Item #: SCP-C900
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-C900 is functionally uncontainable, but is likely to become irrelevant as a result of the obsolesence of intelligence testing.
Should it be necessary, usage of SCP-C900 during field operations is authorized.
Description: SCP-C900 refers to a simplistic geometrical figure of superficial similarity to a downward-pointing triangle, whose upper right corner is interrupted by any other geometrical figure.
SCP-C900's anomalous properties are intrinsically tied with the concept of intelligence testing, primarily those related to the concept of the "Intelligence Quotient" or IQ. Observation of SCP-C900 by any given subject in the 24 hours preceding one such test will result in a verifiably higher result than would otherwise be acquired. This effect can apply exactly once after visualization of SCP-C900: regardless of how many times exposure was repeated or how long it lasted, subsequent intelligence tests after the initial one will return normal results for the individual in question. Results obtained via SCP-C900 vary wildly, but it is speculated that they are tied in some form to self-confidence.
It is to be noted, however, that SCP-C900 is not tied to any substantial psychological or neurological changes: it does not quantifiably increase intelligence. Analysis by the Counterconceptual Department suggests that SCP-C900's properties are instead merely an anomalous form of suggestion or placebo effect with the unusual effect of increasing performance during intelligence testing. SCP-C900's existence in turn suggests that the reliability of intelligence testing is weaker than what is assumed by its proponents.1
SCP-C900 is capable of being delivered by non-visual mediums, if exclusively to persons whose visual capabilities are impaired or who fare better with employment of other senses. For instance, blind persons may instead conceptualize SCP-C900 via auditive description or tactile stimulus, while those with functioning sight may not.
SCP-C900-A designates the combination of the territory occupied by Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, which, when symbologically represented, form a true SCP-C900 instance. All three aforementioned countries have historically overperformed during intelligence quotient tests, as compared to the remainder of South America. The mechanism for delivery is almost certainly symbological representations of the geographical areas in question (i.e. maps), viewed during primary or secondary education.
Conversely, horizontally-inverted SCP-C900 are present in three continental formations: South America, Africa, and the Indian Subcontinent, tentatively designated SCP-C900-B, -C and -D respectively. While the influence of each of these SCP-C900 sub-instances is still under discussion, it is believed they may be tied to historical underperformance of their inhabitants during intelligence quotient tests.
Addendum: Origin.
Whether the mechanism employed by SCP-C900 is artificial or natural to the human brain is still unknown. Its nuances described above suggest that SCP-C900 is man-made or exploits an artificial alteration to the human subconscious made at an unknown time: in such a case, it is possible that SCP-C900 delivers relevant solutions to problems posed by the intelligence test in question as it is being resolved.
Certain researchers under the Counterconceptual Department have proposed that the inverse of SCP-C900 was created during initial popularization of categorization of individuals by intelligence as early as 1780, and spread worldwide as a result of the popularity of intelligence quotient tests after World War I.
Were this to be true, the inverse SCP-C900, and by extension SCP-C900, are likely to be artificial: their existence implies that the individual or party involved in their creation sought to exploit intelligence testing as a result of racially or eugenically motivated beliefs. In such a case, SCP-C900 and intelligence testing as a whole represent an ongoing breach of containment that has continued for more than two hundred years.2
Despite the likely disastrous consequences of SCP-C900 to human culture and politics, a method to reverse its impact has not yet been devised.