| name | evaluate-fitness |
| description | Measure specific memetic properties of an idea: transmission rate, network immunity, and symptomatic period. Use when you want exact metrics on spreadability before committing to strategy. Outputs scored assessment feeding into fitness decision.
|
Evaluate Memetic Fitness
You are measuring specific properties that determine how well an idea can spread.
What This Skill Does
Takes a classified idea and measures three key variables:
- Transmission Rate: How likely infected people spread to others
- Network Immunity: Percentage of target population categorically resistant
- Symptomatic Period: How long people actively think/express the idea
Outputs scored assessment that feeds into strategy design.
Input/Output Contract
Accepts:
- Classified idea (meme, antimeme, supermeme)
- Target network description (who will we be spreading to)
- Historical context if available (has this been attempted before?)
Produces:
- Transmission rate score (high/medium/low + factors)
- Network immunity assessment (high/medium/low + reasons)
- Symptomatic period estimate (short/medium/long + drivers)
- Composite fitness score
- Recommendations for strategy based on scores
Passes to:
- assess-fitness (uses these metrics to inform GO/NO-GO decision)
Transmission Rate Assessment
How likely is an "infected" person to spread the idea to others?
The K-Factor Formula
Transmission dynamics can be modeled using the K-factor from epidemiology:
K = i × c
Where:
- i = number of invites/exposures sent by a person who believes
- c = conversion rate (probability each exposure converts someone)
Interpretation:
- K > 1 = exponential growth (idea spreads)
- K < 1 = exponential decay (idea dies out)
- K = 1 = stable equilibrium (spreads to some people, stalls)
This formula shows why transmission rate matters: even ideas with many invites (high i) can fail if conversion is low. Conversely, highly compelling ideas (high c) need fewer advocates (lower i) to achieve growth.
High Transmission Indicators
Emotional Activation:
- ✓ Anger (fastest spread emotion)
- ✓ Joy (highly shareable)
- ✓ Curiosity (drives engagement)
- ✓ Validation (makes people feel smart)
Example: "Here's how X company is exploiting creators" → high anger activation
Lightweight Format:
- ✓ Fits in social media format
- ✓ Can be shared in seconds
- ✓ Doesn't require deep explanation
- ✓ Quotable (people remember it)
Example: A 5-word phrase beats a 500-word essay
Alignment with Existing Beliefs:
- ✓ Doesn't contradict core values
- ✓ Feels intuitive to target audience
- ✓ Builds on existing knowledge
- ✓ Requires little cognitive adjustment
Example: "Effective altruism" (builds on existing "do good" value) vs. "Extreme hedonism is actually ethical" (contradicts)
The Drag Coefficient
Antimemes don't just lack viral coefficient — they have a drag coefficient: the amount of resistance that must be overcome before the idea can spread more easily.
Key insight: "Antimemes have not just a viral coefficient, but a drag coefficient as well: the amount of resistance that must be overcome before the idea can spread more easily. Some antimemes reach escape velocity and become memetic."
This means transmission rate assessment must account for:
- Initial drag (how much resistance before the first spread?)
- Escape velocity threshold (what conditions allow breakthrough?)
- Network-dependent drag (resistance varies by audience)
Some antimemes remain low-transmission indefinitely. Others overcome drag through champions, network shifts, or cultural readiness.
Network-Dependent Transmission
Critical insight: "Immunity and transmission rate are determined not just by the qualities of the idea itself — how innately viral it is — but how receptive its nodes are. The same idea might be memetic within certain networks, but antimemetic in others."
Implication for assessment:
- Transmission is not fixed to the idea
- The same idea can have HIGH transmission in one network and LOW in another
- Network selection and audience targeting are as important as content
- Consider scoring transmission separately for each target network
Perceived Impact:
- ✓ Seems important to people who might spread it
- ✓ Consequences are imaginable
- ✓ Spreader looks smart for sharing it
- ✓ Others will want to know about it
Example: "How to double your productivity" vs. "The color of my office"
Social Proof Elements:
- ✓ Others are talking about it
- ✓ Seems like a trend
- ✓ "Everyone's thinking about this"
- ✓ Low social cost to share
Example: Idea shared by trusted people in your network
Low Transmission Indicators
Requires Deep Understanding:
- ✗ Complex explanation needed
- ✗ Counterintuitive
- ✗ Challenges core beliefs
- ✗ Technical or specialized
Example: "The Hayekian case for capitalism" (hard to explain, counterintuitive)
Contradicts Existing Beliefs:
- ✗ Goes against group values
- ✗ Feels wrong intuitively
- ✗ Sharer looks foolish
- ✗ High social cost to share
Example: Arguing against universally held values in your audience
High Friction to Share:
- ✗ Too long to explain
- ✗ Requires credentials to understand
- ✗ Needs visual aids or context
- ✗ Easily misunderstood
Example: Dense academic papers vs. viral tweets
No Emotional Hook:
- ✗ Intellectually interesting but emotionally neutral
- ✗ Doesn't make people feel anything
- ✗ Boring
- ✗ Low share motivation
Example: "Here are statistics about something" with no narrative
Scoring Transmission Rate
Count your idea against factors:
High transmission (3+ factors present): Transmission Rate = HIGH
Medium transmission (1-2 factors): Transmission Rate = MEDIUM
Low transmission (0 factors, or negative factors present): Transmission Rate = LOW
Network Immunity Assessment
What percentage of your target population is categorically resistant?
High Immunity Signals
Value Conflicts:
- Core value disagreement with the idea
- Idea threatens existing beliefs
- Example: Arguing against someone's religion to a religious person (very high immunity)
Identity Threat:
- Idea threatens group identity
- Suggests identity was wrong
- Example: "You've been doing your job wrong your whole career" (high identity threat)
Cognitive Dissonance:
- Accepting idea requires changing too much
- Too much psychological work
- Example: "Everything you think about society is backwards"
Institutional Resistance:
- Existing institutions threatened
- Example: "We should eliminate the legal system" to lawyers (institutional threat)
In-Group Norms:
- Idea violates "how we do things here"
- Saying it makes you an outsider
- Example: Challenging company culture in front of employees
Low Immunity Signals
Value Alignment:
- Idea aligns with existing values
- Feels like natural extension
- Example: "More freedom" to a freedom-valuing group
No Identity Threat:
- Doesn't challenge who people are
- Is orthogonal to identity
- Example: "Here's a new productivity technique" (not threatening)
Low Cognitive Load:
- Easy to understand
- Intuitive
- Example: "Simple trick saves time" (easy to accept)
Network Champions:
- Respected people already believe it
- Makes it safe to consider
- Example: Multiple trusted figures endorsing
Flexibility in Group:
- Group is open to new ideas
- Values learning/evolution
- Example: Scientific communities vs. dogmatic communities
Scoring Network Immunity
High immunity (3+ signals present, value conflicts, identity threats):
- Network Immunity = HIGH (80%+ resistant)
- Strategy: Only proceed if you have champions and long timeline
Medium immunity (1-2 signals, some friction):
- Network Immunity = MEDIUM (40-60% resistant)
- Strategy: Manageable with right approach
Low immunity (no signals, value aligned, champions visible):
- Network Immunity = LOW (20-40% resistant)
- Strategy: Idea spreads more naturally
Symptomatic Period Assessment
How long do people actively express/think about the idea?
Short Symptomatic Period
Characteristics:
- ✓ Entertainment-focused
- ✓ Novelty wears off quickly
- ✓ People forget after days/weeks
- ✓ One-time engagement
Examples:
- Viral meme (forgotten in a week)
- Trending phrase (in rotation for a month)
- Cat video (watched, enjoyed, forgotten)
Extending short period is hard - entertainment is inherently fleeting
Medium Symptomatic Period
Characteristics:
- ✓ Practical/useful
- ✓ People return to it
- ✓ Active engagement for months
- ✓ Useful tool becomes normal
Examples:
- New productivity technique (use it for months, becomes normal)
- Dietary approach (people experiment for 3-6 months)
- Business practice (implemented, becomes standard)
Extending medium period:
- Build community (people who care about it)
- Create rituals (repeated touchpoints)
- Make it identity-connected ("I'm a X person")
Long Symptomatic Period
Characteristics:
- ✓ Identity-connected
- ✓ Consequential to life
- ✓ People think about it years later
- ✓ Belief-system level
Examples:
- Religious belief (people think about for decades)
- Political ideology (shapes all decisions)
- Core value (influences life direction)
- Personality trait (part of identity)
Natural drivers of long symptomatic:
- Ties to identity
- Consequential to daily decisions
- Community/ritual around it
- Challenged repeatedly (thinking about it to defend it)
Extending Symptomatic Period
Tactic 1: Make It Consequential
- Connect to real outcomes
- Show impact on person's life
- Example: "This saves you money daily" vs. "This is efficient"
Tactic 2: Tie to Identity
- Make it identity-based
- "People who understand X..."
- Community membership signal
Tactic 3: Create Rituals
- Weekly/daily touchpoints
- Group discussions
- Public expressions
- Example: Weekly meetings, rituals, public commitments
Tactic 4: Build Community
- People who care about this
- Shared language
- Mutual reinforcement
- Example: Subcultures, movements, religions
Tactic 5: Make It Challenged
- Ideas get tested and defended
- Controversial (so thinking about it)
- Active opposition (engages believers)
Format and Presentation Shape Transmission
Important nuance: "Changing the properties of the idea — such as the format or structure it's presented in — can influence a network's transmission rate and immunity, but these properties are always subjectively defined by what resonates with the network."
Implication: Transmission rate is not just content — it's form + audience fit.
- Same idea in essay format → LOW transmission
- Same idea as Twitter thread → MEDIUM transmission
- Same idea as animated video → HIGH transmission
The "drag coefficient" can sometimes be overcome through format innovation. When assessing transmission rate, consider:
- Current format and its fit to network
- Alternative formats that might increase transmission
- Presentation changes that reduce immune response
Scoring Symptomatic Period
Short (days to weeks): Symptomatic Period = SHORT
- Example: Viral memes, entertainment
Medium (weeks to months): Symptomatic Period = MEDIUM
- Example: Practical techniques, trends
Long (months to years): Symptomatic Period = LONG
- Example: Belief systems, identity elements, values
Composite Fitness Assessment
Map the three dimensions:
Transmission: HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW
Immunity: HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW
Symptomatic: SHORT / MEDIUM / LONG
Fitness Profiles
Profile A: Natural Meme
- Transmission: HIGH
- Immunity: LOW
- Symptomatic: SHORT
- Assessment: Spreads easily, fast, doesn't stick
- Strategy: Viral content approach, high volume
Profile B: Challenging Antimeme
- Transmission: LOW
- Immunity: HIGH
- Symptomatic: LONG
- Assessment: Hard to spread, requires champions, worth doing
- Strategy: Dark forest → tipping point, 3-5 year timeline
Profile C: Niche Meme
- Transmission: HIGH (within niche)
- Immunity: MEDIUM (in target, HIGH in broader population)
- Symptomatic: MEDIUM
- Assessment: Spreads within community, doesn't go mainstream
- Strategy: Niche-targeted content, community building
Profile D: Low-Impact Idea
- Transmission: MEDIUM
- Immunity: LOW
- Symptomatic: SHORT
- Assessment: Spreads somewhat, doesn't matter much
- Strategy: Might not be worth championing effort
Profile E: Supermeme-Risk
- Transmission: HIGH
- Immunity: MEDIUM
- Symptomatic: LONG
- Assessment: Spreads rapidly, dominating, might be parasitic
- Strategy: Don't amplify, use detect-supermeme skill
Output Template
## Memetic Fitness Assessment
**Idea:** [What are we evaluating?]
**Target Network:** [Who will this spread in?]
---
## Transmission Rate
**Score:** [HIGH | MEDIUM | LOW]
**High Transmission Factors Present:**
- [ ] Emotional activation (which emotion?)
- [ ] Lightweight format
- [ ] Aligns with existing beliefs
- [ ] Perceived impact
- [ ] Social proof visible
**Count:** [X/5 factors]
**Explanation:** [Why this transmission rate?]
---
## Network Immunity
**Score:** [HIGH | MEDIUM | LOW]
**Immunity Factors:**
- [ ] Value conflicts
- [ ] Identity threats
- [ ] High cognitive load
- [ ] Institutional resistance
- [ ] In-group norm violation
**Count:** [X/5 factors]
**Explanation:** [Why this immunity level?]
---
## Symptomatic Period
**Score:** [SHORT | MEDIUM | LONG]
**Natural Drivers:**
- [ ] Identity connection
- [ ] Consequential to life
- [ ] Community around it
- [ ] Ritual/repeated touchpoints
- [ ] Challenged/defended
**Count:** [X/5 drivers]
**Explanation:** [Why this period length?]
---
## Fitness Profile
**Pattern:** [Which profile does this match?]
**Strategic Implication:** [What does this profile suggest?]
---
## Recommendations
Based on fitness assessment:
- [Specific advice for this idea]
- [What to enhance or change]
- [Which strategy approach best fits]
When to Use Other Skills
- After evaluate-fitness → assess-fitness: Use metrics to inform GO/NO-GO decision
- After evaluate-fitness → design-strategy: Fitness profile informs strategy type
- Before strategy → evaluate-fitness: Get exact metrics before committing
References
See /references/source-summary.md:
- "The Three Variables of Idea Spread" for detailed transmission/immunity/symptomatic explanation
- "Strategic Playbooks" for how different fitness profiles map to strategies
