Name: There Is No Antimemetics Division
ISBN: 9780593983751

There Is No Antimemetics Division

qntm · 2008

(from back cover) An antimeme is an idea with self-censoring properties; an idea which, by its intrinsic nature, discourages or prevents people from spreading it. Antimemes are real. Think of any piece of information which you wouldn't share with anybody, like passwords, taboos and dirty secrets. Or any piece of information which would be difficult to share even if you tried: complex equations, very boring passages of text, large blocks of random numbers, and dreams... But anomalous antimemes are another matter entirely. How do you contain something you can't record or remember? How do you fight a war against an enemy with effortless, perfect camouflage, when you can never even know that you're at war? Welcome to the Antimemetics Division. No, this is not your first day.

What Hacker News says

satvikpendemSep 2026

Speaking of memetics and favorite books, check out There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm who also wrote some seminal short stories including the one that inspired the Alex Garland show Devs. The book is about how to deal with beings that make you forget you ever saw then, a sort of opposite mind virus.

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0xB0DSep 2026

Gnomon

Just finished "there is no antimemetics division" an absolutely astounding read

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ethbr1Aug 2026

The author's "There is no Antimemetics Division" series (set in the SCP world) is stellar too. Nav up a few levels on their site.

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edanmJul 2026

Yes! I immediately thought of this.

And as a bonus reference - this all reminds me a lot of the book "There Is No Antimemetics Division".

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satvikpendemMay 2026

The show is based on a story by qntm [0] (which I submitted before to HN but sadly got no traction) who also wrote a great book recently called There Is No Antimemetics Division, to rave reviews on HN.

[0] https://qntm.org/responsibilit

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gravypodApr 2026

Do you have any recommendations for science fiction books that explore interesting ideas?

There is no Antimemetics Division was really interesting in how some of the scenarios play out. I don't read much but I've been trying to do that more. I really liked the book.

Things like the memory consuming entity, async research, etc I enjoyed.

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