Antimemetics

03 Jan, 2026

I recently finished Nadia Asparouhova's Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading.

It's a breezy read that explores how ideas transmit through internet cultures.

One of the more interesting sections explored the role of private group chats as proverbial 'safe spaces' in which people can (1) workshop ideas before sharing them with the world, and (2) meme them into existence with the help of coordinated bandwagoning in the comments.

This strikes me as one of the more important 'cowpaths' to understand.

The antimeme value chain. The assembly line that manufactures interest in ideas.

I wish Antimemetics had dove a bit deeper on it.

For instance, I think Marc Andreessen said the quiet part out loud when he substacked On Availability Cascades.

a16z has been vocal about building a parallel media ecosystem that circumvents legacy media. Its portfolio companies¹—whether by accident or design—are distribution channels for certain strains of thought.

Farcaster² became one of the vanguards for the promulgation of the party line.

Whether it was the e/acc weirdness, the obsession with 'revealed preference', or the guests on Moment of Zen³, the availability cascade of ideas was manifestly downstream of group chats.

Farcaster had a small, but dedicated community of people who would bandwagon ideas. In some part this is likely to have been because many of them are 'builders' who want access to the a16z funding tap.⁴

But the notion that one's attention is being directed by the owners and directors of content factories like Facebook, TikTok, and X⁵—and their hangers-on in the group chats—should encourage you to stop spending time on the platforms.

And for the eager beavers in the group chats, give C.S. Lewis' the Inner Ring a read.

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