Item #: SCP-C001
Object Class: Thaumiel
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-C001 can be used to advance the Foundation's mission via the establishment of SCP-C001-A that operate outside the Foundation's sphere of influence. To this end, the Foundation must make all reasonable efforts to establish contact with any society that has not already been contacted to ensure that SCP-C001-A arises.
Description: SCP-C001 is the organizational culture of the Foundation. Specifically, it is the set of values, attitudes, and practices that constitute the social environment experienced by Foundation personnel in the course of their work. Examples of phenomena that constitute SCP-C001 include:
- Adherence to the mission of concealing the existence of anomalies from the public.
- Personal identification with the Foundation and its mission.
- Acclimation to the existence and presence of anomalous phenomena.
- Preference for scientific, evidence-based methods of problem-solving.
- Strong emphasis on meeting deadlines, often above strict adherence to safety guidelines.
- Emotional distancing from disturbing phenomena and experimentation.
- Ascription of higher social status to individuals with higher clearance levels.
- Use of reassignment as punishment.
- High valuation of ethnic and gender diversity.
- Filing of spurious or misleading complaints against high-ranking personnel.
- Acclimation to the presence and use of D-Class personnel.
- Preference for internal promotions over outside hiring.
SCP-C001 exhibits an abnormally strong tendency towards self-correction. In most cases, this manifests as simple stubbornness among relevant personnel, who will resist attempts to change SCP-C001 with unusual enthusiasm. If the pressure to change is sufficiently high, physical anomalies may occur in response; examples include changes to policy documents, the appearance or disappearance of necessary materials, and the disruption of relevant communications. As a result, SCP-C001 has remained mostly unchanged for the majority of the Foundation's history.
SCP-C001 is capable of reproduction by changing an existing organization so that its culture matches SCP-C001 as closely as possible. The altered organization — hereby SCP-C001-A — will generally be a military, corporate, or scientific/academic group of considerable influence; it will spontaneously acquire beliefs, policies, and infrastructure that mirror those of the Foundation. All memories and other first-hand accounts SCP-C001-A will change to portray a historically consistent narrative of SCP-C001-A that accounts for SCP-C001. However, examination of secondary and tertiary documents can reveal the prior nature of SCP-C001-A.
SCP-C001 will only replicate itself into one organization in any given society, and only if there is not already an instance of SCP-C001-A in that society. The sole requirement for the replication to occur is that someone already subject to SCP-C001 (i.e. Foundation personnel) observe any member of a susceptible society. In the context of the present-day world community, the SCP Foundation itself satisfies these constraints, preventing other conspicuous instances of SCP-C001-A from arising.
SCP-C001 has been successfully propagated to numerous isolated human cultures, both current and historical. Modern isolated cultures were observed by Foundation explorers from a distance to minimize the possibility of disease transmission; the resultant instances of SCP-C001-A have contained several dozen anomalies. It is not currently possible to better understand the scope of indigenous SCP-C001-A instances without unacceptable levels of interference.
Historical cultures (such as the Indus Valley Civilization, the Akkadian Empire, and ancient Athens) were affected retroactively by the use of Limited Cross-Temporal Photon Interception, which has recently acquired the fidelity necessary to permit SCP-C001 transmission. The creation of SCP-C001-A in ancient civilizations has been crucial for the long-term viability of human society and the establishment of a science-based consensus reality.
In all known cases (currently 31), SCP-C001 has affected extraterrestrial civilizations in a fashion analogous to its effect on human civilizations. While not all aspects of the Foundation have exact analogues in alien instances of SCP-C001-A, the broader social dynamics and intent to conceal anomalous phenomena have always been replicated, often with major consequences for the host society. This has a positive effect on interstellar relations, as the Foundation can often quickly establish a working relationship with SCP-C001-A.
Addendum: For posterity, all notable objections to current policy regarding SCP-C001 have been included below, as have official responses provided by the O5 Council.
| Objection | Source | Commentary |
|---|---|---|
| Greater efforts to change certain deleterious aspects of SCP-C001 should be made. The current "hands-off" management style is commonly interpreted by personnel as indifference to longstanding problems; if true change is genuinely impossible due to the anomalous nature of SCP-C001, then the demonstration of this fact will still increase overall goodwill towards the administration. | H. Zahir, Ethics Committee member 1993-2C001. | Attempts to adjust SCP-C001's nature would have an unpredictable impact on operations. The potential benefits of reform do not outweigh the risk to containment integrity. |
| SCP-C001's documentation should not be centered on its present form; in particular, the Foundation itself should be listed as an instance of SCP-C001-A. Despite it being founded in 1833, secondary sources generally describe the Foundation as a private consulting and investigative firm — only in January of 1987 did its ostensible mission change to the containment and study of anomalies. The logical conclusion is that the 'SCP Foundation' does not hold any sort of privileged position with regards to SCP-C001. | S. Booker, Foundation Historian 1984-present. | The exact classification of the Foundation itself has no bearing on policy regarding SCP-C001. For the sake of clarity, the Foundation will remain the focus of SCP-C001's documentation. |
| Deliberately spreading SCP-C001 to uncontacted societies, both human and alien, is in violation of international law and all ethical standards regarding indigenous peoples. Its imposition on the past has greatly impeded the study of history, archaeology, and anthropology, to the detriment of actual containment efficacy. The intentional creation of SCP-C001-A should be discontinued immediately. | J. Sanmugasunderam, Department of Anthropology Chairwoman 2006-present. | The Foundation is not beholden to international law or the best practices of any particular scientific field. The utility of SCP-C001 outweighs all presented ethical concerns. |
| As a consequence of policy set by the O5 Council, there may be no people, past or present, that lacks a copy of SCP-C001-A. We could have averted our eyes and studied the world from a distance, but instead we have cast our assimilating gaze across time and space. The Foundation has colonized the world not for the sake of containment, but to eliminate any contrast to its doctrine of secrecy. If every society squirrels away the magical and unusual, then there can be no objection to the Foundation's domination. Is this the behavior of an organization that believes its existence is truly for the best? The Council claims that SCP-C001 is immutable, and that the Foundation is an inescapable necessity; if you have the clearance to see this, you might be in a position to test that theory out. |
Anonymous | This objection contains no actionable recommendation and has been disregarded. |