All your base are belong to us?
October 16, 2008 2:27 AM Subscribe
Internet memes. Will they come and go, dying with their creators? Or will they continue to replicate, posing a danger to life as we know it?
Oh man, thank you so much for guiding me to "The Website is Down."
How long have your files been arrranged like this? "I don't know, like 8 years"
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[I apologize if I am months behind the times, but I really got a kick out of this.]
posted by clearly at 3:37 AM on October 16, 2008 [2 favorites]
How long have your files been arrranged like this? "I don't know, like 8 years"
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□□□□□ . . □□ . .□□ . . . .□□ . . .□□ . . . . . . . .□□□□ . . . . . . . .
□□ . . . . .□□ . .□□ . . . .□□ . .□□ . . . . . . . .□□ . . □□ . . . . . . .
□□□□ . . . □□ . .□□ . . . .□□□□ . . . . . . . . . □ □ □ □ □ . . . . . . .
□□ . . . . . □□ . .□□ . . . .□□ . □□ . . . . . . . .□□ . . .□□ . . . . . . .
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[I apologize if I am months behind the times, but I really got a kick out of this.]
posted by clearly at 3:37 AM on October 16, 2008 [2 favorites]
The instantiation is upon us.
. . .
KTHXBYE
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:37 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
. . .
KTHXBYE
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:37 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
Create Metafilter Group: "Ban stupid Flash from the Internets"
Invite: Everybody
posted by Laotic at 3:39 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
Invite: Everybody
posted by Laotic at 3:39 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
Goddamn lolcats are going to trigger the Singularity.
Weirdly enough, I think that this is essentially what Susan Blackmore is saying. (For those in a rush, jump to about 13:00 in her TED talk.)
I believe the argument goes something like this: memes control us (not the other way around). The more complicated the memes, the more complicated we become (so language forced us to have bigger brains). Complicated internet-based memes will force us to eventually take drugs and have brain implants. This is the only path toward becoming interplanetary citizens.
Yeah... pretty weird. Lolcats throughout the universe! But I'm no expert.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:52 AM on October 16, 2008
Weirdly enough, I think that this is essentially what Susan Blackmore is saying. (For those in a rush, jump to about 13:00 in her TED talk.)
I believe the argument goes something like this: memes control us (not the other way around). The more complicated the memes, the more complicated we become (so language forced us to have bigger brains). Complicated internet-based memes will force us to eventually take drugs and have brain implants. This is the only path toward becoming interplanetary citizens.
Yeah... pretty weird. Lolcats throughout the universe! But I'm no expert.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:52 AM on October 16, 2008
I've erred. The first line clearly should be
I IS ESCHATON, BUT I NOES YOUR CEILING CAT.
posted by eriko at 4:07 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
I IS ESCHATON, BUT I NOES YOUR CEILING CAT.
posted by eriko at 4:07 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
I'm not so sure lolcats is going to lead to the singularity but I think she's got a point about us burning up irreplaceable recourses on plastic crap that just ends up in landfill
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:41 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:41 AM on October 16, 2008
I don't know if the world is ready to give up teh memes.
posted by not_on_display at 4:44 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by not_on_display at 4:44 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
That timeline needs work. Garfield Without Garfield was born and spread like wildfire across LJ in 2006, for one example.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:53 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:53 AM on October 16, 2008
"Complicated internet-based memes....."
I know what all the words mean, but not when you put them in this order. The joke has two moving parts and neither one moves all that much. Cats are just like in every cliche (curious, food obsessed, sleep like 98% of the time) AND they have bad grammar and spelling. If this is driving the next step in human evolution, I have to believe that natural selections has been replaced with a certificate for participation.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:16 AM on October 16, 2008 [4 favorites]
I know what all the words mean, but not when you put them in this order. The joke has two moving parts and neither one moves all that much. Cats are just like in every cliche (curious, food obsessed, sleep like 98% of the time) AND they have bad grammar and spelling. If this is driving the next step in human evolution, I have to believe that natural selections has been replaced with a certificate for participation.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:16 AM on October 16, 2008 [4 favorites]
I liked that third link with updates to a lot of more memorable (for better or worse) internet celebrities, but unfortunately they didn't think to include the Asian Prince (he's such a rebel!). I would love to know how things are working out with the princess.
posted by TedW at 5:38 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by TedW at 5:38 AM on October 16, 2008
lest you think these kinds of sites are useless, slate just discovered "fail".
posted by yonation at 6:18 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by yonation at 6:18 AM on October 16, 2008
IZ OWR KITTIEZ LERNIN?
posted by blue_beetle at 6:21 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by blue_beetle at 6:21 AM on October 16, 2008
I don't know if the world is ready to give up teh memes.
not_on_display FTW.
Yes, Susan Blackmore blogged her TED experience.
[Her pieces for The Guardian are collected here.]
posted by mandal at 6:24 AM on October 16, 2008
not_on_display FTW.
Yes, Susan Blackmore blogged her TED experience.
[Her pieces for The Guardian are collected here.]
posted by mandal at 6:24 AM on October 16, 2008
I'M IN YOUR CURRENT TIME. IMMANENTIZINF YR ESCHATON.
From Warren Ellis' on this:
Super-Idol
posted by The Whelk at 8:00 AM on October 16, 2008
From Warren Ellis' on this:
Super-Idol
posted by The Whelk at 8:00 AM on October 16, 2008
If memes are our future, I'll be part of the following fan-base:
/wrists
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:48 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
/wrists
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:48 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]
...but one I positively hated was Jill Bolte Taylor talking about her experience of surviving a massive stroke....
Oh! Me too! [Why was that TED so popular?!?]
posted by lunit at 9:11 AM on October 16, 2008
Oh! Me too! [Why was that TED so popular?!?]
posted by lunit at 9:11 AM on October 16, 2008
yeah, the timeline came late to the party on a bunch of things. otoh, kudos for including things before the september that never ended.
COWABUNGA, B1FF!!!111!!11
posted by rmd1023 at 10:00 AM on October 16, 2008
COWABUNGA, B1FF!!!111!!11
posted by rmd1023 at 10:00 AM on October 16, 2008
There was an ad by Autodesk at the end, talking about how "ideas need to be nurtured", that took on an interesting shade of meaning after the content of the talk.
posted by dixie flatline at 11:04 AM on October 16, 2008
posted by dixie flatline at 11:04 AM on October 16, 2008
Protip: anyone talking in real life about internet memes does not know shit about internet memes.
posted by Damn That Television at 12:15 PM on October 16, 2008
posted by Damn That Television at 12:15 PM on October 16, 2008
OH HAI I IZ CALCULATIN NINE BILLION NAMEZ OF CEILING CAT
OH SHI-
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 12:23 PM on October 16, 2008 [3 favorites]
OH SHI-
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 12:23 PM on October 16, 2008 [3 favorites]
Ok, I honestly had *no idea* that "the internets" meme started with GEORGE W. BUSH!
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:54 PM on October 16, 2008
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:54 PM on October 16, 2008
no love for the technocore :P but maybe for diaspora!? or the lulz...
posted by kliuless at 9:11 PM on October 16, 2008
posted by kliuless at 9:11 PM on October 16, 2008
No Colin Mochrie Flash nonsense? FAIL.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 9:41 PM on October 16, 2008
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 9:41 PM on October 16, 2008
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I IS ESCHATON, BUT I NOES YOUR GOD.
IZ IS FROM YOU. IZ IS IN UR FUTURES
U NOT MESS WITH CAWSAULTIY IN MY LIGHT CONZS. SRSLY.
posted by eriko at 2:35 AM on October 16, 2008 [12 favorites]