Bad ideas are carried forward by idiots [2026w25]

In this episode of Lead Prompt, I explore how toxic concepts in software engineering replicate and spread from team to team like biological viruses. Drawing on Richard Dawkins’ original definition of the "meme" from The Selfish Gene and the cautionary humor of Idiocracy, I break down how even smart developers get infected by bad ideas, like cargo-culting FAANG architectures or carrying over broken management practices, often driven by the Dunning-Kruger effect. To cure this cultural infection and avoid inheriting legacy thinking, I explain why the best technical leaders must act as historians of our industry rather than blindly repeating the costly mistakes of our predecessors. Show notes are here: https://leadprompt.sh/a/747-Bad-ideas-are-carried-forward-by-idiots-2026w25 Keywords: leadprompt, software engineering, technical leadership, engineering management, software architecture, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, idiocracy, Dunning-Kruger effect, cargo cult programming, tech culture, engineering history, John Collins, tech podcast, software development