Memes: The Science of the Future
“Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.” –Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins, Kenyan ethologist, coined the term “meme” in his 1976 book “The Selfish Gene,” where he described the meme as a unit for carrying the most relevant cultural data. His publication delves into genealogy, specifically the lineage of a gene throughout a population based on its fitness. In other words, an evolutionarily effective gene can be passed throughout a group of people, rather than an individual, to maximise the longevity of that demographic. In this study, Dawkins derives his theory of the meme. He describes the meme as an analogue to the gene, suggesting that the meme follows the same process of natural selection through a population. However, instead of preserving a population, memes entertain millennials. Their filtration apparatus is their relevance to pop culture, and it is this comparison that makes Dawkin’s neologism a critical implement in understanding the psychology of the millennial generation.
A Meme (pronounced /’miːm/, me-mm) describes a unit of cultural symbols or ideals that can be transmitted from one mind to another. In recent years, memes have become phrases or clichés that fulfill the role of translating inherently non-literal cultural references into a medium that is consumed by the general public. The modern meme was born from recent technological advancements that have made it possible for swift exchange of ideas and cultural references. “Memes are becoming a truly important part of how humans communicate with one another,” said Limor Shifman, professor of communication and journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of “Memes in the Digital Culture.” “They appeal to our need to be part of a larger group, and simultaneously our desire to be individuals.” Thus, the invasion of internet society has allowed for memes to emerge as society’s cultural subtitles.
Despite its pervasiveness, the life of a meme is quite volatile and is wholesomely dependent on virality. 
If the meme lacks a substantial audience and appreciation, it will effectively fade into obscurity. However, if effectively used, the meme can bring older cultural icons back into the modern spotlight. This is evident in the popular 2007 meme known as “Rickrolling” where users are tricked via a form of bait and switch into watching the music video for Rick Astley’s hit single “Never Going to Give You Up.” Although Astley had faded out of mainstream culture, this meme pushed him back into the spotlight as a cultural icon appearing in many public events such as the 2008 Macy’s Day Parade. Visible through Rickrolling and others, it can be argued that memes have the power to revitalize previously irrelevant cultural symbols.
The first memes began to emerge during the Web 2.0 face (post AOL), where forums and blogs such as 4Chan, Something Awful, and Reddit, around the turn of the 21st century. 
They remained at the fringe of pop culture until social media became commercialized and accessible through mainstream platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Structurally, every “memer” is familiar with the image macro memes. These were the inception of meme content, and the malleability that it provided allowed the legacy of memes to continue by anyone. In other words, the image macro meme was the Rosetta Stone that guided memetics after. In 2000, Japanese gaming giant SEGA released the Sega Genesis console game “Zero Wing,” which featured a cracked translation of the phrase “あなたの拠点はすべて私たちのものです” by Sega: “All Your Base Are Belong to Us.” This prompted the first image macro meme and splayed immediately across the internet, pop culture, and even politics. The phrase became popularized in CNN reports, cashing in on the phenomenon to boost viewership, and even went as far to feature on a George W. Bush campaign poster in 2006. This was the first demonstration of the meme’s power. As Inside.com reporter Greg Lindsay describes, “All Your Base Are Belong to Us” bore the same repeatability as the phrase “WAZZUP” from the incredibly successful Budweiser Beer Commercials. The Bush supporter responsible for the billboard and CNN picked up on the same marketability that Budweiser had and was using a common source of humour whose only purpose to entertain–and everyone knew it. “WAZZUP” operated in the same way as a meme. Thus, isn’t everything that makes into our media a meme?
Perceive the meme as a living being. It undergoes variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, and the puppet masters pulling the strings behind these processes are the commercialism addicts of the 21st century. Within memetics lies the key to unlocking the psychological impulses and penchants of Generation Z’ers. We can analyze their thought processes through what they post and repost, and understand what makes the most enigmatically vapid generation tick. Memetics is a scientific discipline. It reveals the nuances of a contemporary culture that other analysis cannot.
Look back to the “memes” of history–they repeat the same motifs seen in today’s memes.
Memes serve the same purpose that art and literature served before the digital age: to satirize and to state. For example, the phrase memento mori, the Greek phrase meaning “remember that you have to die,” was a theme of Greco art and literature society and then later in medieval and Victorian representing the inevitability of death and an encouragement to value one’s spiritual life over the tangible luxuries of the present. Today, this roughly translates to the phrase “YOLO” (you only live once). While this frat boy anthem has become memefied itself, it still indicates how the same themes are recycled throughout history, just manifested differently. Memes are, and have always been, the platform people use to explain the human condition, even such serious topics as death.
Abandon our previous perception of memes as the cancerous flying monkeys of Generation Z, and perceive it rather as an implement of social science. They are the same permutations of a generation’s culture that emerge from the creativity of the individual compiling current events and relevant trends into content that is easily consumable and accessible. They represent so much more to our culture than simply high school humor–they are our culture.
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