The human being, characterized by a remarkable ability to process information, has extended his phenotype further than any other species. Complex tools and technologies are an integral part of our evolutionary "fitness".

Human evolution is fundamentally intertwined with technological development; the two can not be considered apart from one another. Humanity has co-evolved with its artifacts; genes that are not able to cope with this reality will not survive the next millenium.

As an analogy to the building blocks of biology, the genes, memes desribe cultural units of information, cognitive behavioral patterns that propagate and replicate themselves through communication. From the "bio-adapter" of language as a proto-meme to the "infosphere" of global networks as the ultimate habitat for the human mind.

The discussion is intended to probe specific segments of the techno-cultural revolution against the background of the idea of a "culturally based history of creation". This is not to develop new utopias, but rather critically assess the current scenario, which promises the fulfillment of long prophesied visions of the future.

• The possibility of the emergence of a post-biological, cyberorganic line of evolution out of universal binary code systems, of which the first protozoans have names like Internet, Cyberspace and I-way.

• As the biological body coincides with its mechanical and now informational clone as well, neurobionic, robotic prosthetics question our relationship to the body and to gender; cyborg theory and cyberobdy fetish as response.

• Media memory - the collective memory and experience of humanity externalized in world-wide networks. Memes, as a "mass crystal", the identification and integration of virtual communities that gather only in network interfaces.

Memes, the cognitive pixels as a blueprint for the cultural practice of sampling, of the universal "copy and paste", which hast emerged from the new conditions of media.

Memesis: a synonym for the current process of compression, for the convergence of various developmental vectors, which achieve a breakthrough as a whole.

In 1996, the activities of the Ars Electronica will be starting long before the actual festival. Beginning in March, the topics for discussion presented under the title"Memesis - The Future of Evolution" will be the focal point for a network symposium.

The reality of global networking has come to be taken for granted, at least in our culture, and no program on media art and theory can avoid it at the moment: in this symposium it becomes itself the scene of events.

Beginning with keynote statements from invited experts, a discussion process is to be initiated, which will spread out in the networks, spur varying directions of thought on the topic and polarize opinions. As preparation for the "real" symposium, this will provide the basis for a new format for this event.