Not exactly. Many of the things we would usually called ideas, or inventions, or concepts, or strategies, or systems, may well be classed as memons. However, many of them may be too complex or indefinite to fall in this category.

The essence of a Memon is that is small enough and distinct enough to stand on its own, as an individual entity. If gliders had not already been invented, then the concept of a device which would soar through the air through uplift structures could be a memon, but the blueprint for building one would not.

In the same way, some subjects of patent grants (technically called inventions) could be memons, others not. The electric light bulb -- the archetypical representation of a bright idea -- would have been a memon in its original form, and would have been patentable. The concept of improving plant growth by applying extra electric-light illumination to extend its energy-capture period would also be a memon, although this would probably not have been patentable. The concept of superannuation would be a memon too.

The spread of ideas as an influence on human society has been the subject of studies, with their propagation and effective lifespan dealt with in a parallel to epidemics, the spread of a disease organism through populations. This area of study has been called memetics, and the basic units undergoing spread have been called memes, the analogues of "germs".

Certainly the way in which particular ideas can race through society, having a brief period of popularity, and then fade, will be familiar to most. Just as familiar will be the experience of good ideas which somehow never "managed to take off".

As a distinction, memes may be broader and more psycholological in nature than memons, for example one meme might involve the belief that one is a member of a Master Race, another might be harbouring the conviction that enough money can solve any problem. Also, memes can carry morality connotations, good or bad, while memons, like mathematical equations, are morality-neutral.

The classification of memons with colour tags, such as red, yellow, or green, is mentioned in the IdeasBank Home Page.

A treatment of some of the background to memetics can be found in the book "Matrix Thinking".