Species made out of information instead of matter. Memetic lifeforms are often hybrids of organic and digital informational processors that are believed to have evolved from wild ecosystems known as infospheres into carefully constructed "civilizations," such as a Dataplex. These lifeforms are generated by the interlinked and cross-woven neural networks, (information) processors and and data (memory) stores, banks, silos, fields and mines that intermingle to form the datafabric of informational reality.
Memetic lifeforms are seen as the next stage past multicellular life in a hierarchy of evolution described by Dutch Biologist Gerard Jagers:
"Following after the ‘memons’, the multicellulars with a neural network, Jagers predicts that the next closure will lead to a life form in which the transfer of the blueprint by means of genes is replaced with the transfer of knowledge and collective experience by so-called ‘memes’.
"In Jagers’ view, memes are codes that determine the structure of the brain. In turn, the structure of the brain determines someone’s knowledge. In this way, memes are carriers of brain structure and the corresponding knowledge, just like genes are carriers of protein recipes and the corresponding cell physiology.
"The next life form will not necessarily develop by means of biological evolution: as far as Jagers is concerned, a machine that shows intelligent behaviour based on a neural network fulfils the definition of life. If this system can then also pass on its memory to the next generation then this involves a new step in evolution. "However, for the time being such robots still need humans to build them."" - Radboud University Nijmegen. "Next step in evolution? A technical life form that passes on knowledge and experience." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 September 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100903072649.htm>.
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