Web3 Reading Series (1): From Cultural Genes to Memecoins

Tao Yuanming once wrote: “It is good to read books, but do not seek deep understanding; when you have an insight, you can forget about eating.” Here, “do not seek deep understanding” carries a meaning very different from its modern interpretation—making it a fitting opening for this topic.

In the internet era, one curious pattern stands out: words spread far faster than people’s actual understanding of them. By the time certain terms become widely popular, their original meanings often get diluted, altered, or completely transformed. “Meme” is now often reduced to cat and dog pictures, “PUA” is equated with emotional manipulation, and the “dark forest theory” is casually used to describe survival of the fittest in crypto circles. In truth, each of these ideas has a rich background worth revisiting.

This series aims to unpack such terms—exploring their origins and transformations—in a simple, engaging way.

Take “meme” for example. In Chinese internet culture, it’s almost synonymous with a “meme image,” yet the term predates the internet entirely. It was first introduced in 1976 by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene to describe how cultural ideas, customs, and information replicate and spread—much like genes—through imitation. I read this book shortly after the Chinese translation was released nearly twenty-five years ago. At its core, a meme isn’t about humor; it’s about replication, transmission, and evolution. The word itself combines the Greek mimeme (imitation) with “gene,” highlighting its biological analogy.

Long before the web, a meme could be a line of poetry, a tune, a philosophical concept, or a cinematic scene. For example, Su Dongpo’s verse, “Looking back at the desolate place, returning, there is neither wind nor rain, nor sunshine,” has endured for a thousand years—not because of genetic inheritance, but because people continually shared and imitated it. In this sense, poetry, scientific theories, and philosophies are all memes. Strong memes survive and spread; weak ones vanish—cultural survival of the fittest.

With the internet, replication and evolution happen at lightning speed. Every shared post, every viral catchphrase, is a meme in motion—the medium has simply shifted from word-of-mouth and print to instantaneous, global communication.

This dynamic also fuels a unique financial phenomenon in crypto: memecoins. Tokens like Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, and Pepe may lack advanced technology or intricate economic models, but they thrive on community consensus and the relentless spread of cultural symbols. Their prices can swing wildly, yet their growth mechanism mirrors that of classic memes—visibility, imitation, and conversation drive attention and capital inflows.

Here, memes evolve from cultural symbols into financial assets. What’s being replicated is not only humor, but also market value and wealth. Still, like biological genes, both memes and memecoins face natural selection—not all will stand the test of time. For investors, that means enthusiasm must be paired with careful judgment.