What kinds of things are Internet memes? I explore the ontology of Internet memes, starting from a brief history of meme studies and presenting examples of Internet memes that I made for my memepage, The Philosopher's Meme (facebook.com/thephilosophersmeme). Presented at the 2018 Philosophy Postgraduate Conference, at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

1. The Ontology of Internet
Memes

2. The Intersecting Histories of...
1. Evolutionary Theory
2. The Philosophy of Evolution
3. Cultural Evolution
4. Memes
5. The Philosophy of Memes

3. Timeline
1930s | The Modern Synthesis
1960s | Gene centred view of evolution
1970s | Units of selection debate
1980s | Levels of selection debate
1990s | Renewed interest in memetics
2000s | Dwindling interest in memetics
2010s | Memeology and Internet meme studies

4. Memes
Information and Meaning in Evolutionary Processes (2004)

5. Dawkinsian memetics
1. Evolution requires competition between lineages of self-replicating entities.
2. Any evolutionary process must involve self-replicating entities.
3. Culture evolves.
4. Therefore, cultural evolution must involve lineages of self-replicating entities in
competition.

6. Dawkinsian memetics
WIRED: How do you feel about your word meme being reappropriated by the
internet?
DAWKINS: The meaning is not that far away from the original. It's anything that
goes viral. In the original introduction to the word meme in the last chapter of The
Selfish Gene, I did actually use the metaphor of a virus. So when anybody talks
about something going viral on the internet, that is exactly what a meme is and it
looks as though the word has been appropriated for a subset of that.
(Dawkins in a 2013 interview with WIRED magazine)

7. Where are the memes?

21. Where is the meme?