Nadia Asparouhova
@nayafia
cloudcat // new book about ideas that don’t spread: https://darkforest.metalabel.com/antimemetics
I wrote a new book! It's called ANTIMEMETICS: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading, and it's about ideas that don't want to be shared or remembered, despite their importance. Now available for pre-order: darkforest.metalabel.com/antimemetics
one way to understand the clash of the two cultures (SF vs NY) is that SF will tolerate bad writing if the ideas are good and NY will tolerate bad ideas if the writing is good
Until I read @nayafia's Antimemetics, I didn't realize how well some topics hog my attention. Such topics are "supermemes" and they have a surprising ability to suck us in for prolonged periods. Think: war, wokeness, climate change, AI risk, birth rates, etc.
halfway thru & love this book, brilliant work @nayafia have been reading w one specific curiosity in mind - why is the joy of parenthood so antimemetic, especially in SF / tech circles? this concept has fascinated me ever since I became a mom. how could this thing that made my…
Ok, a few reflections on the book: 1. qntm defines antimemes as self-erasing information, but this book has a different (but related) definition of the concept: antimemes are (a) high-impact and (b) low transmissibility. Roughly, they are "important secrets". 2. The low…
Reading @nayafia’s latest. Incredibly good.
I talked to @nayafia about why ideas matter, how they infect us, and why attention is upstream of action. Nadia Asparouhova's new book Antimemetics is, to name a few things: - part-modern history and sociology of the public/private internet - part-framework for understanding…
Ep. 22: Nadia Asparouhova - Ideas that Infect Nadia Asparouhova (@nayafia) is a writer and researcher who has spent much of her career in service of the question: 'what's happening here?' across various parts of the internet. Nadia recently published her newest book,…
Something I'm worried about with AI is that it is the final boss of what @andy_matuschak calls "displacement behaviors, ways of not sitting with the problem." I see it in my own writing process. If I'm stuck, I'll just go over to ChatGPT or Claude and ask about something instead…
Pretty excited to finally get my hands on @nayafia’s new book. Beautifully designed. Can’t wait to read.
the best way to fight the constant pull of twitter is to always have a book you’re hooked on antimemetics by @nayafia is my current one
LETS GOOOOOOO So excited for this @nayafia 🫡 Well done @metalabel_ & @ystrickler
religion and politics may be two big areas to find many such anti-memes from today's @InfiniteL88ps episode with @nayafia and @jposhaughnessy
I spent 18 months researching @foundersfund. "No Rivals" is the result. A 35,000-word series, released over the next four weeks. It’s a product of extensive research, interviews with more than a dozen key figures, and a detailed analysis of previously undisclosed returns.
Excited to share our latest episode with Nadia Asparouhova! Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading Some ideas spread like wildfire. Others vanish before they take root—too strange, too threatening, too forgettable. In this episode of The Generalist, I sit down with…
My anti-antimemetic protocol--one way to consistently recall ideas that seem eager to slip my mind is to paste them into this network for future reference and conversation. From the terrific new book by @nayafia, the secret way to read her book Working in Public.
I didn't realize that Cringe was a modern invention until reading @nayafia's awesome new book, Antimemetics.
Good news / bad news: to achieve everything you've ever wanted, all you have to do is face your biggest fear.
great framework from @nayafia's new book antimemetics: supermemes characterized by "a strange inability to forget" because they touch (1) strongly-held values (2) existential risks and (3) a lack of specificity blueprint to x dot com, politics, vibe shifts etc in general