SCP-3031
Beginning of Wisdom
Object Class: Esoteric
Connected to: SCP-711SCP-2611SCP-2829SCP-3334
Special Containment Procedures
All knowledge of SCP-3031's existence and anomalous properties is to be restricted to personnel with Level 3 clearance or higher. Countermemetic agent WISE START has shown success in suppressing both SCP-3031-2 as well as recognition of SCP-3031's properties, and is to be disseminated into children's books, television shows, and other media, as well as in reference books and resources.
All SCP-3031-1 instances immune to WISE START are to be amnesticized, and dismissed as victims of a new variant of multiple sclerosis. Contact with SCP-3031-1 instances is prohibited outside of approved research interviews.
Description
SCP-3031 is a memetic brain condition appearing in approximately 0.00089% of the world population. Symptoms primarily include a malformed amygdala1 and a severely diminished acute stress response. Other symptoms are similar to those characteristic of dysmyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
The exact mechanism of SCP-3031 is still unclear, but it is currently known that SCP-3031 suppresses the formation and maintenance of the myelin sheath surrounding neurons.2 Unlike multiple sclerosis, a similar but nonanomalous condition, SCP-3031 is not considered an autoimmune disorder.
Instead, SCP-3031 progression is theorized to stem from a gradual failure of myelinogenesis.3 Under this model, SCP-3031 is currently assumed to begin in the middle stages of myelinogenesis during childhood, but is usually unable to be conclusively identified until the age of 10.
SCP-3031 damages the fear response pathways, preventing the usual transmittance of signals to the lateral centers of the amygdala. Victims of SCP-3031 (hereafter referred to as SCP-3031-1) typically are unable to respond effectively to fear stimuli. Analysis of the inner brain tissue of SCP-3031-1 instances shows little consistency in results, save for an average 28% decrease in the number of glial cells.
SCP-3031 is currently assumed to be noncommunicable, as no vector of transmission has been identified to date. SCP-3031 has been found to spread through a naturally-occuring cognitohazardous meme, designated SCP-3031-2, that causes large-scale cell death of astroglia responsible for maintaining connections between neurons and other glial cells when viewed. While dangerous, SCP-3031-2 has a very low rate of successful infection among viewers. Intensive study has developed a countermemetic agent capable of suppressing and neutralizing SCP-3031-2's effects with approximately 93% efficiency.