the.com/memes
culture's way of photocopying a joke until it mutates into philosophy.
means an image, phrase, or idea that spreads by being copied and remixed, gaining new meaning with each version.
from coined by richard dawkins in 1976's the selfish gene, from greek mimema, meaning imitated thing — he meant it for ideas that spread like genes, decades before the internet turned it into cats with captions.
dawkins regretshe later said internet memes hijacked his term
first viral imagedancing baby gif predates memes as we know them, 1996
economic weightdogecoin, a meme, once hit a 90 billion dollar valuation
for instance
distracted boyfriend — stock photo from 2015 became universal shorthand for temptation
doge — shiba inu photo from 2013 spawned a cryptocurrency
pepe the frog — 2005 comic character became political flashpoint by 2016
this is fine dog — 2013 webcomic panel now means societal collapse, politely