History Main / MindVirus

* In ''TheCuriousIncidentOfTheDogInTheNighttime'', the hero fantasizes of a virus ("like a computer virus") that spreads by people looking each other in the face. He is heavily autistic, and thus would survive such an epidemic.

This is a trope usually found in Science Fiction, though not necessarily limited to it. In nearly all cases it's a SyntheticPlague. A specific version of this would be a HatePlague. Not to be confused with TheVirus, a trope where a contagion acts as an intelligent, self-directed entity (adding to "itself", having a HiveMind, etc). Compare InfectiousInsanity, a trope where mental illnesses is treated like a MindVirus, and EarWorm, where it's a song that can't get out of your head.

* ''AMiracleOfScience'' gives us ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder, for which it was the TropeNamer. However, while the trope treats MadScience as a medical disorder, in ''A Miracle of Science'' it's communicable.

* CharlesStross has this in the novel ''Glasshouse''. A virus called "Curious Yellow" has infected nearly all humans, via the ubiquitiuos and necessary WarpGates 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).

* "Hostess", a short story by Creator/IsaacAsimov, suggests that humans die of old age because they're infected by a parasite that exists in their mind (it having adapted to not even needing a body). By the end, it's unclear whether or not how much of humanity is caused by the existence of the parasite.

* The ''StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Flashback" featured a virus in the form of a fake memory which spread through mental contact.

* ''SnowCrash'' features a "biolinguistic virus" that renders its victims unable to communicate normally; anytime they try to talk, they just speak gibberish.

* In ''{{Planetary}}'', the BigBad's power is seemingly that his mind expands and 'infects' other minds near himself, causing them to start to think the same way and become, well, ''him''. It ends up becoming an InformedAbility because we never see him use it.

* ''SnowCrash'' features a "biolinguistic virus" that renders its victims unable to communicate normally; anytime they try to talk, they just speak gibberish.

* "Hostess", a short story by IsaacAsimov, suggests that humans die of old age because they're infected by a parasite that exists in their mind (it having adapted to not even needing a body). By the end, it's unclear whether or not how much of humanity is caused by the existence of the parasite.

* The WebOriginal/SCPFoundation has quite a few of these, which are classified under ''Memetic Hazards''.

* The SCPFoundation has quite a few of these, which are classified under ''Memetic Hazards''.

In RealLife, there are such things as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme memes]]" that behave similarly (ideas that spread like a virus) but, as all mundane things in real life, don't have any kind of "symptoms" like those described above, short of a compulsion to share the meme.

* The Game.
** It even has a [[http://xkcd.com/391 cure]].

* RichardDawkins, an avowed atheist who also came up with the term "meme," has written a number of articles and books comparing religion to a disease--even outright labeling it as a "mind virus" in ''The God Delusion''. Calling religion a "mind virus" has subsequently become popular among more extreme atheists.

* Some people compare religion to a mind virus, since most religions have "spread the gospel" as an explicit instruction to its followers.
** RichardDawkins, who also came up with the term "meme", wrote an article called "Viruses of the Mind" that further explored this concept, comparing religion to the a disease and exploring it's "symptoms".

* In one ''Homer Price'' story the town gets infected with a song. A mysterious stranger comes to town and puts a record in the donut shop's jukebox, telling Homer and his friend [[SchmuckBait not to play it]]. Of course they do, and they [[EarWorm can't stop singing the song]]. They teach the song to others, who can't stop, and so on. Homer finally cures himself and the town by learning a different song (from a MarkTwain story), which makes them forget the first song, and once you pass that song on you forget it in turn. They send the one person infected with the new song out of town (she was going on vacation anyway) where they hope she'll teach it to someone else.

* [[PeterWatts Peter Watts's]] ''RiftersTrilogy'' features several mind viruses, most notably "[=GuiltTrip=]", which forces its victims to always do "good" things (and severly punishes them, through pain or death, for failing to do so). A government agency purposefully infects its employess with [=GuiltTrip=], reasoning that by doing so they do not have to worry about security anymore, since nobody would dare attempt to subvert or steal anything.

This trope is for [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin viruses of the mind]]. They spread is 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''.

[[MindVirus Mind Viruses]] usually don't have anything to do with [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwashing]] or [[MoreThanMindControl mind control]]. A nefarious agency may have developed and released the virus, but after that they virus is uncontrolled, spreading from one person the the next in an unpredictable manner. Rather, a deliberate MindVirus may be used as a ''weapon'', intended strictly to disrupt. Alternatively, it might've started off [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans with good intentions]] but [[FreakLabAccident ended up mutating and spreading out of control]].

This is a trope usually found in Science Fiction, though not necessarily limited to it. In nearly all cases it's a SyntheticPlague. A specific version of this would be a HatePlague. Not to be confused with TheVirus, a trope where a contagion acts as an intelligent, self-directed entity (adding to "itself", having a HiveMind, etc). Compare InfectiousInsanity, a trope where mental illnesses is treated like a MindVirus.

* [[GregBear Greg Bear's]] novel ''Vitals'' features bio-engineered viruses that manipulate their victims hormones and brain chemistry. Though the viruses themselves are undirected, the [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness evil government conspiracy]] will "dose" people with different strains of the virus, in combination with setting up fake evidence, in order to discredit anyone who threatens to expose the conspiracy. One character, an investigative author who starts getting too close to the truth, is infected with a compulsive anti-semitism virus that causes him to lose his reputation. Later on, another character is made to murder by use of a HatePlague. The main character is also infected with a kind of "love" virus that renders him dopey and lovey-dovey with respect to a woman who's an agent of the conspiracy.
* In one ''HomerPrice'' story the town gets infected with a song. A MysteriousStranger comes to town and puts a record in the donut shop's jukebox, telling Homer and his friend [[SchmuckBait not to play it]]. Of course they do, and they [[EarWorm can't stop singing the song]]. They teach the song to others, who can't stop, and so on. Homer finally cures himself and the town by learning a different song (from a MarkTwain story), which makes them forget the first song, and once you pass that song on you forget it in turn. They send the one person infected with the new song out of town (she was going on vacation anyway) where they hope she'll teach it to someone else.

* Though the "culling song" in ChuckPalinhuik's ''{{Lullaby}}'' starts out as a lethal BrownNote, it eventually turns out that merely thinking about it can telepathically transmit it to someone else, making it a lethal Mind Virus.

* Some people compare religion to a mind virus, since most religions have "spread the gospel" as an explicit instruction to its followers.