Learn · Lesson 2 of 5 · ~3 min
What Makes a Copy Win
Some ideas vanish overnight. Some outlive everyone who first had them. Dawkins had a theory why.
Anything that makes copies of itself is a replicator. Genes are replicators. So, Dawkins argued, are memes. And replicators that succeed tend to share three traits:
Longevity: it lasts. A copy that sticks around has more chances to be copied again. A melody you can’t forget beats one you hum once.
Fecundity: it spreads fast. The more copies made from each copy, the faster it takes over. A joke everyone retells the same day outruns one saved for the perfect moment.
Copying-fidelity: it survives copying. If every copy comes out garbled, the original is lost. Short, simple, repeatable ideas keep their shape. That’s why slogans are short and choruses repeat.
Notice what’s not on the list: being true, useful, or good. A meme doesn’t need to help you to spread through you. That’s the unsettling part of the idea, and we’ll come back to it in Lesson 5.
Memes don’t win by being right. They win by being copied.
Try it
Think of a song chorus you can’t get out of your head. Score it 1–5 on each trait: how long it has stuck (longevity), how many people you’ve heard sing it (fecundity), how exactly people repeat it (fidelity). High on all three? That’s a champion replicator.
Quick check
What is a replicator?
Anything that makes copies of itself.
Name the three traits.
Longevity, fecundity, and copying-fidelity.
Does a meme have to be true to spread?
No. It only has to be copied.