8.4 KiB
Unforgettable, That's What You Are [SCP Foundation story by Sam Hughes, author of Ra and Fine Structure]
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Author: u/jalapeno_dude *
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URL: http://www.scp-wiki.net/unforgettable-that-s-what-you-are
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Score: 91
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Created: 2015-09-05T21:33:41
Post:
Comments:
u/jalapeno_dude [+28] *
Third in Sam/qntm's antimemetics series, after We Need to Talk about Fifty-Five and Introductory Animemetics.
u/MaxDougwell [+16] *
I could have sworn Sam and his wife had posted more then three…
u/None [+1] *
[deleted]
u/bliow [+1] *
Third and last of five, right?
u/Transfuturist [+1] Carthago delenda est.*
YES!Fuck...
u/protagnostic [+17] *
Man, the antimemes stuff freaks me the fuck out.
u/None [+15] *
It's even more terrifying than normal SCPs. I feel that, at some point, we're going to see something that looks to break the fourth wall. Antimemetically.
u/PeridexisErrant [+9] put aside fear for courage, and death for life*
That was last week's post, remember?
u/None [+4] *
...huh. I don't know how I forgot. Anyway, I was thinking it'd be neat if Sam managed to write something that broke the fourth wall. The "it knows as much about you as you know about it", for example, has some interesting possibilities.
u/GaBeRockKing [+7] Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857*
I think there's a natural inclination to make monsters scary by making them alter memories, and antimemes are the logical conclusion of that.
u/MugaSofer [+21] *
I actually can't think of any classic, premodern monsters that eat memories. Which is odd, because you're right, it's a pretty obvious trick. ... oh dear.
u/GaBeRockKing [+3] Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857*
If you look at them from the right angles, the lotus eaters count. They don't eat memories so much as make them irrelevant, though.
u/None [+1] *
Maybe that says more about the modern age and our focus on mind, memory, and intelligence.
u/Roxolan [+8] Head of antimemetiWalmart senior assistant manager*
These stories are about taking real terrifying things and adding malevolence, mystery, and spider legs.
u/GaBeRockKing [+10] Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857*
Every time I see scp's that make you forget their existence, I remember that one girl from worm whose name I can't recall.
u/Chronophilia [+5] sci-fi ≠ futurology*
Always remember to forget.
u/nerdguy1138 [+2] GNU Terry Pratchett*
Silence will fall.
u/None [+1] *
[removed]
u/GaBeRockKing [+1] Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857*
who?
u/Stop_Sign [+3] *
I forget
u/Acez_Yazumaku [+1] *
I know this is 8 years ago but the character you're thinking of is Imp, Brian's sister from Worm. Love that web serial.
u/GaBeRockKing [+1] Horizon Breach: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6785857*
Who? 😉
u/Acez_Yazumaku [+1] *
Huh, that's weird. I forgot who we were talking about.
u/protagnostic [+6] *
SCP-1425's page places it in April/May 2005, and makes reference to a 'Project LETHE' that sounds a lot like the bomb described here. Is the reference here 54 years off, or is the implication that SCP-1425 has happened twice and been resolved the same way both times? If so, is this a "when the stars are right" kind of thing? Sounds very CASE NIGHTMARE GREENish...
u/nerdguy1138 [+1] GNU Terry Pratchett*
Or Oul's egg again.
u/biomatter [+9] *
I'm a little confused. Lyn Marness said that the more you know about it, the more it knows about you - so why was it able to get to Marion Wheeler? She knew next-to-nothing about it. Literally the only thing she knew was 'an unknown antimemetic SCP exists'. Or maybe there's a hole in the story and I'm supposed to piece something extra together, but fuck it I'm super-tired. And dumb.
u/PeridexisErrant [+18] put aside fear for courage, and death for life*
Wheeler is hypercompetent, which in this case was almost a disadvantage - I'd bet she inferred a lot more than existence of the SCP. I also think you underestimate the danger of this entity.
u/andor3333 [+7] *
Keep in mind that you should not encourage yourself to think about or come up with plausible antimemes and that the entire department seems to be either ultimately futile or actively harmful to the human race. Are the researchers doing more harm than good by drawing attention to the things that go bump in the night? Sometimes good fiction has a grain of truth, and sometimes it is just fiction. Either way, you would probably be better served by playing with another mental puzzle, because either it doesn't exist and is a waste of your time and energy, or it does exist and there are sharp sharp teeth waiting to eat you when you least expect it. A lose-lose situation.
u/nerdguy1138 [+4] GNU Terry Pratchett*
The things that live between the curls of the Mandelbrot set just want to be left alone.
u/Transfuturist [+2] Carthago delenda est.*
SCP interferes in hardware manufacturing to ensure that they are.
u/philip1201 [+3] *
What kind of attitude is that? Should proto-humans never have left their caves to harness fire , which you can either not find or get your hands burnt on? Should they never seek out wolves, which can either not be found or try to eat you? Yes, the unknown is scary and lots of people die for unknown reasons, but so far knowledge has invariably been power. None of the opponents in the series so far have demonstrated human-level intelligence (beyond memetics-aided mimicry), so who is to say they can't be beaten, or even tamed (genre notwithstanding)? Either we live out our lives in fear of unknown monsters which kill uncountably many, until something big enough comes along to destroy everyone, or we try to master the situation no matter how awful it is right now.
u/andor3333 [+3] *
I suspect the subject is not that simple. On the other hand the whole point of my post is that this subject should not be thought about, argued about, or discussed. Enjoy your burnt hands. Try not to set the house on fire.
u/None [+2] *
At the very least, an antimeme that's devouring the department isn't devouring anyone else.
u/andor3333 [+3] *
But how do you know?
u/None [+4] *
Well, that's terrifying. Also, how is this woman still alive?
u/alexanderwales [+19] Time flies like an arrow*
She survived by being extremely competent and a little bit lucky, which seems to be the case for most of the people who work at the higher levels of the Foundation.
u/MoralRelativity [+6] *
The ones who survive.
u/STL [+6] *
and fires the rest of her clip Magazine. How could Sam have forgotten this?
u/alexanderwales [+5] Time flies like an arrow*
He's English and probably has little experience with the guns. Though I'm not sure if you'd accept that as an excuse.
u/sephlington [+6] *
Antimemetics?
u/2BR02B [+3] Marxist-Lurianism*
Oh god that's terrifying.
u/TimTravel [+5] *
...what if all forgotten memories are the result of anti-memes?
u/Chronophilia [+6] sci-fi ≠ futurology*
What if the Antimemetics department is unknowingly creating antimemes instead of discovering them, and that's why it's so hard to find evidence for their existence?
u/mhd-hbd [+2] Writes 'The World is Your Oyster, The Universe is Your Namesake'*
Colourless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously
u/None [+2] *
I generally dislike the SCP Foundation-verse, but this was very well written and actually kind of scary.