Footnotes

A capsid is the outer protein shell of a virus, responsible for protecting the internal operating system of the virus, detecting suitable surrounding carriers for viral infection (i.e. cell walls) and for forming an opening into the suitable carriers. In memetics, the capsid is referring to the casing of a meme, or the point of [...]

The interesting thing is that if computer viruses had been more widespread in the seventies when Richard Dawkins wrote this book, he might have used viruses and worms as a depiction of non-biological evolution rather than coining the term “meme.” See his speech here.
Return to Page