> 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.
The 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.
Eh 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.
For 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".
IMHO 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.
An 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.
This 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)
I 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.
Most of the time you have these dreams and are not woken up, so you never remember they exist at all...
Occasionally my brain likes screwing with me and in the dream it goes "You're remembering this dream, you're about to be woken up" and then a loud noise or something external will happen an wake me up and leave me with a great sense of unease.
Now, I don't believe my mind can actually predict the future. I can only assume my brain is doing this crap quite often and just happens to get it right every once in a while. Still a creepy feeling.
> 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.
There's a fairly simple model that is consistent with this: Nothing is committed to long-term memory while you are dreaming, so when you wake up from a dream, everything is in short-term memory only. Unless you make an active effort to commit it (which you're used to happening automatically), like writing it down or otherwise thinking hard about it, it will simply vanish once you use your short-term memory for something else, like moving around.
I had a similar but more intense experience. Last week, I had a minor medical procedure and they used twilight sedation with Versed (Midazolam). It causes anterograde amnesia.
With previous anaesthesia experiences I've had, it's like a slice of time is cut out. I'm going into the procedure room and the next thing I know I'm in recovery.
This time was different. When they wheeled me out to my wife, I was completely lucid (confirmed by her). I told my wife I remembered essentially the whole procedure. I can remember telling her this. But later, throughout the rest of the day, the memories faded out a piece at a time.
Now, though I just barely remember telling my wife that I remembered the procedure, I don't remember the procedure at all. In fact, I can't even remember where I was when I was talking to my wife. I don't remember the recovery room or even leaving the hospital at all. I have a very faint memory of being in the car. Even my memories of the rest of the afternoon are vague.
It is so weird. It's like the tape slowly degraded over time. I wonder if this is what dementia feels like.
Wouldn'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.
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.
Slightly 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.
For 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 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:
This 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.
While 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.
I'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?
I'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!
Qntm 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.
35 comments
[ 0.11 ms ] story [ 71.6 ms ] threadSo, not much different to most activist causes, then.
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.
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.
Sadly, the answer is that you can't.
Qntm's other works are criminally underrated.
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)
Occasionally my brain likes screwing with me and in the dream it goes "You're remembering this dream, you're about to be woken up" and then a loud noise or something external will happen an wake me up and leave me with a great sense of unease.
Now, I don't believe my mind can actually predict the future. I can only assume my brain is doing this crap quite often and just happens to get it right every once in a while. Still a creepy feeling.
There's a fairly simple model that is consistent with this: Nothing is committed to long-term memory while you are dreaming, so when you wake up from a dream, everything is in short-term memory only. Unless you make an active effort to commit it (which you're used to happening automatically), like writing it down or otherwise thinking hard about it, it will simply vanish once you use your short-term memory for something else, like moving around.
With previous anaesthesia experiences I've had, it's like a slice of time is cut out. I'm going into the procedure room and the next thing I know I'm in recovery.
This time was different. When they wheeled me out to my wife, I was completely lucid (confirmed by her). I told my wife I remembered essentially the whole procedure. I can remember telling her this. But later, throughout the rest of the day, the memories faded out a piece at a time.
Now, though I just barely remember telling my wife that I remembered the procedure, I don't remember the procedure at all. In fact, I can't even remember where I was when I was talking to my wife. I don't remember the recovery room or even leaving the hospital at all. I have a very faint memory of being in the car. Even my memories of the rest of the afternoon are vague.
It is so weird. It's like the tape slowly degraded over time. I wonder if this is what dementia feels like.
maybe it could be the extreme case of state-dependent memory?
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-dependent_memory>
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.
https://qntm.org/mmacevedo
https://qntm.org/structure
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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCP_Foundation
...a story about Epstein's prison cell? (/s again sorry)
I'm going to wake up now, thanks in advance folks!