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Scientists Erase Specific Memories In Mice
Ostracus writes "It sounds like science fiction, but scientists say it might one day be possible to erase undesirable memories from the brain, selectively and safely. After exposing mice to emotionally powerful stimuli, such as a mild shock to their paws, the scientists then observed how well or poorly the animals subsequently recalled the particular trauma as their brain's expression of CaMKII was manipulated up and down. When the brain was made to overproduce CaMKII at the exact moment the mouse was prodded to retrieve the traumatic memory, the memory wasn't just blocked, it appeared to be fully erased."
How long until ethically underfunded governments decided to "offer relief" from "dangerous memories" to their political detractors? Happy shiny people, indeed.
When do I get my own flashy-little-memory-messer-upper-thing?
[...]erase undesirable memories[...]
undesirable for whom? While this might positively applicaple for e.g. victims of rape there are tons of possible missuses which really should be feared.
has the ability to selectively forget anything inconvenient!
Smivs on the intertubes!
Screw that. I want to erase desirable memories from people's brains. Think how easy it would be to make office workers stay later when they can't remember any of the good stuff that happens when they leave the office?
Or for shits and giggles, how about removing all traces of memories of sex for the unwed father of a child? Would make the paternity suit industry tons of coin, I bet.
But enough of the super-villain type stuff.
How abvout erasing the memory of the first time you had warm apple pie? Then, you get to try it for the first time every night.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
All memory of Goatse could be erased! That has to count for SOMETHING.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
ah but that's the thing, i lost about 6 months all told of memory.
the doctor wasn't really up on his paranoid schizophrenia, and he said that the memories were probably repressed. no, no they weren't they were gone completely.
the last time it happened i only lost 3 days, i was on a different medicine then though, and there are some files of what i said and did that are very weird. my explanation for what happened was hackers broke into my computer and used the wifi connection to directly control my thoughts. i don't bring that up to my doctor of course. wifi is everywhere, and hacked computers are a dime a dozen. which lead to my going all hard wired internet with hardened firewalls that are half-open and have specific configurations settings for each pc and each os that connects to the hardened firewalls, and oh i don't run my computers at night.
but the doctor just thinks i am a computer hypochondriac, in addition to being paranoid schizophrenic.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
What with humans being rather complex, mentally, Information may not be stored only once, or it could be fragmented.
The only way to selectively destroy memory would be to track down all instances of it, which I would say is pretty unlikely in the human brain. Same goes for most other primates.
Amnesiacs typically have a non uniform memory loss. Some things they can recall, but not others. Two people with identical brain damage can easily experience different levels of amnesia. Producing a reliable general method for memory deletion is almost certainly impossible.
Short term memory disruption, and the prevention of moving short term memories into long term memory is easier to achieve.
If you want to experience it, dislocate your elbow and go to hospital. They'll give you a nice pill, you'll scream while they manhandle your arm back into position, and five minutes later you won't remember any of it. I've not experienced it, but I've relocated a fair few arms. Its funny when the people wake up and ask when your going to start.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
...its the Haitian
Use your head, can't you, use your head,
You're on earth, there's no cure for that - S. Beckett
Maybe I am just grouchy but...
Even for traumatic memories, I would choose healing and closure over forgetfulness anytime. I may like it or not, but I am the sum of all the things I experienced, and I am not looking forward to self-amputation.
On the other hand, I understand that achieving healing and closure is a very inefficient process - just being able to erase unpleasant experiences would probably set us free to pursue more worthy achievements, like making the current global economic breakdown ever worse...
Again, sorry for ranting.
In the long run we are all dead. - John Maynard Keynes (1883 - 1946)
Just sayin. Clementine was farking hot.
It will be interesting, to one day see if removal of a traumatic memory can help with psychological issues that may stem from it.
For example, can erasing war-time memories lessen PTSD, and to what extent? Or would said person simply exhibit the same symptoms and have no idea why?
I think this is how all the dupes get into the front page.
You are the scariest person I've ever encountered on Slashdot, that is an achievement beyond all other achievements.
After reading your posts I see why people would want the option to have traumatic memories erased.
Not to quote Star Trek too much, but painful memories are just as important as happy ones. They help shape who we are, and removing those painful memories, probably diminish the happy ones we do have. "The sweet is never as sweet without the sour." We're slowly becoming a society that simply wants to take the easy way out. It just doesn't work that way. There are always consequences to our actions, 100% of the time.