Richard Brodie’s book about memes is literally called Virus of the Mind. Despite the book’s title, he argues that we can engineer good memes to move our lives in a positive direction (think affirmations and positive thought loops). Whether they’re helpful or harmful, good memes are contagious.

Here’s a weird idea: your thoughts are not always your own! You "catch" thoughts; you are "infected" with them. You even talk about a “catchy” song or “catchphrase,” just as you talk about “catching” a cold.

The way a virus works is by hijacking the “machinery” of your cells to make its own copies. It literally moves into your body’s cells and takes over the factory, then starts churning out infected copies of itself. Memes -- whether they’re harmful or helpful -- do the same thing: they move into your brain, and from there they spread through your words, Facebook shares, and tweets.

You don't immediately know whether the programming you get from a meme is harmful or helpful. You don’t know whether it’s a protective virus or COVID-19. The meme could inspire you to end racism, or to overthrow the government.

That’s why meme creation is literally like a superpower: we’re either engineering superviruses that will take over the world, or vaccines that will make humanity super-resistant. If you’re going to mess around with marketing memes, make the decision to use your superpowers for good....

Author: John H.


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