InspiredOgre

Uh oh, here comes da word Ogre.

Meme, from the Wikipedia.

A meme (pronounced /miːm/ – like theme), a postulated unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, gets transmitted from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. (The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word mimema for “something imitated”.^[1]) Supporters of the concept of memes believe that they act as cultural analogues to genes, in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.^[2]Memeticists have not definitively empirically proven the existence of discrete memes or their proposed mechanism; they do not form part of the consensus of mainstream social sciences. Meme theory therefore lacks the same degree of influence granted to its counterpart and inspiration, genetics.

Richard Dawkins first introduced the word in The Selfish Gene (1976) to discuss evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. He gave as examples melodies, catch-phrases, and beliefs (notably religious belief), clothing/fashion, and the technology of building arches.^[3]

Meme-theorists contend that memes evolve by natural selection (in a manner similar to that of biological evolution) through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance influencing an individual entity’s reproductive success. Memes spread through the behaviors that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, and (for better or for worse) mutate. Theorists point out that memes which replicate the most effectively spread best, and some memes may replicate effectively even when they prove detrimental to the welfare of their hosts.^[4]

A field of study called memetics arose in the 1990s to explore the concepts and transmission of memes in terms of an evolutionary model. Criticism from a variety of fronts has challenged the notion that scholarship can examine memes empirically. Some commentators question the idea that one can meaningfully categorize culture in terms of discrete units.

Wait, something is wrong here (other than the Ogre taking something beautiful and turning it into some quasi-intellectual BS.) The concept of the meme is totally fictitious?!?! Richard Dawkins just made it up, and it was more of a way to describe something else entirely!?!

I am sorely disappointed. It seems to me the concept of the meme and the concept of the viral ad are almost the same. I am reminded of the Colbert Greenscreen Challenges, where a cultural ‘thing’ is taken, and it is modified in an attempt to make it ‘better.’ This is all well and good, hell, its even fun, but to pretend it is more than just fun, to pretend we are doing something analogous to genetics is, well, sad.

First, the concept of the meme requires a lot of space. Even if we ‘tag’ everyone in the WoW-Blogging community, that ‘meme-pool’ is so small we would fail to produce enough ‘variation’ for a proper study of memetics. (Our memes would be inbred.)

Second, I am going to give an example. In the future, some scientist will decide that our genetic code could do with some, improvement. He will meddle, removing all the bad parts and extra bits, and prune down the genetic code into something perfectly human. He will be reviled and vilified and also celebrated, because his creations will be perfectly human, with no disease or disorder. It will be heralded as a huge leap forward in genetic science. Genetically, these beings will be perfect, maybe even far and away more advanced than we are, perfect specimens of beauty, health, fitness, athleticism, intelligence, empathy, and any other words you wanna throw in there. But will these perfect humans be ‘more evolved’ than us? Would this prove evolution? Yes, strictly, it will, but evolution (the change of species over time) was never the problem, whether or not evolution occurs, and the mechanisms it uses is the problem. Natural selection and sexual reproduction. Back to what the hell I am talking about, these perfect human beings are analogous to our meme experiments, in that they are entirely contrived. You cant force it, and if you do, its not really a meme, its, something else.

So, if we were serious about this meme experiment, it has to get a lot bigger. It also has to have a mechanism for meme death. The memes that are not as funny or whatever need to go away. But most importantly, the memes have to be able to reproduce. Here is my attempt to make this work properly…

 Okay, I think I broke it.

But there is another one of these things going around there (seriously, I know I am a young guy, and I have sex on the mind, but arent these things a little like an internet STD? (Wait, if they are kinda like an STD, what does that make me, since I begged to catch one, and then just went ahead with the ’symptoms’ even though I never caught one.))

Ehem, there is another one going around, our character names.

Well, my character’s names are interesting, and stuff…

And not funny.

And really, way too cerebral.

Okay, its really a dull story.

Ludus was my mage, he was first (he is Luduz now, because someone on Nazgrel has the name locked up, DAMN YOU!!!!!) Ludus is one of the many words in greek for love. Greek is cool like that, love has many words, one for every occasion. Ludus is the love of friends.

I had a gnome warrior named Erox (erotic love.) He was rockin’ the hot-pants. He is gone now, the ISTDs got him.

Back on my old server, I knew a group of people that had a tradition of naming their characters something similar, so even though you were on any of your characters, everyone knew it was you. I followed that to its natural conclusion.

• Ludux
• Luduv
• Ludup
• Ludeul
• Ludeux
• etc

As for InspiredOgre? Its an internet handle. My earliest internet handle was AlphaClast. (First destruction, I thought it was cool, I was like, 12.) I met another guy who had a handle that also worked out to be AC, the confusion that ensued (and the fact that my testicles had descended,) made me want to come up with a better internet handle.

I take the internet culture seriously, internet handles are a part of your personal identity. I cant say why InspiredOgre came to me (I could, but its long and even more boring than my character names.) But it just felt right. Also, it could be shortened easily to Ogre. And that, is now who I am.

Whew, I nailed it!

2 memes, one post.

Take that, arbitrary person who wants to take it!

Oh, I am not going to tag anyone, cause I dont believe in non-consensual internet tagging.

(Except my friend and his wife should do it…. With me.)

lolwut?