Shortly after the identification of SCP-947's anomalous properties, Gautam Ramesh was brought in for an interview. Junior Researcher Ashwin Pichai was chosen to interview him due to Pichai's previous exposure to SCP-947.
Date: 4 July, 2017
Interviewer: Dr. Pichai
[BEGIN LOG]
[EXTRANEOUS INTRODUCTIONS OMITTED]
Dr. Pichai: Anyways, I'd like to ask you about the word [EXPLETIVE REDACTED].
Ramesh: Oh, uh, yeah, sure. Uh, what do you want to know?
Dr. Pichai: Well - how does it work? There's nothing else even remotely like it that exists in the world.
Ramesh: Oh, yeah yeah yeah. This is pretty cool stuff, I mean. So, uh, the human brain is like a computer, yeah?
Dr. Pichai: Yes.
Ramesh: So, if the brain is a computer, maybe you can program it like one. That's pretty much what language is, if you think about it. You teach people through, like, writing and speaking and feed them knowledge and that sort of thing. And you feed people information through speaking and writing and they process it automatically. So I was thinking about that one day, and I was wondering, the brain is like a computer right? So maybe you could create a brain virus. Uh, I mean, a computer virus. For like the brain. Not like, a real virus like, uh, Ebola or something. Something that when you hear it, you automatically process it and start replicating it.
Dr. Pichai: I see. That sounds a lot like a meme.
Ramesh: Yeah, actually! Something like, uh, 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. Well, actually, that's a bad example. Something like… hmm…
Dr. Pichai: Don't worry. I know what you mean. But those kinds of memes are just things that are easy to remember or fun to parrot. [EXPLETIVE REDACTED] doesn't just do that, it actively hijacks the brain. Making people only use it as a swear even if they try to say something else. How did you accomplish that?
Ramesh: Language is the key thing, right? When you hear a new word, you have to remember what it means. The word is meaningless by itself - you also need to know the meaning or the context of the word for it to do anything. But once you know the meaning, the brain automatically processes that word to have that meaning in the future. So the trick is figuring out how to make the word encode the meaning in and of itself. And if you can do that, then you can encode a lot more stuff into it. Stuff like making the brain want to use it as a curse word exclusively. The breakthrough was [DATA REDACTED BY ORDER OF DEPARTMENT OF MEMETICS] and so once I had the actual, uh, software, I just needed to wrap it up in an actual word and give it a meaning. I also encoded my name in it. You know, as a watermark.
Dr. Pichai: Speaking of languages, we've noticed that people who don't speak or understand English are unaffected by the word. Why is that?
Ramesh: So, going back to the computer analogy, right, you know what a programming language is? This is basically the same thing. [EXPLETIVE REDACTED] is a program written in English, so your brain needs to be able to run English to run it.
Dr. Pichai: So why did you pick [EXPLETIVE REDACTED] specifically? Why that meaning in particular?
Ramesh: I mean… I'm looking for a job. Programming the human brain is cool but you know what the economy's been like. I thought the military or the government would be pretty interested in this kind of thing, yeah? [EXPLETIVE REDACTED] is a proof of concept. It's pretty harmless and even helpful - it stops people from using actually harmful swears and like, racial slurs. But if you can do that, you could do stuff like, perhaps, hypnotize terrorists and stuff. Like, actually hypnotize them. So I was trying to get the government's attention. Show them that I can take the initiative and that I can really help them out. You work for the government right? I'm a self-motivated worker, I have experience with Python and C, I've got a Masters degree in neuroscience, and I have work experience. I can send you my resume.
