In addition to this Hume index, which is used to measure reality, the Foundation has a very specific setting system.

That's memes.

Memes are not a term coined by the SCP series, but it is rare for them to be used on such a large scale.

Many people are afraid that they will never be exposed to this term in their lifetime because it is not relevant to their lives.

It's a "niche" concept through and through.

But it has to be said that the first person to write "memes" into the Foundation was a genius.

The scope of the word is too broad, and its own definition is too subtle, so that once you understand it, you can't help but derive more settings.

The concept originated from the famous British scientist Richard Dawkins's book "The Selfish Gene", which refers to "that thing that is similar to the role that genes play in the evolution of organisms in the transmission of things such as language, ideas, beliefs, behaviors, etc." ”

The word meme itself is based on the ancient Greek word mimeme (μίμημα) (to imitate things) and is a variation of the biological word gene.

To put it more colloquially, memes are all the information that we take for granted and disseminate in our daily lives—including but not limited to what we see, what we hear, and what we know.

In short, all information and cultural transmission from person to person is part of memetic communication.

Because this irrepressible transmission has heritability, variability, and selectivity similar to gene transmission, it is also called "mimicking cultural genes".

- The process of memetic transmission is the process of memetic inheritance, for example, when a certain religious belief is transmitted, the religious belief is continuously inherited in the believer as a meme;

- The process of delivering memes is not always perfect, for example, when people recount an event, they may add some details or cut some content;

- Memes are different in their ability to spread, some memes are easier to transmit, while others are never transmitted, depending on their popularity.

To sum up, this thing is the gene of information and culture.

Genetic inheritance will recombine and mutate, and the transmission of memes will also recombine and mutate.

How many cultural creations in the world are genetically themed?

Countless!

Comparing them side-by-side, it's not hard to see the creative potential of the concept of memes.

It's just that genes have defined themselves into the minds of millions of people under the long-term basic biological education, and memes are just an unknown cold academic term.

In this way, it seems to be a bit of a match for the Foundation's high-level and high-mystery aura.

In any case, this setting has been engraved into the marrow of the Foundation's worldview, and it is indispensable to popularize the concept of "memes" when spreading the Foundation's culture in the future.

In order to prepare for popular science in the future, Guan Li felt that he should read the book that put forward this concept, and that Richard said something ...... "The Selfish Gene"!

That's right, that's the name!

…… Wait a minute!

Guan Li suddenly thought of a question: Is there a book in this world?

In other words, does the world have the concept of "memes"?

emmmmm...... "system!"

"What's the matter?" the system that had been filled with air for a long time immediately popped out.

"Check out if there is a concept of 'memes' in this world. ”

The system scanned the entire network according to the words, "No." ”

Guan Li is glad that he hasn't sent out the things he just typed, otherwise it would be difficult to explain, "Then I ......"

"But I found the book "The Selfish Gene", the original English version. "The system didn't make a big turn and held back the words behind Guan Li," the word meme is mentioned in it, but it doesn't seem to be accurately translated in China. ”

"In other words, the concept itself actually exists, but it has not been introduced into China, and the word 'meme' does not even appear?"

"Yes, there are many unofficial translations of this book, among which there is no unified Chinese translation of meme, and there are both transliterations of 'media secrets' and paraphrases of 'concept factors'. ”

In a short period of time, the system has read all the relevant content on the Internet, and can even make a summary answer.

This was much better than Guan Li had just thought, and he thought that he would have to make up another memetic system after making a set of Cthulhu......

This is not Cthulhu's literary creation, but a serious academic concept!

When you think about it, you feel that the difficulty has increased countless times.

It's okay......

"As long as there is a concept, we at the Foundation continue to use 'memes' for translation. Guan Li was finally able to continue writing popular science smoothly.

The system, of course, has no opinion: "Okay. ”

"You go and read the book "The Selfish Gene" with our translation name and post it on the Internet, and send me a Chinese electronic file by the way. ”

System: "......" and so on!

"Can't you?"

"No problem!"

As a system card translator that has been cultivated online for so long, it can finally come in handy outside of the Foundation forums.

Congratulations, the future is promising!

It's just a little bit of sadness inexplicably.

After writing a bunch of conceptual analyses of "memes", Guan Li threw out the sentence "For more detailed information, please read "The Selfish Gene", which finally brought the topic back to the Foundation itself.

Although memes have their own meaning in reality, the term "meme" used by the Foundation is indeed not quite the same as this serious definition.

"Memetics in terms of SCP objects tends primarily toward the impossible, rather than about the mundane effects that occur through the dissemination of information.

In general, their own influence should remain in the information sphere.

A memetic SCP is more likely to be a statement that will make you feel like you have wings than a statement that will make you actually grow wings.

If you write an incredible phrase that makes people grow wings, then it should be described as something else and not a meme. ”

- Understanding Memetics

A classic SCP memetic object does not possess any supernatural abilities per se, but it will emit a certain "message" that can be understood by humans, or not just humans, and this "message" will cause anomalous effects.

The Foundation's authors easily created the eerie and terrifying atmosphere that the Foundation admires.

Memetic hazard is a term that appears in such a creative process.

As long as you know the information that carries something extra, you will be affected by its harmful effects.

Just like a virus lurking in information fragments, with the infinite spread of communication between people, once the "meme" is allowed to spread, there is almost no limit to the possibilities.

However, the SCP Foundation, which specializes in fighting these supernatural things, must have set up a corresponding response to them at the same time.

The easiest way to deal with memetic infections is amnestics, and as long as the affected person loses their memory and cognition of this information, the meme will naturally not be effective.

However, amnestics are only used as a last resort, and until then, the Foundation has plenty of experience to train people on how to "fight" the effects of memetic SCP objects.

"You will learn lucid dreaming, and you will do most of the practice in your dreams.

You'll undergo an intensive psychometric test to avoid joining those graduates.

You will practice meditation until you become a Zen master and learn to completely detach yourself from superfluous processes.

You have to learn the book of heaven and the meta-language, bypassing the surface layer and going straight to the first driving force.

If you rise to the top, you'll learn commands, such as murderous words, and just minor surgeries on your trachea.

We'll let you know when you're ready.

The pioneers of security measures who discovered how to contain the deadly infohazard in your mind, they didn't even have a chance to retire. ”

- Memetics & Infohazards Department Guidelines

IN SOME CASES, THE FOUNDATION HAS EVEN MASTERED THE TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE AND CONTROL MEMES, AND HAS APPLIED THEM TO THE INSURANCE FACILITIES OF CERTAIN CLASSIFIED FILES, SUCH AS THE BERRYMAN-LANGFORD MEMETIC ERASURE AGENT, WHICH OFTEN HAUNTS VARIOUS WARNINGS AND CLASSIFIED FILES AND HAS MANAGED TO BECOME A PSYCHOLOGICAL SHADOW FOR MANY PEOPLE.

Memes are so mysterious and terrifying, but compared to their opposite, antimemes, the unbridled messages of harm are as harmless as white rabbits.

The Foundation's original concept of antimemetics is the truly desperate disaster.

But Guan Li is not prepared to pull out the concept of antimemetics right now.

The document number currently released by the Foundation has not yet reached the point where antimemetic-related archives have exploded.

Although SCP-055, the pioneer of antimemetics, has been honestly nested in the database......

However, the term that passed by in its archives was apparently unnoticed.

In life, you always have to leave some surprises, don't you?

Let the others discover this easter egg for themselves.

Moreover, memes are the transmission of information, and antimemes are the involution and disappearance of information.

It's not because you can't write about the popular science of antimemes!