Item #: SCP-3141

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Due to the nonmaterial nature of SCP-3141, direct containment is impossible. Instead, automatic scanning software should be used to monitor quarterly reports of insurance and financial firms for undue discrepancies. Additional surveillance should be directed towards the monitoring of related trade journals and academic mathematics journals. Agents embedded in the peer review boards for such publications should be made aware of the possible presence of SCP-3141 and should be instructed to be vigilant for it.

In the event of the discovery of SCP-3141 characteristic discrepancies in quarterly reports of a firm, Foundation agents are to infiltrate the actuarial (or equivalent) department of the firm and ascertain which employees, referred to as subjects, grasp an understanding of the phenomenon. Subjects are then to be discredited in the firm in accordance with “Operation Underwriter”. Subjects will be taken into Foundation custody indefinitely. Class B amnestics are to be deployed according to agent discretion.

In the event that a proof or technique resembling SCP-3141 is discovered within a journal or peer review board, Foundation agents are to contact the journal publisher, as well as article authors and peer reviewers, and expose them to memetic agent “Counterproof-Zeta”. Additionally, if a proof for SCP-3141 was put into general circulation before Foundation discovery, Counterproof-$\zeta$ is to be circulated in the next possible issue of the journal. Due to the decaying effects of the memetic agent, Foundation operatives should monitor affected subjects monthly following application.

Description: SCP-3141 is a mathematical theorem that describes a method by which conditions for a set of random variables can be expressed in a specific system of equations in order to calculate stable state probabilities for the long term outcome of the variables. The solution to the system is non-obvious and requires a significant degree of mathematical expertise to solve.1 No computer is currently known to be able to solve the system. This is possibly due to the anomalous nature of the theorem. Approval for testing with Foundation artificial intelligence is pending.

The anomalous properties of SCP-3141 present themselves in the fact that during the process of solving the system of equations, the subject solving the system can manipulate the outcome of the solution to a “reasonable” desired result referred to as SCP-3141-$\pi$.2 This process occurs subconsciously in subjects who are unaware of the anomalous effects of the SCP with a rate of approximately .15. The remaining .85 proportion of subjects find the system inconsistent.3 Subjects who are aware of the effects of SCP-3141 are able to achieve this result with a .999 success rate.

If the conditions and random variables used as the conditions for SCP-3141 are not arbitrary (i.e. they represent an actual real world system), the conditions given are accurate with a significance level of α=.01, and if the exact calculations have not been completed within the past ██ ████, then the actual set of long term probabilities for the variables described becomes SCP-3141-$\pi$. The process by which this occurs is not currently understood.

Addendum 3141-A: In accordance with Ethics Committee finding 3141-1, Foundation mathematicians are not to attempt to utilize SCP-3141 to reverse previous misuses. This is due to the currently unknown principles by which the anomaly operates and a possibly observed phenomenon by which actual stable state probabilities return to non-anomalous levels as time passes. This is possibly due to the variation of current real world conditions from initial conditions by which SCP-3141 calculations were based. To date, the Foundation is not statistically certain as to the existence of this reversion phenomenon.

Addendum 3141-B:

Incident Report for the events that occurred on ██/██/20██ in ██████████,USA

Background: At the time that these events occurred, the Foundation was not yet aware of SCP-3141. Foundation operatives had become aware of possible anomalous material at █████████ ████████ ████████, inc., hereafter referred to as Firm A, as the result of regular economic analysis and standard Foundation predictive modeling. Firm A was listed as a low priority concern and Agent Geoffrey Daniels, under the alias of George Denver, was directed to apply for an opening as an actuarial analyst at the firm. What follows is a transcript of third interview (first in-person) of Daniels and the subsequent events retrieved from a recording device hidden on Daniels’ person.

<Begin Log>

Participants: Geoffrey Daniels, alias George Denver; █████ P███, chief actuary for Firm A.

[Timestamp 12:00:10]

P███: Well Mr. Denver, may I call you George?, thank you for coming. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.

Daniels: Of course. I’m glad to be here. The office looks wonderful.

P: Yes, I think that you’ll find that everyone here quite likes their position. We really are doing some cutting edge work here—really redefining the field, so to speak.

D: Yes, I’ve been doing my homework on you. You have quite the impressive track record.

[DATA EXPUNGED FOR BREVITY]

[Timestamp 12:32:24]

P: Well George, it seems like you may be the exact kind of person we’re looking for here at █████████. I would love to show you around the office if you have the time.

D: That sounds excellent, sir. Lead the way.

[The sound of moving chairs, rustling papers, can be heard.]

P: We really have a great team here. Truly a bunch of winners. You know what I like in an employee, George? I’m sure you do, I’ve been blabbering at you for the last 30 minutes, but I’m going to tell you again. I like an employee that can get the job done. No shortcuts, no compromises. We’re both actuaries here, so of course you know about risk. But you also know without risk, there’s no reward. Without putting yourself out there a little bit, there’s no chance in Hell on any return. I have a team here that takes risks. My team here, they all know what it takes to get shit done. [P███ coughs loudly. The sound is muffled] My team, they go to Hell and back for me in order to make sure that this company turns a profit. And they do a pretty good job if you ask me. You know what it takes to succeed. I can see that in you, I really can. I think you have real █████████ potential. Anyway, here’s our main work area.

[Beeping sounds are audible, probably an electronic lock.]

D screaming: Oh GOD what the FUCK?!

<End Log, Timestamp 12:34:51>

At 12:35pm Agent Daniels activated his distress beacon. No more communication occurred after that. Three Foundation agents—Amanda Stiles, Philip Morehouse, and Juan Schaffer, hereby referred to as “the team”—stationed outside immediately enacted contingency plans stormed the building. The team used stairwells to access the sixth floor where the interview was taking place, incapacitating two security guards and one unidentified civilian in the process. Foundation support suppressed phone lines and cell phone signals coming from the building in order to prevent local interference.

Upon reaching the sixth floor agents noted the presence of the scent of sulfur and excessive smoke. Fire alarms appeared to be turned off. It took the team approximately two minutes to find the location where communication had been lost with Daniels. No contact with Firm A employees was made on the floor until the team reached the area that P███ referred to as the work area.

Foundation agents encountered Agent Daniels along with three adult males and two adult females. Daniels was incapacitated and laying in the corner of the room. All of the other individuals in the room, referred to hereafter as subjects, were naked and performing some kind of ritualistic dance around a pentacle in the center of the room. All subjects possessed tattoos on their body depicting elaborate mathematical notation. In the center of the pentacle lay a pulsating organic mass that was impacted with a Texas Instruments TI‑30XS MultiView Scientific Calculator, a red and black beeswax candle, and three [REDACTED].

The team successfully incapacitated all subjects and with local assistance had them remanded into Foundation custody. The incident was explained as a social media prank gone wrong. Letters of resignation were forged for all subjects and sent to Firm A. Subjects were given Class D amnestics and returned to families with a fabricated story of a bus accident. Agent Daniels suffered no permanent damage.

Addendum 3141-C: From the tattoos on the subjects involved in Incident 3141-A the Foundation was able to compile SCP-3141. The subjects at Firm A were apparently using SCP-3141 to alter the expected lifespan of purchasers of the firm’s retirement annuities, reducing their lifespans by ██ years. It is unclear how many premature deaths this has caused, but estimates range from 2,000 to [REDACTED].4 To this date it is unclear what purpose the ritualistic elements practiced by the subjects served. It should be noted that Foundation testing has concluded that such elements are not required in order for the effects of SCP-3141 to manifest.

To date, █ additional firms have been discovered to be using SCP-3141, and only 2 of them appeared to practice ritual elements in their utilization of the theorem. Over half of discovered firms used the theorem to shorten lifespans of annuity recipients, while approximately one fifth used it to improve the health and safety of insurance recipients. The purpose of use in other firms remains unclear. Additionally, full proofs of SCP-3141 have appeared in ██ journals and publications. Each has been successfully suppressed. Resurgence of SCP-3141 proofs in previously affected journals has been observed to occur at a rate of .15. Each proof has been markedly unique.

To date, despite extensive efforts led by head researcher Dr. Duncan Kemp, the Foundation has been unable to independently produce a proof of SCP-3141. The method by which individuals are able to conceive proofs for SCP-3141 is unknown. Therefore, at this time it is suspected that gestation of knowledge of SCP-3141 and related proofs is anomalous. It is unknown whether such knowledge occurs spontaneously, or if it is being imparted by groups of interest.

Researcher's note: We've spent four years working on this project, unable to make any headway. And yet, any time a new instance of a 3141 proof pops up, it seems obvious. Surely it's impossible, but it feels as if elementary axioms are changing every time one of these new proofs show up. Frankly, we have no clue where to go from here.

—Dr. Duncan Kemp

Footnotes

1. Knowledge required principally includes but is not limited to a strong knowledge of probability theory and complex analysis.

2. Testing has shown that stable state probabilities, $\pi_i$, described in instances of SCP-3141-$\pi$ can differ from real world probabilities by as much as .15. Conventional laws of probability must hold. (i.e. for each i, 0≤$\pi_i$≤1, and $\sum_{i=1}^{n} \pi_i = 1$.)

3. The least squares approximation of a solution has been found to have no anomalous properties.

4. Estimates come from calculations involving derived long term probabilities and number of annuities sold by Firm A.