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Immunity To Remorse In A Pill

Posted by timothy on from the you-won't-regret-taking-it dept.

Erik Baard writes "Several lines of research to prevent the formation of post traumatic stress disorder might also have the effect of stunting the development of healthy feelings of remorse over one's wrongdoings. With such therapies available one day, will soldiers or police officers be less hesitant to use lethal force in questionable situations? Will rapists and murderers qualify for treatment? This Village Voice article explores the ethical implications without pointing to any single answer."

7 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Opposite Effect? by olrs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Could this line of research also lead to the development of a pill that could induce remorseful feelings? If so, what would be the implications of administering such a drug to criminals? Kinda reminds me of a stupid episode of Sliders (yes I know, redundant statment) where they had the 'police' officers who went around medicating everyone... strange.

  2. End of Civilization by redelm · · Score: 2, Interesting
    If effective, this medication would be abused by people with predatory inclinations to increase their predatation or garner soldiers. Without hyperbole, it would deal civilization a crippling blow because it would decrease the costs of predators.

  3. Definitely for the millitary... by sm.arson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They are always getting one step closer to "the perfect soldier." Nanotech stealthsuits, nutrition patches and now drugs that take away guilt and remorse. Murder has never been so easy (uh... probably!).

    The next step would be to have a drug that wipes the memory (it is possible to inhibit the brain's long-term memory "commits" chemically) of the grunts in the field after a certain amount of time has elapsed, making for the ultimate in top-secret, covert missions.

    If nobody remembers the horrendous attrocities, it's like they never happened at all!

    --
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  4. No Fear? Perfect Soldier? by Madcapjack · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The article in the Village Voice says: "Feelings of guilt and regret travel neural pathways in a manner that mimics the tracings of ingrained fear, so a prophylactic against one could guard against the other."

    Some thoughts:

    1) Is a fearless soldier actually an asset? I'm not so certain that it is. Fear keeps soldiers alive, and keeps them shooting. Fearless soldiers might be scary as hell, but they might just be easy targets too because they aren't cautious. Another possible problem with fearless soldiers is that they might not be afraid to disobey orders, or whatever they feel the hell like doing.

    2) Is a guiltless soldier actually an asset? Will the removal of guilt-feelings weaken the bond between soldiers which is essential to their military effectiveness? Will they be more susceptible to infighting?

    any thoughts, please?

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    Logic, macros, and more
    1. Re:No Fear? Perfect Soldier? by Eccles · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Fear keeps soldiers alive, and keeps them shooting.

      Actually, soldiers who are afraid often don't fire their guns. That would require exposing oneself to the enemy.

      "Samuel Lyman Atwood (S. L. A.) Marshall developed a method of analyzing the actions of infantrymen in battle during World War II, and his findings and methodology have become controversial, especially during the past decade. According to Marshall, only about 15 percent of United States infantry soldiers fired their weapons in combat during World War II, and this number never increased to much higher than 25 percent for even the best of American units."

      --
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  5. Anti-malarial drugs by Bowling+Moses · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think now that the Ft. Bragg murders have been attributed to the use of the antimalarial drug Lariam (aka mefloquine). It apparently has the nasty side effects of making users of it less able to control destructive and/or suicidal behavior and thoughts. This once came up when I was talking to a guy who used to work at the same place as me. He was given mefloquine by his doctor prior to a trip to SE Asia. He said that he had random thoughts pop up like "If I took this razor blade to my hand, I could see all the musculature in my hand just like in an anatomy book." He said he felt safe only if he had to concentrate on something like work; at home to focus on something he took to building models. Effects lasted for about six months and there wasn't anything to do about it but wait. Anyway, that's what happened to a well-adjusted and happy individual, as opposed to someone who just got out of a combat zone and went home to a wife that wanted a divorce like at Ft. Bragg. Ah the power of chemistry.

  6. What about morals before the atrocities? by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The article postulates a pill that a soilder could take to remove feelings of guilt after the soilder does something that would normally leave him remorse ridden.

    I don't get it. Does this mean the soilder's moral base rests on the fear of future remorse? He doesn't feel bad about tourture/slaughter/nastiness, but worries he will later?

    IMO, most people function diffently.

    Regardless, with the combination of training and drugs we could make pyscopathic soilders easily. Most grunt types seem pretty close already.

    --
    "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis