So a couple of weeks ago I asked you guys to vote on what video you'd like to see next
You had the choice between fanficiton and science and
being the bunch of adorable nerds that we are on the internet
SCIENCE WON
With over 5,000 votes
Science might not be winning many battles in the world right now
But it did win this one
Personally I am really proud of you because I frickin love science
And most of my evenings are secretly spent watching documentaries and reading science books
So I no longer have to be ashamed of that!
So I searched far and wide
for my next topic
I had to be something new
something exciting
something different
And then it hit me
(dramatic music)
(ding) MEMES!
What we all know as 'memes' are literally everywhere
They're on my phone, they're in my house, they're in the film I made
The Pepe the Frog meme even got involved in the 2016 presidential election
(music)
And everybody wants to be the Queen of Memes but what people don't know is that
meme is actually a scientific term meaning
"An element of cluture or system of behaviour that is passed from one individual to another
by imitation or other non-genetic means"
Basically a meme is just a thing in your brain that spreads to another person's brain
like music or theory or sayings or fashions or different ways to make pots or houses or something
And the thing is whilst us current internet people might feel like we
created and own and popularised memes
they actually were created kind of a long time before
most of us were born
meme is a word created by Richard Dawkins in 1976
in a book called 'The Selfish Gene' and 'meme' is actually based on the word 'gene'
because both memes and genes are things that reproduce themselves
Genes are things that reproduce themselves by moving from body to body in sperm and eggs
(Let's not get into that right now)
And memes reproduce in the 'meme pool' by leaping from body to body by using
the brain of the human being that they exist in to spread themselves
Personally the word 'meme pool' is just the most ridiculously hilarious thing I've ever heard of like
grumpy cat and pepe the frog getting steamy in a jacuzzi
(music)
so the idea is that memes use you to replicate themselves
and depending on how good they are at using you to replicate themselves
determines how dank that meme is
(laughing) I do not suit saying anything like that
Take for example the Obama and Biden meme
This meme replicates itself because it's funny and relatable and you guys want to
share it - 'replicate' that meme
and it's gonna be relevant for at least four years whilst Trumpy McTrump face is in the whitehouse
And, incidentally, Boaty McBoatface, that's another meme
So imagine a scenario where female Luke and male Luke decide to start humping eachother
In that situation, they are passing on their genes
But if female Luke and male Luke or anyone, actually, you don't require genitals to enjoy a good meme
decided to scroll through eachother's Tumblrs, then they are passing on their memes
which might be a far more exciting way to spend an evening
So memes are a structure in your DNA and genes are a structure in your brain
cause that's how brains remember things
In simple terms, every time your brain
up here, not here
stores a piece of informat-
(laughing)
... stores a memory, it creates a structure of brain cells to store that information in
kind of like a computer with zeros and ones but ... also not
Therefore, if you pass something from your brain to somebody else's brain
then they get the same structure in their brain
meaning, that that structure, or that meme, has reproduced itself just like DNA does
So right now if you are remembering my face then there is a Luke shaped meme going on inside your brain
which means that I have fulfilled my lifelong dream to become a meme
And literally, inside my brain right now there is a brain structure for the 'how bout that' girl and dabbing and harambe
Harambe lives on inside us all
So while things like planking and grumpy cat are technically memes
the real 1976 definition of memes is just a piece of information that transports between people
so in the 70s, a meme would've looked a bit more like
'If you squeeze the top and then pull it down, then you open it without messing up the banana!'
'Cool banana peeling meme'
Or-or anything you learned at school was a meme
And so that is pythagorus's theorum
'Pretty dank meme you've got there, miss'
Even religion is technically a meme
'In the name of the father, the son, and the holy meme, amen'
'And the holy meme, amen'
The idea that a man came to earth to save everybody from their sins is an idea that
was passed from generation to generation which means that jesus.. was a meme
Pretty successful meme
Jesus was a pretty dank meme!
So the next time somebody asks you if you've seen any good memes lately
why not show them the recipe for stew your mum taught you or a new way of playing golf
or just a picture of harambe you have on the back of your toilet door
And remember, you've been spreading memes for your entire life, before you even knew they existed
So well done, you are, and you will always be
The Meme Queen
(clapping)
... it's going on too long now isn't it?
(still clapping)
I can carry on
Just like last time I'd like to give you an option for what video you'd like to see next
because I like giving you an oppurtunity to rule my life
you dictator
so if you'd like to see a video about all the embarrassing things that I believed were true when I was a child
then click here
And if you would like to hear about that one time I accidentally did loads of drugs uhh...
click here
It;s not as bad as it sounds I swear
Ok, if you enjoyed the video please give it a thumbs up
subcribe to my channel and click one of the options
(singing)