Metamemetic Theory
The study of the higher-order rules and conditions that govern which memes spread and how meme ecosystems evolve. It doesn't look at individual memes, but at the "physics" of the memetic environment: platform algorithms that boost outrage, cognitive biases that make us susceptible to certain ideas, network structures that accelerate virality, and the evolution of anti-memes (ideas designed to suppress other ideas). It’s the ecology and epidemiology of thought itself.
Example: A Metamemetic Theory analysis of a political election wouldn't focus on a specific campaign slogan (a meme). Instead, it would model how the algorithmic amplification of anger on social media creates a fitness landscape where simplistic, divisive memes outperform complex, nuanced ones, systematically shaping the entire informational environment in which the election occurs.
Metamemetic Theory by Nammugal February 5, 2026
