Nadia Asparouhova, author of "Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading," joins me for a fascinating exploration of why some ideas go viral while others—often the most important ones—resist transmission entirely.

We dive into antimemes, Curtis Yarvin's journey from being canceled to becoming mainstream, St. Paul as history's ultimate memetic engineer, and why "Don't Mess with Texas" became a masterpiece of viral messaging. Plus her current research on advanced meditation techniques, internet dynamics, and MUCH MORE!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Nadia’s fall into the Antimemetics Rabbithole
Girardian Theory vs. Antimemetics
The Story of Curtis Yarvin
How Subcultures Form and Coalesce
Engineering Supermemes
Why Maxims are Compressed Memes
The History of Antimemes
Truth Tellers and Meme Spreading
Gaining Immunity from Memetic Viruses
Nadia’s Jhana Journey
Nadia as Empress of the World

Books Mentioned:

Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading; by Nadia Asparouhova
Virus of the Mind; by Richard Brodie
There Is No Antimemetics Division; by qntm
Steal This Book; by Abbie Hoffman
Collective Illusions; by Todd Rose
How to Change Your Mind; by Michael Pollan
Thank You for Smoking; by Christopher Buckley
Last Chance to See; by Douglas Adams

The Speech Writer

Mentioned by

Mentioned in 1 episodes

The AI-powered Podcast Player