Yep, it seems like pretty standard usage to me (and IMO seems conceptually fine, despite the fact that “genetic” means something different, since for some reason using “memetic” in the same way feels very weird or confused to me, like I would almost never say “this has memetic origin”)
since for some reason using “memetic” in the same way feels very weird or confused to me, like I would almost never say “this has memetic origin”
… though now that it’s been pointed out, I do feel like I want a short handle for “this idea is mostly passed from person-to-person, as opposed to e.g. being rederived or learned firsthand”.
I also kinda now wish “highly genetic” meant that a gene has high fitness, that usage feels like it would be more natural.
I think in principle it makes sense in the same sense “highly genetic” makes sense. If a trait is highly genetic, then there’s a strong chance for it to be passed on given a reproductive event. If a meme is highly memetic, then there’s a strong chance for it to be passed on via a information transmission.
In genetic evolution it makes sense to distinguish this from fitness, because in genetic evolution the dominant feedback signal is whether you found a mate, not the probability a given trait is passed to the next generation.
In memetic evolution, the dominant feedback signal is the probability a meme gets passed on given a conversation, because there is a strong correlation between the probability someone passes on the information you told them, and getting more people to listen to you. So a highly memetic meme is also incredibly likely to be highly memetically fit.
Yep, it seems like pretty standard usage to me (and IMO seems conceptually fine, despite the fact that “genetic” means something different, since for some reason using “memetic” in the same way feels very weird or confused to me, like I would almost never say “this has memetic origin”)
… though now that it’s been pointed out, I do feel like I want a short handle for “this idea is mostly passed from person-to-person, as opposed to e.g. being rederived or learned firsthand”.
I also kinda now wish “highly genetic” meant that a gene has high fitness, that usage feels like it would be more natural.
I think in principle it makes sense in the same sense “highly genetic” makes sense. If a trait is highly genetic, then there’s a strong chance for it to be passed on given a reproductive event. If a meme is highly memetic, then there’s a strong chance for it to be passed on via a information transmission.
In genetic evolution it makes sense to distinguish this from fitness, because in genetic evolution the dominant feedback signal is whether you found a mate, not the probability a given trait is passed to the next generation.
In memetic evolution, the dominant feedback signal is the probability a meme gets passed on given a conversation, because there is a strong correlation between the probability someone passes on the information you told them, and getting more people to listen to you. So a highly memetic meme is also incredibly likely to be highly memetically fit.