SCP-1337-EX



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forestfire.jpg

Image Associated with VKTM NFT of "2019 Amazon Rainforest Fires". Image is actually of 2013 California Forest Fires

Special Containment Procedures

(Current as of August 2018)

Until such a time that instances of SCP-1337 stop being produced or Ethics Committee approval to covertly seize control of the Ethereum blockchain is granted, the Foundation is to buy all instances of SCP-1337 produced by VKTM to prevent public knowledge of VKTM's operations and reduce civilian exposure to any possible embedded memetic triggers.

Description:

SCP-1337 is "Great Moments in History! NFTs by Vikander-Kneed Technical Media". They have also been sold under the label of "VKTM NFTs". NFT is believed to stand for "non-fungible token", a term which has not received mainstream acceptance.

SCP-1337 purport to give the user ownership of "Great Moments in History". Concepts VKTM NFTs have supposedly granted ownership of include: "the 100,000th tree cut down in the Amazon Rainforest", "1/100th of the hole in the Ozone Layer", "All sexual harassment lawsuits levied against Activision-Blizzard in the next decade", "The revelation of discriminatory hiring practices at major tech companies", "The tears of [CIVILIAN IDENTITY REDACTED], age █, upon first realizing that his family is one of many to have slipped from the American middle class to poverty1", and "Another symbol of the slow failure of democratic ideals."

As described in Vikander-Kneed marketing material, a Non-Fungible Token is a unique unit of data upon a blockchain that points to the purchased concept. Owning the NFT signifies that the holder "owns" the signified concept. It is not specified what the owner of the concept is allowed to do with it. A blockchain is a list of entries that cannot be easily modified after creation. A large amount of computational power and electricity is used to prevent unauthorized modifications to blockchains. SCP-1337 is similar to existing products on the Ethereum Blockchain such as "Cryptokitties", which similarly purport to grant their buyers a unique entry in a digital ledger.

SCP-1337 are traded on the Ethereum blockchain. Currently, it is responsible for less than 0.5% of all emissions generated by the Ethereum blockchain. Forcibly seizing control of the Ethereum blockchain has been deemed ethically unacceptable due to the calculated environmental impact and projected secrecy breaches involved in doing so.

Upon purchasing an instance of SCP-1337, the buyer will receive an entry in their digital portfolio indicating that they own the concept. This entry will usually include a link to an image pertinent to the linked concept but these images are generally symbolic as opposed to literal. These images may be under copyright; if so, the copyright holders of these images are almost always not associated with VKTM. If the links to these images change, the images will not update.

(For other entities offering similar ownership of abstract concepts, see SCP-2557, a Holding of Envelope Logistics®. However, unlike offerings by Envelope Logistics®, SCP-1337 does not appear to grant its buyers any enforceable ownership claims.)

As of yet, all known instances of SCP-1337 have corresponded to actual events.

Prior to Foundation containment, SCP-1337 instances usually remained up for sale for less than an hour before being purchased. Initial prices have ranged from $1 USD to $10,000 USD. After purchase, most instances are not resold. The resale value of those that are is on average 99% less than the original.

Addendum 1: Initial Containment Discussion

SCP-1337 has been given provisional SCP status given the purported conceptual ownership, as well as for being produced by Vikander-Kneed Technical Media. A specialized committee consisting of Dr. Lillian Lillihammer (Specialty: Memetics), Dr. Ezekiel Yang (Specialty: Financial Esoterica), and ALEXANDRA.AIC (Specialties: Cybersecurity, Computing, Digital Architecture, [10+ more]) was organized to discuss the anomalous aspects of the VKTM NFT product.

SCP-1337 Initial Containment Plan Meeting

July 22, 2018


[REDUNDANT EXPLANATION REDACTED]

LILLIHAMMER: Is that all there is to this bullshit, Alexandra?

ALEXANDRA.AIC: That's it. It is a hyperlink with a ownership verification process.

LILLIHAMMER: Are you sure? There's nothing else? No anomalous legal constructs?

ALEXANDRA.AIC: Nothing that matters from a legal or finance standpoint, beyond VKTM's existence as a corporate entity despite an extremely sparse paper trail. There is nothing anomalous about the computational implementation of SCP-1337.

YANG: I'm certain there are nuances—

LILLIHAMMER: I don't care.

YANG: …I'm not a fan of them either.

LILLIHAMMER: What are you a fan of? Housing crises? The occasional annihilation of Bielefeld?

YANG: Believe me, that was before my time. It's part of why the Department of Financial Esoterica was formed.

LILLIHAMMER: What's your doctorate in again?

YANG: Mathematics.

LILLIHAMMER: Then why are you wasting your time in finance—

YANG: I like money.

LILLIHAMMER: …then why are you working for the Foundation instead of Bay Street?

YANG: I'm not Canadian.

LILLIHAMMER: Wall Street, American.

YANG: Better work-life balance.

LILLIHAMMER: Are you serious?

YANG: Never.

LILLIHAMMER: I hate you already.

YANG: I get that a lot.

ALEXANDRA.AIC: I was requested to act as a moderator primarily because we predicted there would be a significant personality clash between the two of you. Please—

LILLIHAMMER: Personality clash? This is a moral issue.

YANG: Yes, yes, the financial industry is full of bloodsucking parasites. Yes, we're all soulless monsters with no appreciation of art or beauty. Yes, I add zero value to the world in my current job. But it takes a thief to catch a thief.

LILLIHAMMER: Fine. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

YANG: Alexandra, can we snip all of that from the record?

ALEXANDRA.AIC: I will consider it if it proves necessary.2

YANG: Fine. So I'll break down what these "VKTM NFTs" are from a financial standpoint. How they behave. When you buy most assets, you do so with the expectation that you'll gain some future value from them. When you buy a stock, you're legally entitled to a share of that company's cashflows into perpetuity. If you buy a bond, you're buying into fixed payments for as long as the bond exists. These NFTs… I'd say it's more analogous to buying fine art.

LILLIHAMMER: Soulless monsters with understanding of art or beauty, indeed.

YANG: When we're not talking about anart, and if we ignore the money laundering use case, people buy fine art for either its aesthetic or sentimental value or because they expect it to increase in value. The data isn't showing the second; these things are effectively worthless the instant they leave VKTM's ledger. There's nothing anomalous about this part of the effect. Which is why you're here.

LILLIHAMMER: Why me? I thought I was only here because of my natural brilliance.

ALEXANDRA.AIC: You were chosen for both your expertise in memetics and your previous study of Vikander Kneed—.

YANG: The reason I'm deferring to you is that I can't possibly imagine why people would literally invest in the deforestation of the Amazon. It has to be a memetic compulsion.

LILLIHAMMER: YOU LITERALLY WORK ON CONTAINING THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY! YOU KNOW HOW HORRIBLE PEOPLE CAN BE!

YANG: THAT'S DIFFERENT! THEY'RE RATIONAL ACTORS!

LILLIHAMMER: WHAT'S RATIONAL ABOUT—

YANG: BEING A PIECE OF SHIT IS RATIONAL IF YOU GET RICH OFF OF IT!

LILLIHAMMER: YOU'RE A PIECE OF—

ALEXANDRA.AIC: PLEASE TRY TO REMAIN CIVIL.

Yang takes a drink of water and smooths his tie. Lillihammer also takes a drink of water.

YANG: My point is—no one with half a brain should buy these things. Personally, I think they're both abhorrent and pointless.

LILLIHAMMER: So you do have morals.

YANG: As much as anyone who works for the Foundation does, yes. Any memetic effects?

LILLIHAMMER: I'd have to run a more thorough breakdown, but tell me—Alexandra, can you bring up another example on our screens?

ALEXANDRA brings another instance of SCP-1337 onto their screens. This is "The Radicalization of [CIVILIAN IDENTITY REDACTED] and subsequent actions in January, 2021". The picture is of the Washington Monument.

YANG: Can we use these at all? Is VKTM reliable with future predictions?

LILLIHAMMER: Look at it! It's too vague. What's he going to do, protest naked in front of… in Washington D.C.?

YANG: The Washington Monument, but close enough. Is this normal with VKTM's "helpful hints"?

LILLIHAMMER: Unfortunately. But tell me this—how do you feel when you look at this?

YANG: I… vaguely patriotic? It's a picture of the Washington Monument. Nice sculpture, 400 years old, probably built with slave labor. Not worth the… are they asking for 500 dollars for a hyperlink? Jesus Christ.

LILLIHAMMER: Glad to hear you're not a complete monster. But at a first glance – and I'd need more time with these to be sure – there's no memetic compulsion effect here. Nothing anomalous, at least.

YANG: So people are just buying these because… they want to own all this idiotic…

LILLIHAMMER: Yep.

YANG: God damn it.

ALEXANDRA.AIC: It seems that we appear to have come to a conclusion. Despite their producer, instances of SCP-1337 are entirely nonanomalous. Financially, technologically, and memetically.

LILLIHAMMER: Think so. If there's a memetic component, it's real subtle, which… is VKTM's style. I'll take a closer look, but I don't expect to find anything.

YANG: Agreed. I'll have the quants take a closer look, but I don't expect anything deeper to pop up.

Preliminary Conclusion: No anomalous properties were determined to exist in SCP-1337. However, SCP-1337 remained under observation due to the anomalous proclivities of its manufacturer. Current containment procedures were implemented under the recommendation of Drs. Yang & Lillihammer, and Alexandra.AIC.




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