#antimemes

[askmagnus]

Hello Mr Big Red Man!!!!

It has been a while, have you ever encounter Antimemes?

If so, how did you remember?

-🦵🐟 Anon

Would that be units of disinformation?

Or concepts that once seen remove information from one’s brain?

If so, that is a powerful thing you are playing with.

[cartoonscientist]

[prokopetz]

One of the more popular recent additions to the SCP Foundaton canon is the idea of an antimeme. Basically, it’s a piece of information that possesses some quality that intrinsically hinders passing it from person to person, rather than encouraging it. Variations on the theme include:

A piece of information that can be known and understood, but not expressed; for example, a literally indescribable object  

A piece of information that can be expressed, but can’t be known or understood by anyone who hasn’t been specially primed to receive it – if you try to explain it to them, either they just hear gibberish, or it simply fails to make any impression  

A piece of information that can be known and expressed, but can’t be remembered; for example, an object that you can describe and interact with while you’re looking at it, but after it leaves your line of sight you immediately forget about it  

A piece of information that can’t be perceived at all, save possibly under certain specialised circumstances; this is distinct from invisibility in that the effect is purely cognitive and doesn’t affect physical properties

This effect is usually framed as something supernatural, but whenever it comes up in an article, the first thing I think of is... like, you know those movies that generate enormous hype and it seems like everybody and their dog went to see them, but afterwards they have no cultural impact whatsoever and nobody seems to recall what the plot was even about?

Maybe it’s not as fanciful a concept as it’s made out to be, is what I mean to say!

[depressingcartoonvillains]

Truth is profitable or it’s illegal.

[ogdymmau]

your daily dose of antimemes

[askvectorprime]

Why is Unicronian technology forbidden in Axiom Nexus?

Dear Upshot Unknown,

You have kinds of technology that are restricted on Earth, too, do you not? Radioactive devices, be they weapon or other, for example. I suppose that serves as a useful point of comparison for Unicronian technology, which presents a similarly insidious danger.

To all rational senses, there is nothing to distinguish a device fabricated by Unicron from its worldly counterpart. Even at his most industrious, Unicron is a plagiarist, forging imitations of mortal design from raw material that is stolen but ultimately mundane. It's difficult to determine the exact nature of the phenomenon at play, because of conflating factors—Unicronian devices are most commonly found in the possession of Unicronian agents, and confirmation bias arises when studying cases outside this category. I do not believe it to be a question of fate, or prediction, or destiny, as these are forces of order, and I have a sense of these things. Perhaps it is just an emergent phenomenon, or perhaps it is some ineffable cosmic force. Regardless of the cause, the conclusion is inescapable: on a long enough timeframe, Unicron's machines are invariably lethal.

Take a single atom of tritium and observe it. At some moment, without the slightest warning, it will decay into an atom of helium-3 and an ionising beta particle. Take a radioactive mass, and over its half-lives the danger will lessen—for Unicronian artefacts, the opposite is true. In the wrong hands, at the wrong moment, anything can be a weapon. The innate potential in all of us for violence, for chaos, can be catalysed, given the means to affect reality. And if you happen to come into possession of such a device, it is not enough to be rid of the damned thing—it may have inspired something in you, compromised your very thoughts. Not through force, or suggestion, but as a simple logical consequence of its presence.

Having suffered one disaster too many, the TransTechs have developed "Diabolus Ex Machina" protocols which they believe can limit the effect of papiliohazardous artefacts. When found, they are quarantined and dumped into dead universes at the earliest possible opportunity. At higher clearances, OZSA officers have access to antimemetic programs, thought to reset an individual's corrupted processes by rolling back their memory to a point before the object came into their possession. I struggle to see this as being much more than a superstitious ritual to ward against evil. Perhaps it gives them peace of mind, but one wonders... the loss of memory incurred, the bestowal of such power onto a security administration with oft-limited oversight. Are those not a form of consequence themselves? How much suffering has occurred, has yet to occur, as a result of these countermeasures?

When I consider this, it is hard to look back at all that I have seen and experienced and find myself at ease, for across my many incarnations I have come into contact with the Chaos Bringer more than most. How much potential evil lies within me?

[sinscrivener]

Watch "r/AntiMeme - B...Booba?" on YouTube

@messinwitheddie I FOUND Eddie's dad jokes!

Even TRAGER cringes!

[existentialterror]

In honor of the final part of qntm’s The Antimemetics Division coming out, I made some inscrutable memes. (And one old one.) I don’t think any of these constitute spoilers. Enjoy!