You are asking an interesting philosophical question, I feel a little out of my depth trying to answer.

But yes, I believe every meme is an idea, every idea is a meme, and there is a 1:1 relationship. The word “meme” is just an idea that is viewed through the lens of evolution.

Now as for the second question- should a screenshot of Twitter be allowed on this “meme” sub? - I don’t have a strong opinion, but I lean towards no

My apologies, I confused you with the other commenter Sonotsugipaa, and I spelled your name wrong. :(

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Your insist that memes must change or recontextualize at every step, but this is your personal interpretation and is not supported by any definition. This is analogous to saying “genes are only genes when they mutate, otherwise it’s just a bunch of amino acids”.

An exact copy of a gene is a gene. An exact copy of a meme is a meme.

It is not worthless at all. Studying cultural changes through the lens of evolution is very useful and enlightening. That’s why I referenced the books that go into this in depth.

I would argue your narrow definition of “meme” is worthless because we already have a term for what you are describing - they are called “image macros”.

Well the definition is correct, it is Antagonistic’s narrow interpretation of that definition that is incorrect.

The key is evolution. For something to evolve, it must have the ability to be transferred, to be changed/mutated, and to be stored. Both genes and memes have these properties.

Literally any idea is a meme. If you can think it, it’s a meme.

If you break a gene in two, the result is two genes. If you break a meme in two, the result is two memes.

The name “Antagonistic” is a meme. The letter ‘A’ is a meme. The sound you make when you say ‘A’ is a meme. The idea of air vibrating to make sound is a meme.

In one sense this is very true- the wealth of the American worker has been stolen over time by capitalists.

But the truth is that one person supporting a family of five has never been sustainable. It was only possible in an era when the American lifestyle was heavily subsidized by the rest of the world through post-WWII economic domination.

As worker productivity continues to rise, we can hope for a future where 1 person’s work can support 5. But, at least for the near future, the math simply doesn’t work out.

Example 2 is a meme, no doubt about it.

If you go any deeper than the surface-level Google definition (that you are pedantically picking apart), then you will find literally any idea or unit of culture is a meme.

Read the last chapter of Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene. Actually please read the whole book, it’s a masterpiece of science popularization. Or read Susan Blackmore’s The Meme Machine, it explains the concept of memes and how they evolve in further detail.

When the meme is in a digital format, then yes you can cut and paste.

Memes live in many formats though. Everything you have ever said is a meme in an audio format. Every thought you’ve ever had is a meme in the “thought” format. I’m not sure how you might crispr those.

Any self-respecting “meme historian” would refer to themselves as a memeologist.

They would know the history of the word “meme” and that it is explicitly intended to be analogous with the word “gene”.

We don’t call them gene historians, we call them genealogists.