varingblaarThere Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm
Spoiler warning: If you haven't read There Is No Antimemetics Division, I suggest you do so before going any further. If this spoils it for you, it's not my fault.You have been warned.
We spend all our time trying to remember things as accurately as possible. When a memory is formed, we remember our interpretation of something, not the factual thing. Emotions also change how something is remembered. Every time we recall a memory it is slightly altered, simplified, tweaked. Details are fuzzy so we make assumptions to fill the gaps and remember them as fact. Over time the story changes. This is why witness testimony is so tricky in court cases, and the longer the case goes on the less reliable it becomes.
But what if there are things out there, objects or places or people, that actively manipulate our memories? Not our perception, not make us hallucinate. You see the thing correctly, but it doesn't "save in your brain" the way it's supposed to, or it can even alter or consume existing memories.
Part I: Unknowns
The first few chapters of the book pretty closely stick to the original stories from its SCP origins, introducing the concepts a little at a time. They feature the characters that will be in (what I consider to be) the actual story later in the book.
This is the sort of stuff I live for. Half explained, leaving the imagination to run wild. When I was probably way too young to watch this sort of thing, I enjoyed the 1995 reboot of The Outer Limits. The show was similar in concept to Twilight Zone, but instead of a "monster of the week" it was proper Science Fiction Horror, with the outcome often left unresolved. It made you question your assumptions about the world, or how beneficial technology really is if it destroys our humanity. That discomfort is addictive, and it's probably the reason for the nightmares my love of Science Fiction, Horror, and where they overlap.
Part II: Escapee
Now that we're more comfortable with the type of mental gymnastics involved in these phenomena, the story begins to develop. We start to see how things tie together. The existential threat becomes global. We learn about unknowns that exist in the real world.
Humanity is losing a war that most of humanity is unaware of, and the ultimate weapon is to build a weapon against an enemy that we can't know about, because knowing what we're fighting is to lose the battle. But it turns out the work has already been done, but without us knowing. It's just a matter of triggering the weapon and in the process wiping all knowledge of the war, and the weapon, and even the Division itself.
It's very Lovecraftian. The classic unreliable narrator, doubting whether the world has changed around them, or whether their memory has changed. This tugs at the feeling we all fear, that our own memory is the unreliable narrator.
Part III: Five Five Five Five Five
This is what I consider the true "story" of the book. Everything this point was setup and world building. We see through the eyes of Adam Quin, the husband from earlier who was forced to forget his entire marriage. The entire reason he was with Marie in the first place, was his subtle resistance to mimetic manipulation. It's possible that others have the same ability to see the world being destroyed around them, but Adam is in the unique position to have experienced the inner workings of the Division. Even without being able to consciously remember U-4987, "Sunshine" finds Adam and guides him through discovering the events that transpired to get him here. In a Dagon-esque otherworldly exploration over an unknown amount of time, he figures out what needs to be done.
Not going to lie, these last few pages felt metaphorical in their explanation of events and I don't quite follow what happened to defeat U-3125. It's almost like it was rationalised to death? There's no big explosions, no boss fight. Just a complex dream sequence and the world returns to normal.
What Did I Just Read?
The book leaves us how it started, feeling unresolved. Though the great threat is gone, other entities persist that defy our perceptions. Around us all the time.
It's thought provoking, and leaves a creepy feeling that makes me doubt the world around me. Similar to the effect I felt after watching The Matrix for the first time, the fact that it could be true and there's no way of knowing, is the horror.
