This gets to the real core of my question: is there something about a meme (as opposed to an article or an idea or an artwork) that is better when it is watermark-free and allowed to morph in society?

Symbols are one thing: the cross, the dollar sign, even the concept of the hashtag...these things are used and obviously credit isn't needed every time they show up.

Artwork is more complex than a meme, I think. Something like Starry Night or View of Toledo is clearly something that should be credited -- although when people riff on them...like a mona lisa with a mustache it becomes less important maybe?

Memes are in between: they more expressive than a symbol and can be used in a wider range of contexts, but things like the midwit meme or laser eyes or rick rolling feel like they lose something if they have attributions on them. It's almost like memes need to have the attribution stripped from them in order to really succeed.

It's a tricky line. I usually put a pretty obvious whale 🐋 on my bitcoin movie posters, the more meme-like images I make I try to find an excuse to work my whale or scoresby into it in some slightly subtle way if I'm going to watermark it. But honestly, I don't know that I can claim my images are meme-level.