cognitohazard
English
Etymology
Blend of cognition + hazard. Probable origin is from the SCP Foundation website.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /kɔɡˈni.toʊˌhæ.zɚd/, /kɑɡˈni.toʊˌhæ.zɚd/, /kɔɡˈni.təˌhæ.zɚd/, /kɑɡˈni.təˌhæ.zɚd/, [-ni.ɾoʊ-], [-ni.ɾə-]
Noun
cognitohazard (plural cognitohazards)
- (neurology, chiefly science fiction) An image, pattern, sound, or any other kind of sensory signal that directly causes harmful or undesired physiological effects to one who senses or perceives it.
- The symbol on that piece of paper is a cognitohazard which puts everyone who reads it in a week-long coma.
- 2011 April 28, @triggurgoat, Twitter:
- SUMBITCH. I started listening to http://nyan.cat/ again and now I can't turn it off. #memetic #cognitohazard #scp
- 2011 July 29, @LexLevinholt, Twitter:
- CAUTION! High-grade Cognitohazard in effect!
- 2013 February 27, neurotrashboy, “Place name of the week”, in alt.running.out.of.newsgroup.names, Usenet, retrieved 9 December 2022:
- The one about Qpple hardware being a cognitohazard?
(I made that up, BTW. :D )
- 2016 January 29, StringentCurry, “SCP-2359”, in SCP Foundation:
- SCP-2359’s primary anomalous property is a cognitohazard that propagates to anyone who makes visual, auditory or informational contact with it. The infection impresses a false identity and memories of SCP-2359 onto the mind of the affected subject.
- [2020 February 2, eukaryote, “A point of clarification on infohazard terminology”, in LessWrong:
- TL;DR: “Infohazard” means any kind of information that could be harmful in some fashion. Let’s use “cognitohazard” to describe information that could specifically harm the person who knows it.]
- 2022 December 6, @circleoflust, Twitter:
- Awawawa is a cognitohazard that spreads specifically among submissive trans people
Hyponyms
- Langford's basilisk
Coordinate terms
- infohazard
- memetic hazard
Derived terms
- cognitohazardous