Mind Virus: Difference between revisions
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This trope is for [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|viruses of the mind]]. They spread the same way as any other normal virus, either through exposure to someone who's already infected or through some airborne particulate. However, unlike normal viruses, they primarily don't cause any physical symptoms. Instead the virus will alter the way its victims ''think''.
This is a trope usually found in Science Fiction, though not necessarily limited to it. In nearly all cases it's a [[Synthetic Plague]]. A specific version of this would be a [[Hate Plague]]. Not to be confused with [[The Virus]], a trope where a contagion acts as an intelligent, self-directed entity (adding to "itself", having a [[Hive Mind]], etc). Compare [[Infectious Insanity]], a trope where mental illnesses is treated like a
In [[Real Life]], there's a sociological model known as [[wikipedia:Memetics|Memetics]], which posits that information and culture behaves like genetics ("meme" being the informational analogy of "gene")--that units of information transmit themselves from mind to mind. There's other competing sociological models, some of whose proponents point to [[Memetic Mutation]] as an example that Memetics isn't a viable model.
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* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'', {{spoiler|Hinamizawa Syndrome}} is caused by some sort of parasite that is initially compared to a virus in the sixth arc. That is the only arc where it is referred to as a virus, and the person who called it that was an [[Unreliable Narrator]]. The arcs after it tend to use the term parasite. Since there are many lifeforms (and viruses) that can theoretically be called parasites, it's a little uncertain what type of lifeform it actually is. {{spoiler|That parasite, though, is what causes just about all of the madness that winds up killing so many people in the earlier arcs}}.
== [[Comic Books]]
* An issue of ''[[The Authority]]'' had Apollo and Midnighter teaming up with alternate-universe versions of themselves to stop a killer meme: anyone who heard it would whisper it to the first person they saw and then commit suicide. They had to stop the meme from making its way to a TV studio, where it would be spoken on a live broadcast.
* In one ''[[Batman]]'' [[Story Arc]], the villains attempt to release a meme virus into the population of Gotham which will give everybody a predisposition to addiction, thus causing chaos.
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* [[Transmetropolitan]] alludes to things like this at times, although details for how they work are never given. A [[I'm a Humanitarian|Canibalism Meme]] is mentioned as one point, for instance.
== [[Literature]]
* [[Alastair Reynolds]] features these prominently in many of his novels. ''Century Rain'' has the "Amusica" virus that causes its victims to be unable to appreciate music (released as a demoralizing tool in a war). ''Chasm City'' has a communicable virus that inflicts its victims with the memories of a religious cult leader, giving them dreams of his life and causing stigmata to appear on their body.
* [[Charles Stross]] has this in the novel ''Glasshouse''. A virus called "Curious Yellow" has infected nearly all humans, via the ubiquitiuos and necessary [[Warp Gates]] that are everyone uses to get around. It deleted memories of a recent war, giving pretty much everyone amnesia of that specific time period. Furthermore, it also deleted the memories of ''who released it'' and its full extent, meaning that nobody knows what ''else'' it might've done (or still be doing).
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* Though the "culling song" in [[Chuck Palahniuk|Chuck Palahniuk's]] ''[[Lullaby]]'' starts out as a lethal [[Brown Note]], it eventually turns out that merely thinking about it can telepathically transmit it to someone else, making it a lethal Mind Virus.
== [[Live Action TV]]
* The ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode "Flashback" featured a virus in the form of a fake memory which spread through mental contact.
== Other
* The Game. It even has an [http://xkcd.com/391 antivirus]!
== [[Web Comic]]
* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', the Macarena is referred to by Reverend Theo Forbus as a "[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-10-14 proven memetic infector]."
* ''[[A Miracle of Science]]'' gives us [[Science-Related Memetic Disorder]], for which it was the [[Trope Namer]]. However, while the trope treats [[Mad Science]] as a medical disorder, in ''A Miracle of Science'' it's communicable.
== [[Web Original]]
* The [[SCP Foundation]] has quite a few of these, which are classified under ''Memetic Hazards''.
* In ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' [http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45b41654cd0c4 memetics] are a mature science.
== [[Real Life]]
* [[Richard Dawkins]] is the originator of the term "meme" and the concept of memetics. As an avowed atheist, he's written a number of articles and books using his model to liken religion to a
{{reflist}}
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