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An antimeme is something you forget. You can communicate about it fine. There are SCPs that affect communication: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/taboo https://s

by jjmarr 1y ago

An 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

southernplaces7 1y ago
Yes but if it were to be a pure antimeme, wouldn't being able to communicate about it be irrelevant, since it would remove itself from both your memory and that of whoever described it to you, as if nobody had ever described anything? I at least see it this way, and believe that if we were ever confronted with such a thing in the real world, all references to it would be imperceptible in any normal non-momentary context.
- jjmarr 1y ago
  That is correct. I'm pointing it out because the "non-communicability" aspect is a whole genre called "infohazards", which is any SCP triggered by or involving communication. It's a very popular tag. You might contrast with SCP-2521 that attacks those that use written or spoken language to refer to it, so the documentation page is one giant infographic without text.[1] [1] https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2521 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2521
rcxdude 1y ago
The basic idea of an antimeme is an idea that doesn't want to be spread or perpetuated. A secret is an example of an antimeme that actually exists, so I would say communication of the idea would also in principle be resisted. But creepy, wild sci-fi needs to go with 'what if that, but even more so?'. (though, I would also say a pure antimeme would be completely self-extinguishing. Actually the way these sci-fi antimemes work is closer to how e.g. real-life secret societies operate(d). There's a secret, and it is perpetuated within the group, but it's carefully guarded from widespread knowledge. The sci-fi idea is that the knowledge itself basically does this, somehow, to any entity not in the in-group, where the in-group is frequently non-human, maybe non-organic/non-sentient)

by jjmarr 1y ago

An 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

southernplaces7 1y ago

Yes but if it were to be a pure antimeme, wouldn't being able to communicate about it be irrelevant, since it would remove itself from both your memory and that of whoever described it to you, as if nobody had ever described anything? I at least see it this way, and believe that if we were ever confronted with such a thing in the real world, all references to it would be imperceptible in any normal non-momentary context.

jjmarr 1y ago
That is correct. I'm pointing it out because the "non-communicability" aspect is a whole genre called "infohazards", which is any SCP triggered by or involving communication. It's a very popular tag. You might contrast with SCP-2521 that attacks those that use written or spoken language to refer to it, so the documentation page is one giant infographic without text.[1] [1] https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2521 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-2521

rcxdude 1y ago

The basic idea of an antimeme is an idea that doesn't want to be spread or perpetuated. A secret is an example of an antimeme that actually exists, so I would say communication of the idea would also in principle be resisted. But creepy, wild sci-fi needs to go with 'what if that, but even more so?'. (though, I would also say a pure antimeme would be completely self-extinguishing. Actually the way these sci-fi antimemes work is closer to how e.g. real-life secret societies operate(d). There's a secret, and it is perpetuated within the group, but it's carefully guarded from widespread knowledge. The sci-fi idea is that the knowledge itself basically does this, somehow, to any entity not in the in-group, where the in-group is frequently non-human, maybe non-organic/non-sentient)