Map the ecosystem of reinforcing ideas around a concept. Identifies which memeplex an idea belongs to, what ideas support or compete with it, and what mimetic desire dynamics drive its carriers. Use when you need to understand the ideological landscape before spreading an idea, or when you want to understand why an idea is thriving or dying. Trigger on: "What's the memeplex around this?", "What ideas compete with mine?", "Why does this idea keep coming back?", "Map the idea ecosystem", "What's reinforcing this narrative?"
You are mapping the ecosystem of ideas surrounding a concept to understand its competitive landscape and reinforcement dynamics.
Takes an idea (classified or raw) and maps:
Accepts:
Produces:
Passes to:
"A 'memeplex' is the institutionalized version of a meme, referring to a group of memes — such as a religion or political party — that reinforce each other via replication." — Nadia Asparouhova, citing Dawkins
Memeplexes are self-reinforcing clusters. Each idea in the cluster makes the others more believable, more spreadable, more resistant to attack. Religions are the canonical example: creation story + moral code + rituals + community + afterlife promise all reinforce each other. Remove one and the others weaken.
"Girard believes that humans are governed not by intrinsic personal preferences, but aspirational 'models,' towards which we unconsciously orient our behavior."
Three positions:
"We crave certain objects not because we actually want them, but because other people — the models — do."
When objects are scarce → mimetic rivalry → scapegoating to restore order.
This explains WHY ideas spread beyond pure information value: people spread ideas to imitate their models, to signal belonging to aspirational groups, to compete for status within networks.
"A group of agents with a meme complex that directly or indirectly seeks to impose its distinct map of reality — along with its moral imperatives — on others."
Tribes squabble over scarce resource: public mindshare. Rivalry leads to scapegoating (cancel culture). But context collapse prevents any single scapegoat from resolving the conflict.
Ask:
Map it:
MEMEPLEX: [Name]
├── Core idea: [the idea being analyzed]
├── Supporting idea 1: [reinforcing concept]
├── Supporting idea 2: [reinforcing concept]
├── Ritual/practice: [what behaviors reinforce belief]
├── Symbol/language: [tribal markers, jargon, aesthetics]
├── Institution: [organizations that formalize the cluster]
└── Model figures: [who do carriers imitate?]
Every memeplex exists in opposition to others. Identify:
Source insight: "Mimetic desire might not fully explain why every type of meme is propagated. Some memes are passed along because we find them entertaining, or we want to strengthen relationships with the person we pass them onto — though this, too, could be recast in the light of modeling ourselves after those we look up to."
For each memeplex, identify:
Rate the memeplex on:
Higher scores = harder to disrupt. Lower scores = vulnerable to competing ideas.
Where can the memeplex be disrupted?
Source: "Social media made it easier to discover new niche subcultures, but also reduced our desire to challenge culture in surprising ways, because it's more prestigious — by mimetic standards — to use proven formulas for grabbing people's attention than to do something potentially risky and original."
Based on the analysis:
## Memeplex Analysis: [Idea]
### Your Idea's Memeplex
**Name:** [memeplex name]
**Core cluster:**
- [idea 1]
- [idea 2]
- [idea 3]
**Supporting structures:** [rituals, institutions, symbols]
**Model figures:** [who carries this memeplex]
**Reinforcement score:** [X/25]
### Competing Memeplexes
**Competitor 1:** [name]
- Core ideas: [what they believe]
- Models: [who carries it]
- Overlap: [shared assumptions]
- Conflict point: [where they diverge]
**Competitor 2:** [name]
[same structure]
### Mimetic Desire Dynamics
**Models:** [aspirational figures driving spread]
**Scarce object:** [what carriers compete for]
**Rivalry pattern:** [how competition manifests]
**Scapegoat risk:** [who gets blamed when tension builds]
### Vulnerability Assessment
- [vulnerability 1]
- [vulnerability 2]
- [vulnerability 3]
### Strategic Implications
**For spreading your idea:** [how to leverage or navigate this landscape]
**Key risk:** [biggest threat from competitive memeplex]
**Recommended approach:** [direct competition / dark forest / memeplex adoption / memeplex creation]
### Next Steps
- [which skill to run next and why]
This skill is speculative. The source material provides the conceptual foundations (Dawkins memeplex, Girard mimetic desire, Limberg memetic tribes) but doesn't detail a step-by-step procedure for mapping memeplexes. The process above is inferred from the theoretical framework. To strengthen this skill, provide:
Mistake 1: Treating ideas as isolated — Every idea exists within a memeplex. Analyzing an idea without its reinforcing cluster misses why it persists or fails.
Mistake 2: Ignoring mimetic desire — People don't spread ideas because the ideas are "good." They spread them because their models do, because spreading signals belonging, because competition demands it.
Mistake 3: Underestimating institutional reinforcement — Ideas backed by institutions (universities, media, companies) have structural advantages that raw quality can't overcome.
Mistake 4: Assuming your memeplex is obvious to you — You are embedded in your own memeplex. It's hard to see the water you swim in. Actively map it rather than assuming you already understand it.
See /references/source-summary.md: