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SCP-055 is an "antimeme" – it erases itself from memory when observed
- tuatoru 1y ago> All of these facts are periodically rediscovered, usually by chance readers of this file, causing a great deal of alarm. This state of concern lasts minutes at most, before the matter is simply forgotten about. So, not much different to most activist causes, then.
- tuatoru 1y agoLots of downvotes ... clearly some people feel seen.
- nicbou 1y agoThe book "There is no antimemetics division" is about the team fighting an SCP antimeme. It's a really fun read and a bit of a mindf*. I strongly recommend it.
- Aaargh20318 1y agoUnfortunately it's no longer for sale. IIRC the writer has gotten a book deal for it, and the existing self-published version was removed from sale while the new version is being edited. According to Amazon the new revision is up for pre-order and will be available on November 11th.
- idbehold 1y agoYou can still read it for free according to the author: https://qntm.org/scp https://qntm.org/scp
- Aaargh20318 1y agoI'll wait for the re-release regardless. No need to jump through any hoops to get it on my Kindle plus the author gets paid for their work. Plus, I imagine it'll benefit from the work of an editor.
- Analemma_ 1y agoYou may want to read both, they are going to be pretty different. For starters, AIUI the new published version is not going to be an SCP story, probably because of rights issues. I assume it will be "SCP with the serial numbers filed off", but we won't know for sure until it comes out. I'd read the existing one and then decide if you like it enough that you want to preorder the new one.
- bee_rider 1y ago“SCP is the the serial numbers filed off” is sort of a funny concept. Conventionally each SCP story is considered to exist within its own canon and the author is able to pick-and-choose which other stories “exist” from its point of view, right? So there are n SCP continuities, and after the book is published there will be n+1, but that +1 is special for copyright reasons, haha.
- deadbabe 1y agoNo you cannot. There is no such book.
- ASalazarMX 1y agoThe author's page links to the original SCP Wiki page, where you can read it in parts, as it was being created. It's not a straight book download, but you can think of each red link as a chapter. Beware: SCP is as enthralling as TV Tropes. https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub
- deadbabe 1y ago404 not found
- Filligree 1y agoThe book exists. You just can't remember it.
- chipsa 1y agoWhat book?
- ASalazarMX 1y agoWhich link? Because the one I posted works, and it says: > Suggested reading order is from top to bottom. For those wishing to read the book There Is No Antimemetics Division, begin with "SCP-055" and finish with "Champions of Nothing." Checked every one of those links, which also work. I can't understand why are you... wait, what were we talking about?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bmacho 1y agoSCP is CC-SA-BY anyway, so you can download it from torrent, modify it, resell it, if you want to[0]. It's basically GPL, so you can do that with anything that has any relation to an SCP (derivative of a derivative of a derivative) [0] : https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/licensing-guide https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/licensing-guide
- pyrale 1y agoMy favorite one from qntm is probably Miguel Acevedo [1]. It is pretty spot on wrt. several topics related to the current AI boom ; for instance the licensing topic. [1]: https://qntm.org/mmacevedo https://qntm.org/mmacevedo
- senkora 1y agoMMAcevedo, the TV series Pantheon, and the play The Summerland Project are all excellent treatments of the topic. If you enjoyed any one of those three, then I recommend the others.
- mk_stjames 1y agoThat's one of those ones that really sticks with you. First time I read it I had to sit alone and just think for quite a while afterward. It's like four pages and it lays out the fiction better than many 400-page novels or entire films dealing with similar subject matters have, IMO.
- ddingus 1y agoI just completed the work and have to agree with you. My timing is poor. Should have taken that "sit alone" part more seriously. I have an intense need to do just that! I can give myself some time. Unlikely to be enough.
- haiku2077 1y agoThe original version is still within the SCP website.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- jasonephraim 1y agoThis sounds like an action by the antimemetics division IRL
- tetris11 1y agoEh it starts off good, but then it delves too much into the love story between some scientist and her partner and then goes on a wild tangent related to forgotten members still existing as ghosts in the system. It makes the same mistake Steven King did when writing the Dark Tower; it over-explains the mystery and intrigue that made the initial story (The Gunslinger) so compelling, and leans too much on its characters to carry the story. I say the same thing about the SCP antimeme, as I say to Dark Tower readers: Read the first story, skip the rest or treat them as unrelated fanfics.
- haiku2077 1y agoThe new version is removing the SCP universe integration, so I assume the subplot with the ghosts (a crossover with another SCP story during serialization) will be changed.
- tetris11 1y agoThe SCP universe is what made the antimemetics so unique though - that you had an entire forgotten department, doing heavy lifting Slow Horses style, keeping the whole operation running. It's important because SCP is important, i.e. it borrows its greatness from the success of the normal day-to-day SCP operations. Without it, it's just a story about amnesia at a government facility, and those kind of books are a dime a dozen.
- joombaga 1y agoI would think it would just be some other 3 letter org, like the FBC in the game Control.
- iyn 1y agoI'd say (agree?) that the 2nd half (roughly) of the book is much worse but IMO still worth reading the whole thing. The concept is really novel (at least it was for me) and so engaging with it can still be fun.
- 1y ago
- Sharlin 1y agoFor those who didn't notice or didn't scroll far enough, there's a link at the bottom of SCP-55 that leads to several pages worth of extra fiction by qntm, constituting a prelude or introduction of sorts to "There is no antimemetics division".
- dunefox 1y agoIt drops off quite quickly after the first half. I almost didn't finish it.
- pantalaimon 1y agoIMHO it reads a bit too much like a Rick & Morty episode, the characters lack depth and it keeps pushing ever extremer events without taking the time to establish a baseline of normalcy. The 'anti-memetic antagonist' idea is interesting, but that seems to be the only idea that's in there - the constant amnesia get's old quick and it tears reality apart way too quickly to still care.
- alt187 1y agoA really solid concept and a strong start, that leaves you wondering "How can you defeat an antagonist that kills you when you learn about it?". Sadly, the answer is that you can't. Qntm's other works are criminally underrated.
- par1970 1y ago> Sadly, the answer is that you can't. Suppose there are two distinct entities, each such that if it is learned about, then it kills the learner, call them Geigh and Ritaar. What happens when Geigh learns about Ritaar?
- Cheyana 1y agoReminds me of this… https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Somebody_Else%27s_Problem_Field https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Somebody_Else%27s_Proble...
- dylan604 1y agoAn SEP is one of my favorite takeaways from the series. It's one of those that's not as well known like the babel fish or a towel, but as a teen it just really stuck with me when I first read it.
- GuinansEyebrows 1y agosame! i think about SEP fields more than almost anything else from the trilogy. of all the clever human observations Adams made, i think that one might be one of the most damning, relevant and enduring.
- xg15 1y agoThis reminds me of the strange way that memories of dreams behave: Sometimes you still remember bits from a dream right after you've woken up - but this memory somehow vanishes rapidly and is gone a few minutes later. This despite you already being awake at that time and consciously having a memory of having had that memory. Only the memory itself is gone. (Unless one had training and could capture the memory, e.g. in a dream journal) Makes me wonder if this hints at some interesting neurological processes: It seems there is either some process in the brain that actively erases dream memories, or that dream memories are somehow stored differently in the brain than regular memories and only appear as the same thing to the consciousness. (Sort of like some part of the directory tree being mounted on a different file system)
- wpm 1y agoI experience that but then I also experience the somewhat opposite effect, where randomly, spurred on by almost nothing at all, a memory of a dream that I knew that I had but had forgotten about, bubbles up out of nowhere. It's like some pathway to that other filesystem exists, but only gets activated due to some random glitch that is then fixed immediately, as I still won't be able to recall the dreams later on, like something is forcing it to get cleared from my normal long-term memory. Not that I can't remember dreams, I can if they are vivid enough, journals help too, but most of them get locked away in the "you'll watch the memory of this dream evaporate before your very eyes in the morning, and then years later while you're washing dishes you'll remember it vividly" box.
- praptak 1y agoI remember having woken up from a dream where I recognised that a) I'm dreaming and b) It's the same dream I had years ago (a sequel maybe). I can't keep dreaming while being aware that I'm dreaming (supposedly you can train this skill but I haven't) so I woke up. Obviously I don't remember what the actual dream was, just that I suddenly realised it's a dream from the distant past.
- skirmish 1y ago
- pndy 1y agoSounds like something influenced by Doctor Who's the Silence
- Night_Thastus 1y agoI believe antimimetic SCPs predate that episode, but I could be wrong.
- zamadatix 1y agoSeems so, this article started pretty strong in 2008, The Silence didn't appear until 2011 (2010 by reference alone).
- giingyui 1y ago[flagged]
- zettabomb 1y agoFeel free to ignore it, it's interesting to other people than yourself.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- giingyui 1y ago[flagged]
- zettabomb 1y agoYou don't get to decide if other people think it's interesting. As it stands I see 56 people found it interesting enough for an upvote.
- tom_ 1y agoThe timestamp changes are apparently an artefact of the bumping mechanism: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41197775 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41197775
- awaymazdacx5 1y agomemetics were dawkins pre-biologic introductions from the selfish gene
- JesseTG 1y agoThe link is a 404...
- xg15 1y ago...and HN has forgotten that this thread was already posted a week ago, due to the second-chance logic. That's fitting, somehow.
- nhinck2 1y agoWouldn't an antimeme be something that was non-communicable? It'd be the idea of something being perfectly memorable but when you attempt to describe it or begin in anyway to record or communicate about it your mind just goes blank, only for the memory to re-emerge some time later like a shower nightmare. Forever in your head but unable to pass onto anyone else.
- TheAceOfHearts 1y agoThe closest thing I've seen to an antimeme in real life is the explanation of a monad. Many people seem to lose the ability to explain what it is as soon as they understand it. Maybe tensors are a close second.
- pantalaimon 1y agoFloatHeadPhysics has a pretty good explanation as to what tensors are https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2FP-T6S1x0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2FP-T6S1x0
- ashleyn 1y agoThe best I can do for monads is "it's like Option and Result in rust"
- southernplaces7 1y agoBut if you're able to tell me that a thing called a monad exists, then it's nothing like a pure antimeme, which to my mind would be self-removing from all perception in all normal contexts.
- astrange 1y agoThe word for this is "esoteric". An "esoteric ritual" is one that's easily kept secret because it's hard to learn even if you try to explain it. Like, you can't learn to drive a car or play a violin by reading a book about it.
- jjmarr 1y agoAn antimeme is something you forget. You can communicate about it fine. There are SCPs that affect communication: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/taboo https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/taboo
- kg 1y agoSome more assorted interesting stuff by one of the authors of SCP-055: https://qntm.org/mmacevedo https://qntm.org/mmacevedo https://qntm.org/structure https://qntm.org/structure https://qntm.org/hatetris https://qntm.org/hatetris qntm is a fantastic writer & programmer I had the pleasure of working with on a project in the past. If you're looking for stuff to read that gets your neurons firing, there's a lot to find on their website.
- mattigames 1y agoSlightly related: Given the lack of resources to prevent art from being absorbed by LLMs I suspect we will soon see art galleries where you cannot take photos or record anything, art strictly made to be viewed by humans only.
- zuminator 1y agoFor those like me who aren't familiar with this topic, SCP stands for Special Containment Procedures. The SCP Foundation is an online fictional shared universe hosted on https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com with various works of genre fiction in the urban paranormal/sf area, accompanied by various fake documents and bureaucratic procedures involving weird anomalies, artifacts, and creatures. SCP-055 is one such anomaly. More info on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCP_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCP_Foundation
- ppqqrr 1y agosmall correction, SCP stands for “Secure, Contain, Protect”: the foundation’s 3 priorities (in that order) for anomalous objects and locations.
- Sharlin 1y agoBoth are correct. The former is what the containment instructions are called, the latter is what the foundation's name stands for (perhaps derived backronymically?)
- aftbit 1y agoWelcome to the wacky and wonderful world of SCP. There are some amazing tales hidden in these pages and in the narratives that sometimes accompany them. If you've ever enjoyed wasting an evening clicking around links on TV Tropes, you'll love SCP.
- cheald 1y agoIf you like the genre, the 2019 game "Control" treads in SCP space. It's great fun.
- Dilettante_ 1y agoVaguely related concept, and my personal all-time favourite: "SCP-____-J" https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-j https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-j
- gitpusher 1y agoThis is the 452nd time this has been posted on HackerNews. If you look for the older posts, you won't find them – and their authors have been erased from this dimension.
- par1970 1y agoHow did you make a blank comment? I thought hn prevented it
- foxyv 1y agoHow did you reply to a comment that doesn't exist? Is HN glitching?
- HocusLocus 1y agoBurma Shave
- foxyv 1y agoTakes the "H" out of shave. Makes it save. Saves complexion. Saves time and money. No brush – no lather. Burma-Shave!
- waffletower 1y agoWhile the acronym 'SCP' is in the spirit of the imagined organization and its tools of obfuscation, its presence dilutes and homogenizes the prose significantly, much like small beer. The mantra "secure. contain. protect." is much more effective when revealed and repeated instead.
- Salgat 1y agoI'm curious how distantly related the information has to be before it is eligible for this effect. For example, if someone sees a WARNING sign on the container (with no specific information about the SCP on the warning itself), do people remember that warning sign?
- x______________ 1y agoI'm sorry but maybe it's me just waking up after a rough day, but what unworldly rabbit hole did I just read and might continue to read? (serious question) ...a story about Epstein's prison cell? (/s again sorry) I'm going to wake up now, thanks in advance folks!
- ayaros 1y agoQntm is a great author and deserves the support of everyone here. The antimemetics division series is the primary reason I kept following the SCP wiki for years after it had long since peaked my interest (because I was waiting for him to finish 55555, which took forever). Fine Structure is also wonderful, as was Ed.
- antifa 1y agoI forgot what SCP-055 was, but I do remember it was the one that really hooked me into the SCP world.
- romperstomper 1y agocan robots with AI investigate this thing and draw any conclusions on its nature? :)