&gt; The crucial thing with genes is that they are &quot;binary&quot;, you either get a gene from a parent, or not. Mutations happen, but they produce new genes. Genes are &quot;immortal&quot; (exist for many, many generations in identical form). Memes, on the other hand, are not binary in this way. Ideas constantly change, and we can&#x27;t reduce them to a binary code.<p>Memes are not ideas, they are behaviors. They are either preserved exactly (like genes) or something modifies them to create a new replicable behavior (again, like genes.) The difference you attempt to paint here is spurious.