Navigating Anti-Memes and Super Memes

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Nadia Asparouhova. Nadia is a writer and thinker who explores the ideas that suffuse the tech world. She is the author of Working in Public, a book about the culture of open source software, as well as the forthcoming Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading. Antimemetics is a fascinating exploration of why some ideas are far less likely to spread than others—and how understanding this phenomenon can help us think more deeply about society.

Samuel and Nadia discuss her new book, diving into the concept of antimimetics, a taxonomy of antimemes, and how these ideas relate to public versus private communities. Their conversation covers supermemes—essentially the opposite of antimemes—as well as immunity to supermemes and even long-term thinking. More broadly, they touch on the tech world’s distinctiveness, tech as a social class, and the nature of philanthropy within the tech community.

Produced by⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christopher Gates⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music by Suno