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Memoid
A sophont who has been programmed by a higher toposophic to carry a memetic payload and infect a target community or environment.

Unlike Meme Mules, Memoids are conscious of the meme, and have incorporated it into their being. They may often (but not necessarily) take ecclesiastic or other religious or quasi-religious form, seeing their work as a sacred duty. A subclass of memenger.

Some variants of Memoid and (in some cases) Meme Mule types:

  • stealth - looks like any other sentient in target population - transmits in secret
  • allos - of different form, behaviour, psychology etc to target population - transmits publicly
  • neon - uses radical display, wetware, clothing, behaviour, remotes, augments etc to draw attention to emself - transmits publicly
  • prophet - like neon, advertises emself, - transmits publicly, usually considered a divine messenger by target population
 
Related Articles
  • Meme
  • Meme Mule - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    A type of memenger, a sophont modified to transport memes from one place to another, but who is not aware of the purpose of the memes e carries. Often the memes are of a higher toposophic level than the mule emself. While having a strong sense of duty and service to the transapient or archailect on whose behalf they are transporting the memes, Meme Mules are not themselves affected by the memes they carry. They may unload the memes via docking stations (DNI upload), or even through their unconscious actions may trigger the desired responses in the target society or environment.
  • Meme-complex, Memeplex - Text by Glenn Grant
    Also sometimes called a memeticity. A set of mutually-assisting memes which have co-evolved a symbiotic relationship. Religious and political dogmas, social movements, artistic styles, traditions and customs, chain letters, paradigms, languages, and so on are meme-complexes. Types of co-memes commonly found in a scheme are called the: bait; hook; threat; and vaccine. A successful scheme commonly has certain attributes: wide scope (a paradigm that explains much); opportunity for the carriers to participate and contribute; conviction of its self-evident truth (carries Authority); offers order and a sense of place, helping to stave off the dread of meaninglessness.
  • Memenger - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    (Pronounced Me men jer.) A meme messenger; a sophont that acts like messenger RNA in transmitting memetic instructions from one society, polity, habitat, or civilization to another, as part of the message transmission within the ecology of an archailect. Usually the message is transmitted once, there is no replication or virus like behavior (unlike memetic infectors. Depending on the target population, a memenger may be biont, cyborg, artificial (vec, aioid, ai, etc), or virtual.
    Among the many types of memengers are:

  • Memetic Infector - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    A sapient being used to infect societies or communities with a particular memeset. Memetic infectors resemble ordinary sophonts, but may differ psychologically, often having fanatical or one-sided enthusiasm for the meme-plex they are carrying. Infectors may be replicators (viruses) or non-replicators (memengers).
 
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 08 December 2001.

 
 
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