Memetics as a new science of viral content: diachronic development of a direction

Abstract

The paper considers the meme as an information unit, the appearance and development of a concept, as well as the science that studies memes – memetics. The focus of attention is directed precisely at memetics, particularly at its origins and main theses, as well as the diachronic aspect of the development of this scientific direction. Aspects of memetics as a global science, as well as a meme, as a unit of cultural information, which is now widespread in the Internet environment and found in a person’s personal communication, are examined. The work identifies the methodology of memetics, its main characteristics, and analyzes the works of the most significant scientists for the direction, in particular: Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Richard Brody, Aaron Lynch, Susan Blackmore, Douglas Rushkoff, Ilya Nosyrev, Tatyana Savitskaya and others. The main objective of the paper is to consider the historical development and formation of memetics as a science of the dissemination of information in society based on the Charles Darwin's biological theory of evolution, as well as a scientific analysis of the very concept of meme as a key one in the framework of memetics. One of the central concepts of scientific research is the concept of the Internet meme, as separated from the main points of memetics and used to define Internet content. Based on the results of a review of the previous scientific works, the main stages of the development of memetics and the early attempts of scientists to introduce the concept of «mental virus», which is considered a meme due to its individual characteristics, are highlighted. The key point of the study is that the concept of an Internet meme is considered spontaneous on the World Wide Web. However, it includes all the features of a traditional meme, as well as features acquired during development, which should also be considered from a scientific point of view. This paper is important because it presents a systematization of knowledge about memetics, its historical path and has the goal of comprehensive coverage of modern science and its aspects in the modern scientific environment.