| ANALYSIS |
|---|
| DPT OF PSYCHOLOGY REPORT |
Document R2-RDPSL-477-#89: 477-positive Analysis.
477-positive Personality Evaluation |
| Dept.: Psychology (OAS) Date of Writing: 07/04/2007 Author: Dr. L. Martínez |
Authorized By: Dr. M. Kaufman Date of Authorization: 14/10/2007 Clearance: 2R |
Procedures for Evaluation
- Interviews with 477-positive subjects, based on a standard question sheet
- Interviews with prior family members, directed toward personality prior to and after RPC-477
- Observation of common habits while in containment
- Linguistic free-association tests (6 sessions, 100 words per session)
- Fahler Cognitive Vulnerability Test
- Almagro Memetic Trigger List Test (MSC-2, O3-077-A)
- Various Behavioral Aberration Tests, Memetic & Psychiatric conditions (TT-100; SPTFR-17; Maint. Union Standard; RPC-███-██)
(Question sheets & personal notes available per request: S-013 Personnel Wing, Psych. Office #5)
Overview of Commonalities
- Self-identification as a 49 year-old male named "John Chase Patterson".
This occurs regardless of actual age, previous name or biological sex. 477-positive individuals predominantly opt to legally change their name to "John Chase Patterson", extending to a legal change of gender and subsequent gender reassignment therapy and/or surgery in female individuals.
The discrepancy between the perceived "correct" age of 477-positive individuals and their biological age results in the adoption of certain common methods of compensation, including but not limited to dressing with plaid shirts, blue or black jeans, and black neckties, voice modulation to reflect an older/younger age (respective to biological age), and tinting of hair to a gray color.
- Increased appreciation of scarcity and simplicity.
477-positive subjects actively seek to decrease their income and living accommodations, appreciating an impoverished life as more conducive to personal satisfaction. In some circumstances, this leads to voluntary adoption of homelessness.
This is often coupled with a rejection of more specialized knowledge in favor of unskilled labor where "office" jobs (primarily accounting) are not available. They may refuse to acknowledge their higher education or apply specialized skills learned earlier in life.
This characteristic in particular results in RPC-477 often being seen as a spiritual experience ("revelation"), which in turn leads to conflict among family members and other loved ones. Abandonment of a family is common when these changes are rejected or pushed against: 477-positive subjects react strongly to denial of their pursuit of spiritual fulfillment.
- Decreased appreciation of exercise and bodily health.
Expressed as an increase in weight over time and cessation in upkeep of body hygiene. This manifests as a reluctance to exercise, bathe, and shave, among other activities. Excesses in consumption (I.e. cigars, alcoholic beverages) are also apparent. Such changes are emotionally justified as following from either or both of the above characteristics.
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- Minor characteristics.
Among others, these include distaste for most modern forms of art and idealization of past artistic trends: in particular, a preference for early genres of rock.
A slight preference of Christianity over other religions, in particular the Catholic Church, is also noted. Some 477-positive subjects acquire Catholic memorabilia for personal ownership.
477-positive subjects also favor socialist or otherwise left-leaning ideologies over their previously held ones. State welfare programs are almost universally approved.
Other Observations
Victims are abnormally prone to irregularities in memory and cyclical behavior. The most prominent of these is a tendency to forget or disregard familial relationships (in particular couples, children and parents), regardless of their prior personal significance.
Failure to properly recognize such individuals as significant in any way is the most inoffensive manifestation of this tendency, with the most prominent being the erasure and replacement of long-term memories with newly-formed ones that do not correspond to reality. New memories are somewhat consistent across numerous cases but their interpretation may drastically differ, with unique context and emotional load being individually added.
For instance, all subjects may remember purchasing a can of beer, but their reason for doing so may range from emotional distress to meeting with friends.
During the morning (8:30—11:20 AM) 477-positive subjects display cyclical movement of limbs and head, as well as walking in repetitive, vaguely circular paths. One particular motion is especially prevalent: raising of the right arm with the hand facing upward, followed by leaning of the head to the left. These motions are unprompted and appear unremarkable to the victims themselves.
While these irregularities most resemble the symptoms of neurodegeneration, it is highly likely that they are the neuro-psychological lesions of memetic infection.1 This is substantiated by the results of the linguistic free-association tests: certain recurrent words and sequences that are common in standard free-association results are entirely absent from 477-positive results. Some examples are listed below.
- Home (when associated with oneself)
- Belonging
- Family (and semantic associations)
- Love
- Hobby
- Satisfaction (when associated with oneself)
- Purpose (ditto)
The presence of such consequences requires the occurrence of a sufficiently powerful memetic infection and subsequent dosage of amnestics to remove it, damaging the conscious and subconscious concepts that the infection attached itself to. As almost no 477-positive subjects show evidence of such lesions, it is thus strongly implied that the psychological profile adopted by them is drawn from an existing person(s) rather than maintained by the personal experiences of 477-positive subjects, as was initially believed by the Department of Psychology.
The generalized and personal nature of the missing words coupled with the abnormal repetitive motions suggests the hypothesized meme to be extremely influential to the victim's self-image, most likely resulting in monomaniacal obsession with the meme's payload.2 As 477-positive subjects are very vocal about their personal views and philosophies, it is further suggested that the meme had great infectious potential, possibly in the proximity of 450 words for successful infection.
[…]
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| MECHANISM OF ACTION |
Document 02-RDPSL-477-#109: Mechanism of Action.
(Excerpt from "Memetics & Identity: An Analysis", by Mark Cirelli. The Hidden Gazette, 317th edition, pp. 207. Originally published in The Lettermen's Letterhead, 71st edition, pp. 59.)
[…] For instance, Dr. L. Martínez's hypothesis regarding RPC-477, while purely hypothetical, provides a substantial ground for speculation regarding the remote transmission of memetically encoded data, whether anomalous or otherwise. A cursory analysis of the anomaly immediately draws attention to its tendency to provoke abnormal neural oscillatory activity, but the key to its mechanism may instead lie in the parts of the phenomenon that are not anomalous. […]
The bursts of activity associated with Stage 2 sleep under influence of RPC-477 are preceded by two familiar waveforms: the K-complex and the sleep spindle.
A long-standing hypothesis regarding both phenomena (which some of my colleagues have compounded into a single one, ignominiously-named "K-spindle") proposes that they aid in the consolidation of long-term memory. RPC-477's effects on memory support this hypothesis: it is likely that new memories obtained through RPC-477 are immediately consolidated and thus trigger dreaming, which would in turn explain the variance in context of common memories across 477-positive subjects.
This process necessarily requires the new memories not to be locally-produced, with no corresponding neural activity to support their creation. Thus, remote reception is far more likely. Assuming this speculation to be correct, we can further assume the brain to be especially vulnerable to memetic influence during sleep, as would be suggested by the anomalous properties of the Déjà vu […]
| FURTHER INVESTIGATION |
|---|
| RPC-477-α |
Document 03-S013-#48-477: RPC-477-α.
On June 04, 2009, an individual named John Chase Patterson was identified in the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands. He was first identified while purchasing a Santa Helena chardonnay wine bottle from a bar in the outskirts of the city, having caught the attention of ACI operative ████ ███████. The operative in question had familiarized himself with RPC-477, and recognized the name "John Chase Patterson" when it was shouted by the barman, on account of him owing a substantial amount of money to the bar.3
Patterson would engage in a lengthy argument with the barman, vehemently insisting his debt to be at least half of what the barman was claiming, only leaving once threatened with a police call. He was then followed outside the bar and questioned by the operative, who recorded the interview with his smartphone. The exchange is attached below.
(Section translated from Dutch)
████: Mister Patterson! Give me a—
PATTERSON: Fuck off!4 Who are you collecting for?
████: No sir, I'm no collector. I simply saw a fellow with a thin wallet, and I felt the need to share a sip of better wine than that butter bomb right there. I bought a—
(End Dutch translation)
PATTERSON: Oh, sod it! Your accent is terrible. What American ghetto did you grow from?
████: Grow…? I— I'm just looking for a friend in this labyrinth of a city, thought you might be it.
PATTERSON: Your Dutch is too guttural. You make it sound pestilent, like French.
████: Well, I'm glad you know English then! Like I said, I bought a bottle and— Wait, wait, let me at least uncork it!
PATTERSON: (Swallowing, then throat clearing.) So, what're you selling? Charity? Church? My Sundays 're all busy.
████: You misunderstand me, mister Patterson, I'm just here—
PATTERSON: Use "John", dammit.
████: —to chat.
PATTERSON: (Swallowing.) No time. Have work tomorrow.
████: Sir— With a tab that long, you haven't had a job in a while.
(Pause.)
PATTERSON: So what? My business.
████: I can help with that! Just let me talk with you for a minute.
PATTERSON: Ah, there it is. (Swallowing.) What do ya want?
████: Just a few questions, then we can talk shop.
PATTERSON: Go 'head.
████: How old are you?
PATTERSON: Fourty-nine years.
████: You look far older.
PATTERSON: Dunno. I'm fourty-nine. Strange thing to ask.
████: What is your birth name?
PATTERSON: John Chase Patterson, kid. You've already heard it.
████: You sure? John Chase Patterson?
PATTERSON: Ye'. Why's that? Took me for someone else?
████: No, no. Do you uh… Do you live like this by… Spiritual choice?
PATTERSON: No. Damn no. You're a weird'un. (Swallowing.)
████: Huh. And how long have you been…?
PATTERSON: Long as I can 'member. No that I can much.
████: No family or friends to help out?
PATTERSON: I dun' have friends.
(Pause.)
████: And family?
PATTERSON: (Groan.) Can't 'member. Been a while. (Swallowing.)
████: Uh-huh. Mind if I take you home? It's cold tonight.
PATTERSON: What in the soddin' hell are ya on about?
████: Wh— I said I'd take you home.
PATTERSON: Yea, that. What's it?
████: My home, John. An apartment a few streets down.
PATTERSON: I ain't got a clue what that is, kid.
Mr. Patterson would later be moved to Site-013 and interviewed in search of unique aberrations and commonalities with 477-positive subjects. It has been conclusively established that Mr. Patterson (tentatively designated RPC-477-α) is not a 477-positive subject, and that such subjects deviate significantly from his self-image and behavior. It is most likely they perceive themselves as an idealized version of RPC-477-α.
The following conclusions about RPC-477-α have been verified via repeated interrogation and behavioral testing.
- RPC-477-α fully believes himself to be 49 years old, despite being between 10 and 20 years older.
- RPC-477-α is incapable of fully comprehending certain common concepts, for example:
- Home/housing. RPC-477-α cannot understand either word, and any attempt to explain the concept and its importance is unsuccessful or forgotten.
- Family. While RPC-477-α can understand the word, he has difficulties with its definition. He is incapable of perceiving the importance of family to upbringing and social activities.
- Passion. RPC-477-α appears confused or amused by abstract ideals like it, and cannot understand vocation as a value relevant to labor. Research/investigation are especially confusing as labor avenues to be pursued due to passion.
- RPC-477-α cannot recall a long period of his life, ranging from his graduation from ██ ██████ High School at age 18 to a supposedly short period before his 49th birthday, which he celebrated at a bar.
- RPC-477-α has a warped perception of the passage of time, believing his 49th birthday to have occurred "not long ago". He is unable to specify the length of time he is describing.
Aside from the aforementioned amnestic symptoms, RPC-477-α suffers from an unspecified form of self-described "phantom pain" when attempting to recall lost memories. It is unclear whether this pain is physical or metaphorical, as RPC-477-α is uncooperative when discussing the topic of his memories.
Compulsive and repetitive movement has been noted both after waking up and while discussing any of the previously described abnormalities. Compulsions range from repeatedly tapping his fingers in a cyclical pattern5 to convulsive movement of the right shoulder when listening to or visualizing certain words and concepts and walking in circles.
Neural monitoring reveals that particular areas of RPC-477-α's brain suffer from diminished neuro-electrical activity when compared to a baseline human being. It has also been noted that activity spikes to normal levels when RPC-477-α is suffering from "phantom pain." These areas include:
- Minor sections of the frontal lobe
- Substantia nigra, a basal ganglia relevant to motor control and dopamine production
- Amygdala, two structures regulating emotion, memory, rewards and stress
- Wernicke's speech area, a section of the cerebral cortex responsible for the understanding of written and spoken language
- Major sections of the temporal lobe
- Hippocampus, two structures responsible for long-term memory, spatial memory and navigation, and approach-avoidance conflicts6
| DATA SEALED |
Document R4-RDAMD-477-#01: Internal Records & Further Investigation.
Per request of Anti-Memetics Senior Researcher P. Schaffner, the Office of Information Records & Security has executed a sweep of internal documents pertaining to the keyword "John Chase Patterson" and permutations/abbreviations thereof. 41 documents matching the subject were located, of which 6 were successfully declassified and/or sanitized for use of the Anti-Memetics Department.
An abridged list of monetary compensations dated 1988 includes a single mention of the name "John Chase Patterson":
| Personnel | Division | Department | Date Of Death | Cause Of Death | Compensation | Paid To (Relation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Chase Patterson | █████████████ █████████████ |
█████████████ █████████████ |
04/06/1988 | N/A: Non-Fatal | $805,000 USD | Agatha Wright (Wife) |
An individual by the name Agatha Wright (2099 SE 52nd Ave. Portland, Oregon, USA) has been successfully linked to RPC-477-α by genetic testing of her two daughters, which evidences that the John Chase Patterson referred to in the compensation document may be RPC-477-α. When approached, she demonstrated no awareness of the compensation or interactions with the Authority, but provided some insightful comments regarding RPC-477-α.
According to her testimony, her husband abruptly developed symptoms of a neurodegenerative disease "near his fifties", which quickly worsened over the course of a month. Before psychiatric aid could be given, he left the house and disappeared. A missing person's report was never filed for uncertain reasons.
It is unclear whether RPC-477-α was under Authority payroll due to the redaction present in the compensation list. No records pertaining to the nature of his contact with the Authority are known to exist, save for a heavily redacted request form for amnesticization.
EMERGENCY REQUEST FOR AMNESTIC TREATMENT |
REQUESTANT ID: ███████-███
DEPARTMENT: ██████████
SITE: ███████
AMNESTIC CLASS: LETHIUM | MINERAL | VEGETAL | SURGERY | OTHER
AMNESTIC TYPE: N/A
DESCRIBE TYPE IF OTHER: [See supplemental report EM-667-CContainment Directive O-8778-4 pp. 12-54]
DOSE (IF APPLICABLE): N/A
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1) SUBJECT INFO:
a. Name
John Chase Patterson
b. Age
☐ <20
☐ >20
☐☐ >40
c. Weight
71.8
kg | lb | oz
c. Other
Existing medical condition(s)? Y | N
Describe if Y: ████████████████████████████████████████████████
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2) REASONING/JUSTIFICATION:
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Other documentation granted by the OIRS suggests the reason for amnesticization to have been exposure to a powerful memetic pathogen. The qualities of such a pathogen are unclear, but aggregation of the unique amnestic treatment, emergency nature of the request, and thorough expungement of related documentation suggests it to be extremely infectious and potent.
It is believed RPC-477-α's psychological irregularities are caused by a combination of the amnestic treatment and remnants of the memetic pathogen. For instance, RPC-477-α's incapability to process certain concepts could be a result of their removal from his psyche, which could have been necessary if the pathogen were to have attached and modified them.7
It is very likely RPC-477 represents an emergent anomaly of both the treatment and the pathogen, but confirmation is impossible as long as documentation remains unavailable. At least 6 known memetic pathogens could feasibly match the suggested characteristics.
Another request has been made to the OIRS for documents potentially referring to the aforementioned pathogen.
Document R5-RDAMD/BS-477-#17: Potential Match.
The OIRS has agreed to sanitize the following document for use of the Anti-Memetics Department. The full document remains classified for reasons of memetic, informational and personal security.
| Registered Phenomena Code | ███ | ■ ■■■■ |
| Informal Designate | EIDOLIC ANGEL | ■ ■ ■■ ■ ■ |
| Object Risk | PURPLE | ■ ■ ■ ■ |
| Containment Degree | SEVERE | ■■■ |
| Primary Hazard | MEMETIC | ■■ ■ ■■■ |
| Secondary Hazard | SAPIENT/AGGRESSIVE | ■■■■ ■■ ■ |
| Tertiary Hazard | EXTRATERRESTRIAL | ■■■■ ■■■ |
| Number Contained | 1 | ■■ ■■■ ■■■ |
| Reporting Personnel | ██████████████████ | ■■■■■■■ ■■ |
CONTAINMENT SYSTEMS:
The newly-formed Anti-Memetics Division has devised an effective protocol to contain RPC-███ with the assistance of the Cryptology Office in Site-223 and █████ ████ ██████████. As its memetic properties are beyond the Authority's capability to measure and control, all infected individuals save one (chosen to be Mr. John Patterson) must be terminated: this will ensure RPC-███'s sentience remains localized to that individual and vulnerable to ████████ ██████.
Once this is completed, an experimental method to expunge the conceptual centers to which RPC-███ is ████████ will be carried out. This should ensure the successful severing of its ██████████ that interface with the human psyche and develop sentience. In turn, this will guarantee its immateriality, allowing for the crashed ████ to be destroyed. No biological remains may be preserved.
The entire protocol has been successfully tested in a neutered RPC-███-B instance before Lightswitch activation (see Containment Directive O-8778-13 ██/██/60)
For the purposes of the development of this document, partial knowledge of RPC-███'s memetic architecture had to be imparted to members of the project. As any such knowledge could prove a potential point of infection, expungement of the project as a whole and all memories relevant to RPC-███ is imperative.
Neutralization of RPC-███ is nevertheless impossible at the moment. All the aforementioned measures will hopefully weaken it beyond recovery, but termination of Mr. John Patterson could potentially cause it to spontaneously infect other individuals with Mr. Patterson's ███-positive psychological traits (as seen in Incident ██/██/1960, Manhattan) and regenerate its ██████████.
It is also a concern that the Authority would attempt to investigate Mr. Patterson once purged from all knowledge of RPC-███, which could potentially result in contamination with its primary components and thus another outbreak. As such, Mr. Patterson will be retained for a trial period of the containment protocol and released afterward.
He is not to be questioned regarding RPC-███. He is not to be questioned regarding any purged concepts. He is not to be questioned regarding his missing memories. He is not to die until the Authority's knowledge of anomalous memetics is sufficient to find a more permanent containment protocol.
It is regrettably impossible to conserve any current documentation on RPC-███ for future use.
The file for RPC-477 has been altered to abide by these Containment Protocols.