This term was coined by Dawkins in his books The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker. On p. 158 of the latter book, he defines a meme as: "[A]pattern of information that can thrive only in brains or the artificially manufactured products of brains, books, computers, [etc.]. [These replicators] can propagate themselves from brain to brain, from brain to book, from book to brain, from brain to computer [etc.]. As they propagate they can change -- mutate. These mutants may be able to exert a kind of influence that affects their own likelihood of being propagated."