THE ERROR CATASTROPHE

MEMETICS, QUASISPECIES AND DISINFORMATION

Authors

  • Claudio Paixão Anastácio de Paula Federal University of Minas Gerais image/svg+xml
  • Jussara da Silva Rodrigues Federal University of Minas Gerais image/svg+xml

Keywords:

disinformation, memetics, social representations, epistemology of information, information and society

Abstract

This article proposes a theoretical dialogue between memetics, the Theory of Social Representations, and the Theory of Viral Quasispecies to understand the structure and propagation of disinformation within the field of Information Science. It is premised on the understanding that disinformation has structural characteristics that make it particularly suited to survival and propagation in contemporary informational ecosystems. The objective of this paper is the articulation between the concept of the meme as a cultural replicator, the central nucleus and peripheral system model of social representations, and the dynamics of viral quasispecies to offer a conceptual apparatus describing with greater precision the mechanisms of resilience and adaptability of disinformation. From a methodological standpoint, this is a theoretical essay of interdisciplinary nature, grounded in a literature review spanning memetics, social psychology, virology, and Information Science. The results indicate that disinformation operates through an affectively stabilized nucleus and an adaptive periphery that shields it from factual contestation, in a process analogous to that of viral quasispecies. Drawing on this structural homology, the article hypothesizes the possibility of inducing replicative collapse processes in disinformative memeplexes through planned informational interventions, here termed memetic error catastrophe, thereby contributing to expanding the theoretical and strategic repertoire of the field in countering disinformation.

Author Biographies

  • Claudio Paixão Anastácio de Paula, Federal University of Minas Gerais

    Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of São Paulo (2005), M.A. in Information Science from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1999), Bachelor’s degree in Psychology (Specialization in Clinical Psychology) from the Minas Gerais Foundation for Education and Culture (1994), and a Bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate in Psychology from the Minas Gerais Foundation for Education and Culture (1993). Professor in the Department of Information Theory and Management (DTGI) at the School of Information Science at UFMG. Coordinator of GEDII (Office for the Study of Information and the Imaginary). Collaborating researcher at Citcemda, University of Porto, Portugal.

  • Jussara da Silva Rodrigues, Federal University of Minas Gerais

    Ph.D. candidate in Information Science at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, where she is a member of the research group Gabinete de Estudos da Informação e do Imaginário (GEDII). She holds a master’s degree in Literary Studies from the “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” State University of São Paulo (2009). She earned her bachelor’s degree and teaching certification in Portuguese and French Language and Literature from the same institution (2005). She has been a copyeditor at Editora Universitária - Edufes, at the Federal University of Espírito Santo, since 2013. 

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Published

2026-11-13

Conference Proceedings Volume

2026: XXVI ENCONTRO NACIONAL DE PESQUISA E PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM CIÊNCIA DA INFORMAÇÃO

Section

GT 1 – Estudos Históricos e Epistemológicos da Ciência da Informação

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