I realized earlier that I had used the word “meme” in this blog twice today. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a “meme” is an idea which, like a gene, works to reproduce itself. I.e., you can treat the spread of ideas, images, paradigms, etc., as memes being spread through the population (or memes using the population to spread themselves), just as genes get spread through the population (or use the population to spread themselves). When you get infected with a meme, you endeavor to pass it on. It can be a joke. An urban legend. A TV show or book or author. A passtime. The collection of all active memes can be thought of as a culture.
As an illustration of this, and of how you may have been infected with memes, try the Meme Detector. This will, by seeing which images/logos/pictures you recognize, identify which memes have infected you.
As far as what I’m infected by … well, it’s an appropriately eclectic mix: Pokemon, Linux, USA, Junkfood, Sci-fi, Gaming, Religion, 8-Bit, British, Japan, Discordia, Windows, Politics, Brand Names, Hippyism, Computer Games, Conspiracy Theory, and Environmentalism. And I might be infected by the Cthulhu, Industrial, UNIX, X11, and Macintosh memes.
And I’m liable to infect you …
(Via Sekimori. You had to ask?)