The Memetic Engineering of Anonymous, the Cyberterrorist Group

Abstract

This paper applies the theory of memetic engineering to a cyberterrorist group: Anonymous. Anonymous was created on the Internet and is a decentralized community that has no leaders. Memetic engineering, a theoretical concept developed by Richard Dawkins (1976), posits that memes (units of cultural transmission) are diffused through cultural channels (e.g., traditional media, social networking sites, etc.) to infect minds that, in turn, will replicate those memes themselves. Memetic engineering is about memetic replication. Memes can be anything from smiley faces to evil ideas. Members of Anonymous operate in (online) disguise and have been known to transmit terrorist memes through online channels such as imageboards, chatrooms, and even YouTube videos.