Memetic strategies

Here are a few lists of meme-related strategies. The first list was inspired bt an Alex Mesoudi paper that laid out a fairly conventional view aligned with the work of Boyd and Richerson. Sorry, no link today.

What strategies do people (adopters) use to acquire good memes from others (sources)?

• Are the memes popular?
• Are the memes repeated?
• Do the memes attract attention?
• Do the sources have high-prestige?
• Are the sources related to the adopters genetically - do they share genes with them?
• Are the sources related to the adopters in other ways - do they share memes or environment with them?
• Are the memes likely to benefit the genes of the adopters?
• Are the memes likely to benefit the existing memes of the adopters?

As well as sources resembling them, the adopters can sometimes be interested in whether the sources resemble the adopters in *relevant* ways.

Some of these strategies can be faked or corrupted. For example, high-prestige people could be being paid to appear to associate with the meme, in order to manipulate others into adopting it. This is a common advertising trick. What strategies do memes use to get acquired by others?

• Be memorable
• Be copyable
• Acquire and gain control over resources
• Promise to benefit the host - and deliver on the promise.

To persist in their new host, candidate memes typically have to pass additional hurdles once acquired:

Are the memes compatible with existing attitudes and beliefs?

Are the memes sufficiently memorable?

Prevent rival memes from being adopted

Destroy rival memes already present in the host

Do the memes cause conflict or trouble?

Are the memes useful or helpful?

If memes do not appear to be helpful, might they be so in the future?