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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."

3 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Forgive me, CmTaco by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hello, I am Anonymous Coward, the guy whose comments you can read daily on this fine Web site. What I am about to tell you is not easy for me, however, I will just let my conscience clear.

    I have been trolling Slashdot since its inception. I find guilty pleasure in posting all those first posts, Natalie Portman and hot grits posts, in Soviet Russia and Beowulf clusters posts, as well as information about Stephen King's death or Townsend's pedophily (oh, wait, cross out that one).

    The remorse is killing me. I don't know if you will ever forgive me Taco, but if you don't, my wretched life is a good punishment for such an evil deed.

    Sincerely,
    Anonymous Coward

  2. 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?

    --
    Logic, macros, and more
  3. already tested and tried by f64 · · Score: 4, Funny

    this could explain much of what's been going on lately...