In the field of memetics, a metameme (or meta-meme) is defined as a meme about a meme. A metaphor or the idea of memetic engineering are, thus, metamemes. The concept of memes has been referred to as "The Metameme" http://www.istop.com/~ggrant/memetics/memelex.html#tolerance. Some other metamemes of interest include the meme tolerance and memeplexes.

It has to be noted that any metameme is potentially infinite. Consider the following example: the concept of a meme is itself a meme. The concept that the concept of a meme is a meme is itself a meme, and so on. Other than that, the idea that this is a "chain of concepts" that may proceed indefinitely is itself another meme.

Measuring social evolution

Metamemes may be used to measure the evolution of a given society. It has been proposed that the degree of consciousness one society has about the very memes that form it is correlated with how evolved that society is. The difficulties associated with measuring the "metamemetic content" of a given society, however, render that proposition impractical.

This can be viewed (to some extent) as a memetic approach to the American sociologist Gerhard Lenski's view that the more information a given society has, the more advanced it is.

Example of a Metameme

Within imageboards such as 4chan, a special status has been afforded the character of Milhouse Van Houten from The Simpsons. Following an online campaign to gain Milhouse meme-status (an activity known as "forcing a meme"), it became a common occurrence for imageboard users to exclaim that Milhouse is "not a meme" whenever someone professed otherwise. This exclamation became so common that eventually the term "Milhouse is not a meme" itself became a meme. Users have jokingly telescoped this concept out further such that "Milhouse is not a meme is a meme" has also arguably become a meme. The process could potentially be extended ad infinitum, however to date "Milhouse is not a meme is a meme is also a meme" is not a meme.

See also

• Meme
• Memetics

External Links

• MetaMeme.org