> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://dawksmemes.gitbook.io/dawk/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://dawksmemes.gitbook.io/dawk/welcome-to-dawks-memes.md).

# Welcome to Dawks Memes

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What is the origin of the term meme? <mark style="background-color:green;">The term</mark> <mark style="background-color:green;"></mark><mark style="background-color:green;">**meme**</mark> <mark style="background-color:green;"></mark><mark style="background-color:green;">was introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins..</mark>
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="/files/UMGDiwkoiiYR81Xp00bX" alt=""><figcaption><p>DAWKS SUPER TEAM</p></figcaption></figure>

## Meme - *Cultural Concept*

*This quote/information below has been taken from britannica's website.*

**Meme**, unit of cultural information spread by [imitation](https://www.britannica.com/topic/imitation-behaviour). The term *meme* (from the Greek *mimema*, meaning “imitated”) was introduced in 1976 by British evolutionary biologist [Richard Dawkins](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Dawkins) in his work [*The Selfish Gene*](https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Selfish-Gene).

Dawkins [conceived](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/conceived) of memes as the cultural parallel to biological [genes](https://www.britannica.com/science/gene) and considered them, in a manner similar to “selfish” genes, as being in control of their own reproduction and thus serving their own ends. Understood in those terms, memes carry information, are replicated, and are transmitted from one person to another, and they have the ability to evolve, mutating at random and undergoing [natural selection](https://www.britannica.com/science/natural-selection), with or without impacts on human fitness (reproduction and survival). The concept of the meme, however, remains largely theoretical. It is also controversial, given the notion of selfishness and the application of the concept to the [evolution](https://www.britannica.com/science/evolution-scientific-theory) of [cultures](https://www.britannica.com/topic/culture), which formed the basis for the field of [memetics](https://www.britannica.com/science/memetics).

In the early 21st century, Internet memes, or [memes](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/memes) that emerge within the culture of the [Internet](https://www.britannica.com/technology/Internet), gained popularity, bringing renewed interest to the meme concept. Internet memes spread from person to person through imitation, typically by e-mail, [social media](https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-media), and various types of [Web sites](https://www.britannica.com/technology/website). They often take the form of pictures, videos, or other media containing cultural information that, rather than mutating randomly, have been deliberately altered by individuals. Their deliberate alteration, however, violates Dawkins’s original [conception](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conception) of memes, and, for that [reason](https://www.britannica.com/topic/reason), despite their fundamental similarity to other types of memes, Internet memes are considered by Dawkins and certain other scholars to be a different representation of the meme concept.

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