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Macroscope

meme

Coined by a biologist in 1976 as 'a unit of cultural transmission'. Thirty years inside academia, then the internet flattened it into a funny image and the flattened version conquered the language.

1960 to 2026, 4 sources

Gestation: first sustained attestation to ignition (ngram)GestationCrystallization: ignition to peak (ngram)CrystallizationIgnition 2014: first crossing of 10% of peak with sustained growth (ngram)Ignition 2014Peak 2022: maximum of smoothed series (ngram)Peak 20220%25%50%75%100%1960197019801990200020102020Logistic fit1976: Dawkins, The Selfish Gene1993: Godwin ports it to internet vocabulary in Wired1998: Merriam-Webster adds an entry2001-11-03: Wikipedia article created ("Meme")2007-01: I Can Has Cheezburger launches2007-06-12: TIME covers LOLcats

Diamonds are dated events from the historical record. Click one.

Gestation 1960 to 2014Crystallization 2014 to 2022

Measured on Google Books

Growth rate k
0.098/yr
Rise midpoint
2010
Fit quality r²
0.824
Post-peak half-life
still on the plateau

The dated record

  1. 1976 Dawkins, The Selfish Genebook
  2. 1993 Godwin ports it to internet vocabulary in Wiredmedia
  3. 1998 Merriam-Webster adds an entrydictionary
  4. 2001-11-03 Wikipedia article created ("Meme")platform
  5. 2007-01 I Can Has Cheezburger launchesplatform
  6. 2007-06-12 TIME covers LOLcatsmedia