I've been wondering this as I watch the cult of the viral idea spread across the blogosphere -- or maybe, at this point, the memesphere.

For the online cognoscenti, memes have become self-conscious tools for waggish fun. Thanks to technology, one nifty notion can globally infect tens of thousands of nerds within hours.

Do memes really signify the death of meaningful information, or just a bit of symbiotic fun?

One way or another, viral ideas affect the thoughtscape, dude. They change it, they push it, they retard it.

Some think this unchecked replication will inevitably bite its own tail, transforming culture in a giant, cannibalistic meme.

Me, I like to hope that technology will take memesis to the next level, transforming it into an outsider's method of creating culture, one that moves too fast to become homogenized.