for the transmission of a replicator, particularly biological pathogens, ai viruses, madverts, or memes. Almost anything can be a vector for some for of replicator or another.
Villain vs. Victim - Text by Glenn Grant
An infection strategy common to many meme-complexes, placing the potential host in the role of Victim and playing on their insecurity, as in: "the hyperturings are oppressing the near--baselines". Often dangerously toxic to host and society in general. Also known as the "Us-and-Them" strategy. (See UTism.)