An Unlikely History of the Internet Through Our Obsession With Cats

In the early 2000s, people started posting cat photos every Saturday, and Caturday became one of the internet’s first recurring traditions. When online video took off, cats became some of its first viral stars. Then memes arrived, and once again, cats were everywhere. Long before any of this, Richard Dawkins had coined the word “meme” in 1976 to describe an idea that spreads from person to person, changing as it travels. The internet gave that process an entirely new scale. A joke could be copied, changed and passed between millions of strangers, with each person adding something to it and, in the process, creating a culture and an understood language between people who had never met. Today, entire communities are built around memes, constantly making their own versions and deciding which jokes survive. Some of those jokes now have actual financial value. Dogecoin began as a meme and went on to become a cryptocurrency worth billions of dollars, while entire markets have since formed around coins built around internet jokes and the communities behind them. In this lecture, Dr. Peter Chow-White follows that history from Caturday and viral cat videos to memes and cryptocurrency, asking how something as ridiculous as a cat picture can become part of a shared culture, bring millions of strangers together and eventually become worth real money. Dr. Peter Chow-White is an SFU professor who has spent nearly two decades studying how the internet, social media and emerging technologies change the way we communicate. He is the co-editor of Race After the Internet and has given keynotes on everything from social media to blockchain and cryptocurrency. Agenda 6:00 PM doors open. Guests are welcome to arrive early, order drinks, and have dinner before the lecture begins. 7:00 PM lecture begins, followed by Q&A. 8:15 PM wrap up. Guests are welcome to stay for conversation and another drink.