abuse

Nikola

16th August 2007 - 07:06 PM

http://www.physorg.com/news106493080.html

Interesting. I can"t wait to see how our government will abuse this. Pros and cons people.

yor_on

16th August 2007 - 08:47 PM

I was going too, but i can't remember?

StevenA

16th August 2007 - 09:18 PM

Yes, this could obviously be abused as it appears you can do a memory wipe on some area of the brain and then effectively retrain it.

Oh well, such a technology might end up as yet another feather that broke the back of humanity but with some Prozac, painkillers and memory erasures at least we'll be smiling all the while (and with some plastic surgury you can look stylish at the same time).

I don't think this stuff is a problem as long as people aren't coerced into utilizing it but from the track record it seems like this could become one of those options between serving 20 years in prison or spending a few weeks having your memory reprogrammed (reminds me of the options available come voting time - either vote 'left' and having much of what you've work for in life "publicly" confiscated or vote 'right' and have it made illegal or blown up).

Yes, I'm very skeptical and cynical when it comes to the benelovence of large social institutions.

Saul Wall

16th August 2007 - 09:29 PM

More alien technology
javascript:emoticon(':lol:')
smilie

fleem

16th August 2007 - 09:39 PM

In Heinlein's "Coventry", criminals are given the option of memory erasure/personality modification, or banishment to a separate criminal-run society called "coventry".

On another note, I suspect that individual memories do not occupy unique physical locations in the brain, like in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". It seems more likely that there are areas of the brain responsible for the recall of all long-term memories of a given major type (olfactory, visual, cognitive, etc.), and that a given individual memory is a unique pattern that exists throughout that area.

N O M

17th August 2007 - 01:29 AM

I doubt it will be easy to achieve a selective erasure of a memory, certainly not using drugs. A complete wipe might be possible though.

The article mentioned that it might be possible to strengthen long term memories using drugs. This sounds worthwhile.

Zarabtul

17th August 2007 - 04:52 AM

I found it rather helpful in some aspects. All I will say about that...

STAGGERBOT

17th August 2007 - 03:48 PM

QUOTE (Nikola+Aug 16 2007, 07:06 PM)

http://www.physorg.com/news106493080.html

Interesting. I can"t wait to see how our government will abuse this. Pros and cons people.

Most of our governments would have no need for this on any kind of large scale. They already have the tools of logical fallacy bound with infectious short sound bites that they can disperse through the media under the guise of information in order to manipulate memory. Combined with the modern art and science of distraction, it's a virtual wonder drug cocktail of placation.

Guest_anon

17th August 2007 - 04:49 PM

Can this be used to wipe memory of a witness in a court hearing? - cause that would be super.

Confused2

17th August 2007 - 07:40 PM

I was under the impression people could be in a coma for many months and still be able to remember their name when thay woke up. Same goes for being drowned in very cold water .. afaik if a person is treated promptly they can make a reasonable recovery.

How come those rats didn't forget how to be rats? Did they stumble about like drunks until they learned how to use their legs properly again or what?

Jewel

20th September 2007 - 01:29 PM

I am a sufferer of severe ptsd. It has left me mentally disabled and I can no longer function or care for my family. I have tried medications and psychiatry but nothing helps. I only PRAY that the researchers quickly find a way to apply this to specific memories which ruin peoples lives. I know not all people need this, but those suffering as I do would have a new chance at life again. I wonder how they could possibly target specific memories however, memories I believe are spread throughout the brain and you cannot see memory nuerons in brain scans or microscopes in a living intact brain.

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