Transhuman Page
Memetics
Memetics is the study of ideas and concepts viewed as "living" organisms, capable of reproduction and evolution in an "Ideosphere" (similar to the Biosphere) consisting of the collective of human minds. Memes reproduce by spreading to new hosts, who will spread them further (typical examples are jokes, catchphrases or politicial ideas).
At present memetics is somewhat controversial. Partly this is due to misunderstandings about what it means, leading to claims that it excludes human free will, creativity and progress, and that it is bad science. This will likely change in time, as the field matures.
Sections
Memetic Theory
Memetic Theory
Viruses
of the Mind by Richard
Dawkins.
Journal of Memetics: Evolutionary
Models of Information Transmission. A peer-reviewed academic net-journal
of memetics. 
Memetics:
On a conceptual framework for cultural evolution by Hans-Cees Speel.
How memetics as a topic can help to integrate ideas from different disciplines
Memetic
Science: I - General introduction by Elan Moritz. An attempt to formulate
a rigorous foundation for discussion of memes and approaches to quantifying
aspects of meme activity.
Units, Events and Dynamics
in Memetic Evolution by Aaron Lynch. An attempt to put memetics on
a sound scientific basis. 
Memetic Lexicon by Glenn Grant.
The Lifecycle of Memes by Henrik Bjarneskans,
Bjarne Grønnevik and Anders Sandberg.
Memetics:
A Systems Metabiology by Ron Hale-Evans.
Memes Meta-Memes and Politics by Keith Henson.
Hypertext Publishing
and the Evolution of Knowledge by K. Eric Drexler.
Examples and Applications of Memetics
The applications of memetics are endless. Marketing, epistemology, psychology, idea history, information management, ideology... all can use memetics, for good and evil.
Of
Man, Mind and Machine. Meme-Based Models of Mind and the Possibility
for Consciousness in Alternate Media, by Joshua S. Latenier.
Memetic
Engineering By James Gardner (Wired 4.05 May 1996). About the social
and philosophical implications of a meme-centered worldview.
The Church of Virus. A memetically
designed religion.
The New
Meme by David Brin. An essay about the memetics of critical thinking,
science, optimism and tolerance.
On the Memetic Health of Transhumanism
About the memes of cryonics by Keith Henson
and Arel Lucas.
Meme
and Variations: A Computational Model of Cultural Evolution by Liane
Gabora, in 1993 Lectures in Complex Systems edited by Lynn Nadel
and Daniel Stein, published by Addison Wessley, 1995. Using memetics to
evolve better movement strategies.
Debate
Brain
Tennis Debate about Memetics between Aaron Lynch and Richard Barbrook.
Memesis Symposium. A net symposium
before Ars Electronica 96.
Individual Memes
Good Times Virus Hoax FAQ.
One of the most successful memes loose on the Net.
Strolling Through the
Memetic Mine Field by Leon Felkins (The Ethical Spectavle Oct 1995).
Lists and attacks some of the more common memes around us.
The Advanced
Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame. A tool to evaluate the danger
of cults. It is of some memetic interest if the factors are interpreted
as properties of the meme.
The Holy Salvation
Meme by Greg Erwin, a parody of many religious memes.
The C-Realm - Is it a cartoon? Is
it a meme? It is C!
The Fish Wars. First there
was the Jesus Fish, then the Darwin Fish appeared...
Meme,
Counter-Meme, article by Mike Godwin in Wired October 1994 (Archived
in Hotwired). How a meme can be
used to combat other memes.
Replicator,
a poem by Joel Meulenberg.
Other Sites
Frankly, I have no ability to keep up with this quickly evolving area. These pages deal with it more in depth.
Memes: Introduction
node in Principia Cybernetica.
Memetics
on the Web. Memetic publications with short descriptions.
Memetics page
of Drs. Hans-Cees A.M. Speel
Memetik
Special of Telepolis (in German).
Links on Evolutionary
Theory and Memetics in Principia Cybernetica.
FAQ from alt.memetics.
Books
Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press 1979.
A classic about evolution and selfish replicators.
On Viral Sentences and Self-Replicating Structures by Douglas R. Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern, 1985, Basic Books.
Thought Contagion
How Belief Spreads Through Society: the New Science of Memes by Aaron
Lynch.
Review
of Memes: the New Replicators by Damien Sullivan.
See also
Information Management Page
Philosophy Page
Other Transhumanist Pages
Other Transhumanist Mailing Lists
Related Pages to Transhumanism
Relevant newsgroup: alt.memetics
Anders Sandberg / asa@nada.kth.se 2000-03-11