#53 | Antimemetics (Part I)

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#53 | Antimemetics (Part I) - Substack Live

Thoughts from reading Nadia's book!

, and

Oct 25, 2025

, and I got together to discuss

’s book, Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading, which was published by

earlier this past March 2025. Here are some highlights from the conversation:

• Johnathan:

“Originally we were going to write six essays for the six chapters.” [Dan then shakes head sadly.]
What resonated with me: “I’m part of a DC Gaming Group and I’ve seen this firsthand: people who come in hot with spicy takes and cause discord need to be culled from the garden!” These bad actors must be exited because they disrupt social harmony and group cohesion. 💯!! Walled gardens and gatekeeping for the win!! (This is why Costco is so great!!) 🔥
One thing I disagreed with: “Truth tellers are only as good as the truth they’re trying to tell. A lot of people on Substack are just regurgitating points that they find on Twitter and copying other people’s ideas.”

• Robert:

What resonated with me: “People who retreat to the cozyweb and abdicate the commons are all cowards! We need to fight for the social commons!! ✊ I’ve never bought into the ‘dark forest’ model and never will. I believe in what I believe; I follow POSSE and everything I’ve ever tweeted is on my site for all to see.”
One thing I disagreed with: “Nadia seems to really valorize ‘truth tellers’, Whose truth are we talking about? I agree with Dan— being a ‘truth teller’ is more just a marketing gimmick. Under the guise of truth telling (“telling it straight, how it is!”) demagogues and chaotic-neutral types can agglomerate power from the disaffected. Rather, I’m much more Singaporean in my value system; I value and believe in conformity. Obviously, I love America and choose to live here. But many Asian countries —because of their ‘tall grass gets the scythe’ model— actually offer much more comfortable, safe, and cohesive living ecosystems (if you are in-distribution). America is the land of the shameless with everyone doing their own thing. In America, the ‘squeaky wheel gets the grease’ which —despite many advantages— also has its own many problems.”

• Dan:

What resonated with me: “‘Twitter is a Gladiator sport.’ Like, you see someone post something on Twitter and then within five minutes there’s a swarm of people commenting and engaging. How do they do that? When I post something, it’s crickets!” Turns out there’s an entire underbelly/underground of offline coordination! It’s “a loosely organized cabal”. These people already all know each other! Much of social media (especially the big accounts replying and quote-posting each other) is just a sham of people appearing to “independently” voice the same mindset and spirit to give the veneer of legitimacy.
One thing I disagreed with: “Everyone is living in group chats? What? That’s not my reality. It’s not how I operate or how anyone I know operates.”