Epigenetics of media processes 187 to mimetics, epigenetics, a science under genetics, that can be called epimimetics: a science under mimetics, which studies the transmission of memes in society33. It is a power that people can use to transform society. It is more important to regulate, in the cybernetic sense of the term, than to control. Regulation is the role of epigenetics with respect to our body and that of epimimetics regarding society. This conception of epigenetics, in its social aspect as epimimetics, helps us to advance the discussion on cross-cutting themes. The work carried out by colleagues in the area found and addressed cross-cutting themes as important concepts for understanding mediatization. What we seek here is to delve into the hidden areas of the themes to better understand how memes modify media processes without disturbing their origi- nal structure, their DNA. Considering that the DNA of media processes is the one that characterizes the communication process, that is, a speaker, a discourse, and a listener, we question how and through which mechanism memes, throughout history, have been qualifying this process. As society evolved, new elements were associ- ated and made explicit. The concern has always been linked to the sender of the message’s role, who had a leading role in the process, from North American Functionalism to the Frankfurt School. Jesús Martín-Barbero tried to break the chain by intro- ducing the concept of mediation34. However, even in this case, the sender had the leading role in the emission - although it did not definitively determine the understanding and action of the receiver. Our hypothesis is that today a new element is imposing itself with the rapid development of social media. The relation- ship between sender, message, and receiver is changing with the end of mediation35. Each person is the protagonist of the process. Everyone is a sender and a receiver. Joël de Rosnay calls this situation prosumer (English word formed from producer 33 Ibid. 34 MARTÍN-BARBERO, Jesús. De los médios a las mediaciones. Barcelona: Gustavo Gil, 1987. 35 See my book: Dos meios à midiatização...
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