>I think we may not be able to get very far until we precisely define
>the concept of meme itself. Dawkins caused a lot of confusion when he
>said that a brainb and a book and a song are 'equivalent' as meme
>carriers. In fact, we should probably treat the brain ONLY as the
>proper carrier, while 'inanimate' objects merely as exernal represen-
>tations of memes. A meme contained in this message will not replicate
>without a brain to decode it.
>
>
As Brodie pointed out in VIRUS OF THE MIND, Dawkins later changed his mind
about that definition and came up with something closest to Brdies's, which I
like (p. 32):
"A MEME is a unit of information in a mind whose existence influences events
such that more copies of itself get created in other minds."
The external representations of memes he calls VIRUSES OF THE MIND (p. 36)
"A virus of the mind is something out in the world thatinfects people with
memes. These memes, in turn, influence the infected people's behaviou so that
they help perpetuate and spread the virus."
MG