A genetic (memetic) dimension

Blackgirlgenius sent me a link yesterday saying that I might be interested in it.

Here's the article.

It's from this book, that I promptly ordered after reading the introductory paragraph. The author coins a term "memes" and here's what he says about them:

"Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passed it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain."


I thought this contention was pretty profound, and while at dinner last night, I was staring at this family and suddenly I became aware that something else was going on in my observation of them. I wasn't looking at a group of people, but what seemed like an extension of a genetic dimension!

When I speak of dimension, I mean a physical dimension like 1D, 2D, and 3D etc. Just like 1D geometrically extends 2D, and 2D geometrically extends 3D in a Cartesian plane, what if there is another geometrical plane that can be extended or derived from this seemingly ubiquotous coordinate system!?

Extending this thought, instead of using xyz coordinates found in the Cartesian plane, or R-theta in the Polar coordinate system, what if there was a genetic or memetic coordinate system derived?!

Just an idea... I'm almost sure one exists though, because I saw it intuitively last night... oro~?