It seems that everybody uses "meme" to refer only to fads, catchprahses, and other fast-moving and
trivial things. But
meme theory treats the definition of meme as much, much more. A meme is a thought, an idea of any kind. A
worldview. A
philosophy. A
paradigm.
A meme is software. Anything that can be installed in your mind is a meme. Anything that can be transmitted, as mental software, from one mind to another, is a meme.
Memes demonstrate evolution, coevolution, and natural selection. The word "meme" means that you are looking at mental software from an ecological, evolutionary point of view. And this yields vast insights into the ways that memes develop and affect us.