Meme Production: Where is Social Networking Headed, or, How I found Sex on the Internet with SafeSearch On

Do you know what a meme is?

Until recently, I did not. It took a while for me to grasp the concept and I needed to buy a book to get the full meaning.

I realize the following sounds like an ad. I apologize in advance.

Holy mother of God, did I find the right book! It is called Virus of the Mind by Richard Brodie, and was written in 1996. Richard is known also as the original programmer of Microsoft Word. The dude's got credentials.

In typical American fashion, I have read about half this book so far and I now consider myself an expert on the subject.

I am not going to go into any detail on what a meme is. If you do not know, get the book or go to this site. www.memecentral.com. Wikipedia may also prove helpful... perhaps. Lot's to say, though, so no explaining here.

The upshot of a meme is that an idea will spread, and that idea will have an impact. That is a very whitewashed and arbitrary definition.

Mr. Brodie drew a parallel between memes, genes, and computers. Memes spread like viruses (biological and computer) and "infect" others. Also, memes duplicate rapidly. The point of a virus or a meme is not entirely clear until we see the result, after the reproduction.

On the same token, human beings can be compared to memes. We reproduce, perhaps, not as rapidly as viruses, but we reproduce nonetheless. Richard shows some passion toward pointing out that our reproductive capacity is based solely on the spread of genes for the sake of finding out (from the gene's perspective) which genes spread fastest. (Again, read that book.)

Clearly human beings are, Darwin-ly speaking, fit to survive. But through memes, and with a nudge from Richard, we have another means of survival. Survival by ideas.

Thanks to the internet, and today's Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, among countless others, we are more than ever before able to make our print on society through memes. This is our new digital legacy.

I am not just talking about the "information superhighway" and the many hours google owes us all back after googling our own names. I am talking about impact. Will there come a day when what an individual says on the internet has more of an qualitative impact on our culture than any impact or influence he could have while raising a child of his own? Will there come a day when what EVERY individual says on the internet has an effect?

Imagine what that would mean for us all! If I told the world tomorrow that I like chicken and orange soda, is there potential that orange soda and chicken could be sold out at Seven-eleven? Would someone actually forgo sex because of my meme?

Well... I hope not...

These days we have so much information at our fingertips and so many more eyes on our interests, that I believe a tipping point (yep, read both halves of this one) can be reached.

What are your thoughts?

Does Anybody Care?

Yes, it's a Chicago reference. Probably the only time you'll hear that word here in reference to the band. That is to say, every time "Chicago" is mentioned after this post will be in relation to All That Jazz.

I know I did not choose the greatest topic title for a first-timer (assuming you are not a Chicago fan) but here you are reading this, so I must've done something correctly. And since you have not already clicked that blogger's nightmare Back button, you must either love females in fishnet stockings as much as I do, have an apathetic attitude towards your thesis paper due tomorrow about Einstein's Relativity, or you actually chose to Google the current time rather than look away from your Internet Browser.

Whatever the reason, thanks for stopping by!

Here I'll try to avoid the obvious cliches and vague descriptions that plague so much of the blogoshpere. What I mean by that, is I would rather go months without posting than post something like, "Not really sure what to say..." However, those are the first six words I drafted here after typing that horrendous title, and as I shuddered in my chair and swallowed the vomit back down I did what any good writer does before putting down brilliance; I held down backspace for a few seconds.

Yes, brilliance. It is, afterall, relative. Ask Einstein.

Considering that I have never blogged before, you might ask why I have chosen still to forge ahead despite that fact that I clearly decided beforehand that I would never post useless and unentertaining cliches, and then immediately fell into the same trap I thought I would avoid.

Think about it. I have created a paradox.

- I have never blogged
- I said will never blog stupidity
- Stupidity occurs within first blog post
- Blog gets posted

Awkward...

I don't think that question will get answered any time soon. If I confused you, I apologize. If not, I also apologize, just because you're still here. My logic is a step below flawed, and far left of strange.

At least we don't have to suffer the uncomfortable silences that would normally be experienced IRL. Unless, you went back to re-read; I think that would be the blogging equivalent of silence. If you did, please hit refresh so it counts.

I digress.

The current time is 10:40 PM. See, someone knows. I know that I know, and therefore we can feel optimistic about where this blog is headed. I like clocks.

Gee, the content of this post really has amounted to nothing more than those 6 words. Time to wrap it up. Sorry, I am not a content king. I am, however, a humorous man who feels there's a thought or two rattling around in his head that should be shared.

I know, I know, cliche. Brilliance is waning. No one can be a hit all the time; unless you are in, or wrote Chicago.