SCP-3475

Item #: SCP-3475

Object Class: Thaumiel

Special Containment Procedures: Copies of this document are to be made available to all Foundation personnel. In the event that a Foundation employee is unable to perceive or conceptualize some or all of the information contained in this document, an alternate document is to be provided.

Containment of SCP-3475 is accomplished through a number of discrete initiatives — a summary may be found in Addendum: Ongoing Containment of SCP-3475.

All Foundation personnel not currently affected by SCP-3475, regardless of clearance level, must be isolated from its influence whenever possible. Foundation personnel are currently forbidden to view media created by civilians except in an authorized, clinical context.

Movement of Foundation personnel between Sites must be tightly controlled. If travel through a civilian area cannot be avoided, anti-cognitohazardous equipment should be utilized to minimize the chance of exposure.

Exposed personnel are to be amnesticized and released into civilian areas if possible.

Further development and expansion of SCP-3475 is currently a top-level priority.

Description: SCP-3475 is the designation given to the cumulative result of Foundation efforts in enacting anomalous information control and social engineering techniques on the civilian, human population of Earth.

In the containment of numerous anomalous objects, the Foundation utilizes hundreds of initiatives involving amnestics, cognitohazards, and viral memetic agents. If each of these initiatives can be thought of as exerting a force on civilian humanity, SCP-3475 is the sum of these forces: a single vector denoting the direction in which human thought is being changed. The goal of the SCP-3475 program is then to coordinate this effect to best achieve the Foundation's principal aims.

Every new initiative affects, to some extent, every initiative that precedes it. The extent of this complexity means that changes to one aspect of SCP-3475 can change the whole in unexpected ways. Thus, SCP-3475 is prone to the development of unexpected, emergent properties and side effects.

Addressing SCP-3475 as a single whole allows for the greatest degree of control over civilian populations and allows side effects to be dealt with more easily. The SCP-3475 program currently allows civilian humanity to enjoy the greatest possible degree of normalcy and stability in spite of anomalous threats.

The depth and interconnected nature of SCP-3475 have made it potentially dangerous for Foundation personnel to be exposed to carriers of SCP-3475's constituent memetic agents. Such an infection may severely impair their ability to perform, understand, or perceive their duties to the Foundation.

This impairment also poses an issue for the recruitment of Foundation personnel from civilian populations. The development of a reliable, non-lethal method to remove the influence of SCP-3475 from an affected person is ongoing. Until this solution is found, personnel should exercise great caution when dealing with media produced by civilians, which may carry the memetic infection.

Despite the difficulty of maintaining and working around SCP-3475, its overall effect is universally positive. The continued existence of worldwide normalcy could not have been achieved without the SCP-3475 program and the sacrifices required to maintain it.

Addendum: Ongoing Containment of SCP-3475

Over 300 individual containment procedures affect, to some extent, the whole of civilian humanity. Thus, containment of SCP-3475 is most effectively accomplished by observing civilian reactions to new initiatives as closely as possible and dealing with side effects as they arise.

Most recently, the quickening pace and severity of certain threats has necessitated a rapid expansion of the SCP-3475 program. A summary of methods used to contain the side effects of several major initiatives is included below. A full list is available to personnel with at least clearance level 4/3475.

Initiative: Project Gunni Side Effects: Canid species prompt an exaggerated positive emotional reaction in conditioned civilians, resulting in major changes to home and work life in order to spend more time in the presence of canids. Containment Strategy: Memetic agent AMARANTH NIHIL was created to cause a measured disgust response to canids, in order to counteract these side effects. Soon after introduction, the most common species of canids became increasingly difficult to perceive, and as such this issue has been made inconsequential.

Initiative: Project Niklas Side Effects: Although Samothracian refugees possess inherent antimemetic qualities, in groups they exert a pronounced perception-altering effect on nearby civilians that causes Project Niklas to fail, allowing civilians to perceive the holes in space present near hospitals and airports. This results in cascading errors in interpreting visual stimuli, followed by the onset of blindness. Containment Strategy: Memetic agent OCHRE BASALT has been created specifically to affect Samothracian refugees, inducing an aversion to contact with other refugees. While the former island of Samothrace is suspected to be uninhabitable, it is to be monitored to ensure no additional refugee constructs emerge.

Initiative: Project Empty Machine Side Effects: The non-existence of symptoms previously associated with drowsiness has resulted in large swathes of civilians experiencing symptoms of acute sleep deprivation with no apparent cause. Containment Strategy: Memetic agents VERDANT GLIMPSE and FEARFUL HERON have been introduced to encourage and normalize the ingestion of stimulants and to streamline certain energy-consuming mental processes. Sleep deprivation has since declined.

Initiative: Project Halicarnassus Side Effects: Despite the destruction of relevant cultural artifacts, approximately 1% of the civilian population still experience dreams in which the night sky appears as it did pre-20██. If these experiences are shared between individuals and found to be consistent, the internal contradiction with Project Halicarnassus results in immediate catatonia. Containment Strategy: The introduction of memetic agent GREEN WORLD has eliminated the recalling of dreams. An infovorous construct has rendered imperceptible any information supposing the existence of objects outside the solar system. Societal order has been restored.