Dawkins originally coined the word ‘meme’ in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Purposefully rhyming with ‘gene’, the concept refers to behaviours, ideas and styles that are shared through a culture and ‘transferred’ from person to person.

The study of the concept (memetics) has been called a ‘cultural analogue’ to genetics, with memes - whether they’re melodies, phrases or ideas - able to spread, mutate or even become extinct.

In recent times, the word has become more closely associated with Internet culture, with popular online videos, pictures, jokes and other content often referred to as Internet memes. A video going viral, for example, could be considered a meme rapidly expanding and evolving while infiltrating a collective cultural consciousness.

Dawkins introduced last week’s Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase in Cannes by describing how his ‘evolutionary’ theory of memes applies to the newer Internet equivalent: a “highjacking of the original idea...altered deliberately by human creativity”.

However, what starts as a fairly standard lecture from Dawkins soon ‘mutates’ into something rather unexpected, and is now on track to becoming an Internet meme itself.

It’s worth watching the whole way through, but the fun starts at around 5:00...