From the movie ‘Inception’ by Christopher Nolan:
Cobb:
What’s the most resilient parasite?
A bacteria?
A virus?
An intestinal worm?
An idea.
Resilient, highly contagious.
Once an idea’s taken hold in the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate.
A person can cover it up, ignore it- but it stays there.
Saito:
But surely-to forget…?
Cobb:
Information, yes.
But an idea?
Fully formed, understood?
That sticks…
(taps forehead)
In there, somewhere..
True, am idea is a pattern which gets burned into the brain cells like data is stored as marks in computer storage devices.
Film V for Vendetta explored the concept of “idea” quite well.