Afraid to Dive

It has been a year since the very first article in this blog, so now I want to summarize all the work done and note the modern condition of memeology, its problems, and the memeologists out there. I am also glad that Afraid to Dive has become a transmitter of my ideas, and today is a great chance to report on it once again. Problems Memeology has a number of problems and gaps, which prevent its spread both among ordinary people and among researchers. Nevertheless, the issues of memeology should be sought in memetics, more precisely in the very definition of the term "meme", "a unit of cultural information". It happens that memes are an extremely interesting, but still an abstract concept. They had been suggested in order to explain the processes of cultural evolution and draw analogies with the biological development of life on Earth, but raised even more questions. Obviously that diversity and dynamism of culture don't tolerate such ideas, which lets many...

Many have heard of such a thing as Homestuck , the legendary web comic, a real Internet phenomenon rich in artistic content, an infamous community, as well as a confusing and dramatic history of relationships, both between characters and authors. Today, on April 13th, this web beast turns 10 years old. Its creator, Andrew Hussie, is quite an extraordinary man who brought many ideas of varying degrees of madness to life, but few know that he was one of the very first ironists. But what kind of ironic memes in those times can we talk about? Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff Usually the birth of ironic memes is considered by the appear of Dank Memes or Coaxed Into a Snafu. However, origins of ironic memes lie deep, back in 2009, precisely in the Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff webcomic. On March 17th, Hussie published his first attempt of such a work in order to parody the 'Higher Technology' comic, posted on Penny Arcade forums. He managed to mock amateur low-quality webcomics, using such...

Video memes are one of the turns in the evolution of Internet memes, which often offers slightly more than the usual images. Basically, they are more interactive and complex, containing both visual and audio information. Such memes can be "screen versions" of picture memes or be completely original. Although the first video memes appeared long before the creation of video hosting sites and were mostly in the form of .swf animations (for example, Numa Numa), they found their new place with the creation of YouTube in 2005. It should be said that I don't compile a list of all the memers in general; I will talk about those whom I am aware of. Also, YouTube is not a center of all the video memes, and there are many of them on the platforms like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and much more, but the most of video memes are eventually being uploaded to YouTube. Montages which have many genres and microgenres have become one of the most popular video memes by the personal form. F...

What do you know about the Internet in China? I think that at least it is isolated from the outer web via the Golden Shield Project. It means that the Chinese online culture is different than the Western one, being more hermetic. Thanks to its impermeability, the digital world of China is unique and teeming with distinctive phenomena, and therefore is valuable to research. I have interviewed u/Elmwow who told me about the Chinese memes. Hello! Thank you for agreeing to the interview. First you need to know is that I’m not so far away from you: I’m from Russia, so I will reveal the situation with memes in our country, and there will be some cultural exchange. I hope it will be cool! Sure, me too. So, I'll start from afar: what's up with the Internet in China? You have the Golden Shield Project, including a powerful firewall that forces people to use internal services, right? Something similar to that. We can’t view something like YouTube, Reddit, Twitter etc...

During the Renaissance, when culture and arts were raising from the ashes of Middle Ages, the polymaths, people who succeed in many non-related professional areas, were highly appreciated. Obviously, the concept of homo universalis or Renaissance Man was created at that time. Leonardo Da Vinci, whose practical, theoretical and artistic works have changed the world, and whose physical strength amazed his contemporaries, became the brightest polymath in history. If we take him as an example, it turns out that a true polymath should have achievements in academic/research activities (mathematics, linguistics, philosophy) and art (architecture, visual arts, music, literature), as well as physical activity (sports). One also can add civilian activities, for example, the struggle for rights or even politics. In truth, becoming a professional polymath like Da Vinci isn't possible at the moment because of the amount of information accumulated in all areas of activity, and also simply be...