Gosh, it's been a while since I've been on the Sporum! Check this out:

http://wired.com/magazine/2012/02/ff_forgettingpill/all/1

What do you guys think about this? Are we, as humans, capable of this kind of power?

I've seen a lot of blog posts about this sort of thing and I don't doubt that it's going to be possible fairly soon. What I am worried about are the ethical implications of selective memory erasure. The potential for abuse is enormous; talk about something straight out of a dystopian novel--this is it.

Well, if this goes real at any time soon it won't really affect it. Think of it like this:

Person 1: Hi Bob, remember when you were fourteen and you ran out in class naked?
Person 2: What are you talking about... what?
Person 1: You must have taken one of those pills.

See, even if you forget it, you'll know it happened, just that you can't remember: For the fact that people will talk about it, in this case.

But the scary part is that it IS close to becoming a reality. It worked on the rats in that test! And BB (I still remember you!), the worst possible situation is probably "1984" (no, silly citizen! We've always been at war with Eastasia!).

UNRELATED: Wow, I joined exactly 1 year and month after BlackBird. 0_o

Thankfully you need pills to do this, and there is nothing here about selectively erasing memories. This looks more like it would give a general amnesia.

Maybe some idiots will make people eat them even if they don't want to... You know, when they are asleep?
If I done something horrible, for example: Set the house on fire, I could just give 'em a pill while they are asleep and they'd wouldn't remember I did it. Rapists could just give the poor victim a pill and it would be gone. Like that!

I hope this does not become reality.

This would probably help a lot....

At least for me in a certain case.....

*cough* peeed myself *cough* in class *cough* at age *cough* 7...

I can see it having serious psychological impacts on us. Our memories make up a huge part of who we are, even the bad ones. Erasing selective parts of your past could have big consequences for your mental health.

On top of that, imagine the potential for abuse by corrupt governments...

I find this most interesting, and appealing.

I have read this article in the Wired magazine before.

One of the problems with the pill is that people would forget the mistakes they have made and repeat them.

bjpiers wrote:This would probably help a lot....

At least for me in a certain case.....

*cough* peeed myself *cough* in class *cough* at age *cough* 7...

Not me, but you aren't the first.

Dang, I see this as the idea for a novel. And possibly a scary reality.

Fact: Some people that have amnesia can go off ...'violently' and cause a lot of harm. I've seen it before.

So, what if a government(lets say the United States because they lover this stuff anyway) wants to create the ultimate assassin. One that has no links to them. What they would do is kidnap the person, give them the pill.

Having amnesia, they are then brought up to believe the world is a horrible place, and that they have to help it. The Amnesia helps this, because usually they wouldn not remmeber who they are. They train them constantly, and ocne they are ready, they give them another pill.

They then believe they are an assassin working for a particular government(lets say Italy.), reinforced by the fact that the perosn may have various Italian products. An italian made gun, italian clothesm, reinforcing the idea he is an assassin-because he is. To further reinforce this more, the training is done in an italian manner. They speak Latin, and tell you you are working for Italy.

So that could be, in effect, thje perfect assassin. One who is brought up with the training making it who they are-and with no links whatsoever to the United States.

A bit far fetched, but really, it is still a scary possibilty. A memory forggetting pill- could it really be the bassis of that?

I say yes.

Throw all the pills into a fire (Except for a few) And feed the remaining ones to those who know how to make them.
Boom. Problem solved.

ShnarfBird wrote:Throw all the pills into a fire (Except for a few) And feed the remaining ones to those who know how to make them.
Boom. Problem solved.

This is hardly an appealing plan for such a useful resource.

ColAutumnLeaf wrote:

ShnarfBird wrote:Throw all the pills into a fire (Except for a few) And feed the remaining ones to those who know how to make them.
Boom. Problem solved.

This is hardly an appealing plan for such a useful resource.

I find it very appealing.