Editing Basilisk (section)

== Basilisk Images ==

A "basilisk image" or "[[medusa]] phrase" is something that will crash a human brain, named for the original basilisk's ability to kill with its gaze.  Since it's the "in" thing to think of brains/minds as deterministic machines like computers, the idea of "[[Meme|mindworms]]" and brain hacking gets kicked around.  The term originated from Dave Langford's short story "BLIT", which can be found online at http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/blit.htm.

Viewing a basilisk image will get your visual/perceptive cortex to parse an idea so fucked up that it puts the viewer into a catatonic state.  These weapons are kept secret for obvious reasons -- depending on your campaign setting, viewing a thumbnail or a selection of a basilisk image could have no effect whatsoever, or it could cause someone to go into seizures.

:''See Also: Neal Stephenson's novel "Snow Crash," and urban legends about the Brown Note, Monty Python sketch about the funniest/deadliest joke in the world, The [[SCP Foundation| SCP Wiki]]'s "memetic kill agents."''