Slashdot Mirror
Controlling Fear By Modifying DNA
An anonymous reader writes "The fear of flying or of skittering spiders can mean more than just a momentary increase in heart rate and a pair of sweaty palms. A hard-core phobia can lead to crippling anxiety. Now an international team of researchers says it believes it has found a way to silence the gene that feeds phobic fear via a novel mechanism of gene regulation associated with fear extinction. The notion appears to be that phobias arise from experiences that have left an outsized imprint on gene expression, and that undoing this can undo the anxiety itself. The study was published this month (abstract) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."
At least, that's what Will Smith told me.
Um yea, I don't see ANY potential problems by altering someone's genetics to remove fear. This reads like a bad sci-fi movie plot.
The Divergent series is all about gene manipulation including the fear gene. If only it was a more logical take on a society using gene manipulation. Anyone who read the Divergent series all the way through must be wishing they had this fear controlling gene modified so they wouldn't have had to suffer through the last two books.
Simple feed the children LEAD. IT will suppress the fear triggers and make them far more hostile.
If you want to build the perfect warrior, then just do what the romans and the vikings did. Lead dosing.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
How quickly can we distribute this?
They found that learning to extinguish fear causes expression of a gene.
In common western medicine fashion, the important thing here is not that behavioural methods are effective in changing gene expression, but we can now remove the stimulus for gene expression (a persons conscious control) and package it up into a pill to sell for profit!
Don't complain about syntax, grammar, or spelling. There is no.hell like input on android.
I can imagine cases where the ability to deliberately acquire a phobia could be beneficial. Who needs an e-cig when you could just piss yourself at the thought of smoking-related cancer?
they want to screw with our minds? Worse - with fear? You can't like start with getting rid of diabetic tendencies? Or even give us the power to choose our own skin color? One sure way to end racism in the US at least (of course we would probably have to change hair type as well).
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Fear is great for fight or flight. That's it.
Removing it *completely* might be dangerous - it kicks in faster than higher-thinking, so it makes avoiding a car-crash easier. If this "instantaneous" fear can be preserved while dampening the "phobic fear" this article is talking about, that's a HUGE win. Think of all the geniuses out there who've had phobias, and how limited they are by them. (Tesla - big example). That's just the famous ones - maybe the undiscovered ones could add to more to society if they were given a chance to be free from debilitating phobias.
I am confident that none of this work was secretly funded by the armed forces.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
There is no DNA modification happening here. This is about gene expression, which is a very different concept.
I'm biased against conservatives because I've lived through everything from Vietnam, Iran Contra, the first and second gulf wars, and a two-term Bush presidency that embraced torture. Much of this was strongly supported by the American populace and press, so the "liberal press" whine doesn't carry much weight.
When bias occurs this way, it's called 'learning.'
what is so bad about individual liberty, natural rights and limited government
Those are great. You have a political party around which believes in these things?
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
I've gone through different stages of fear with flying. From not being bothered at all, to terrible fear and anxiety for weeks before a scheduled flight and then back to not being bothered at all. Strange how the mind works.
I worked for a major airline and flew an average of six legs a week. As time went on my fear got worse. I changed jobs (not because of the flying) and eventually my new job had me flying too. With flying less frequently, my fear got REALLY bad. For weeks before a flight, the flight is all I could think about. Immediately when I woke up, when I was working, when I was watching TV etc. Constantly thinking about it with a sinking feeling in my stomache. I would count down the daysand hours, 15 days before my flight, next Tuesday, in 6 days, in 12 hours etc.. I would get sick, start puking, and have forms of panic attacks starting a few days before the flight. Strange thing though is once I actually got on the plane, I was fine and felt stupid for feeling the way I did before the flight. Eventually as a flew more and more again, I started to get better. Now I fly at least monthly and I am not bothered by it at all.
One thing I do still have issues with is mild and above mid flight turbulence when I can not see the ground or horizon to use as a steady point of reference, like when stuck in the clouds. Not having a frame of reference that I can stare at while bouncing around that is steady freaks me out instantly. Same thing happened to me in the couple of minor earthquakes I've been in buildings for and also some types of amusement park rides.
>Do any of you realize you are biased against conservatives because you have been *trained* to be?
Does it occur to you that we're biased against conservatives because people who self-identify as conservative keep saying deeply stupid things in public. See just about any Republican politician, or check out the insane conservatives that use tags like #TGDN, #TCOT, and #REDNATIONRISING on Twitter. They just keep feeding each other fake quotes, and reinforcing a hatred of anyone who isn't as delusional as they are. They think that intelligent liberal people are their enemy, when really the enemy is the "conservative" media that filled their heads with nonsense.
Conservative didn't always mean crazy/stupid, but it sure does now.
>what is so bad about individual liberty, natural rights and limited government huh?
Nothing, it's the superstition, authoritarianism, racism, homophobia, and opposition to women's rights that's wrong with the ignorant conservatives.
There's no need to modify DNA to ease phobias, you just have to get over whatever personal issue is holding you back.
I used to have an irrational fear of spiders, then I moved to a house with lots of spiders. Phobia cured.
No one thinks it might be a good idea to unplug that cable from the back of your heads for a few minutes and let reason take over for a bit, and to see what comes from that?
Please; You have no room to talk. If you had actually dared to face reality rationally you would not be so worked up about such meaningless things. You are participating in inherently irrational behavior and crying foul because others are a teensy bit more irrational than you.
"Nothing, it's the superstition, authoritarianism, racism, homophobia, and opposition to women's rights that's wrong with the ignorant conservatives."
Hey asshole, what the fuck are you talking about? This has nothing to do with conservatism. Have you ever considered the possibility that you don't know what the fuck you are talking about?
Point me to a specific conservative making any such statement and I will easily explain to you why they are not conservative. Otherwise admit you are clueless. Put up or shut up asshole.
Do you want Reavers? Because that's how you get Reavers.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Nothing is terrible except fear itself." - Francis Bacon
"If you had actually dared to face reality rationally"
More non specific accusations and generalizations. Here is a specific example;
http://washingtonexaminer.com/fec-chair-warns-that-conservative-media-like-drudge-report-and-sean-hannity-face-regulation-like-pacs/article/2548163/comments#disqus_thread
This is the state threatening to silence content that it does not agree with. Something that the first amendment is specifically designed to protect - and something that all moral people stand for. Am I asking for all leftists to be silenced? No I am not, because the message of conservatism stands by itself.
But all you have is name calling and "shut up".
Nice one there Mr. Liberal.
I don't even have to have all that experience.
'Democrats' - tax & spend
'Republicans' - just spend (~80% of the federal deficit is from Reagan & 2 Bushes)
Which one actually sounds fiscally more conservative?
Neither are really responsible, but at least one tries to have the cash to spend.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
>Do any of you realize you are biased against conservatives because you have been *trained* to be?
Does it occur to you that we're biased against conservatives because people who self-identify as conservative keep saying deeply stupid things in public. See just about any Republican politician, or check out the insane conservatives that use tags like #TGDN, #TCOT, and #REDNATIONRISING on Twitter. They just keep feeding each other fake quotes, and reinforcing a hatred of anyone who isn't as delusional as they are. They think that intelligent liberal people are their enemy, when really the enemy is the "conservative" media that filled their heads with nonsense.
Conservative didn't always mean crazy/stupid, but it sure does now.
>what is so bad about individual liberty, natural rights and limited government huh?
Nothing, it's the superstition, authoritarianism, racism, homophobia, and opposition to women's rights that's wrong with the ignorant conservatives.
OMFG, you're ignorant.
There are ignorant liberals, too, saying things like claiming they've been to 57 US states.
Were you aware that Tea Party members are better versed in science than liberals or the population as a whole? Of course, what did the professor who did that study have to say? This:
“I’ve got to confess, though, I found this result surprising. As I pushed the button to run the analysis on my computer, I fully expected I’d be shown a modest negative correlation between identifying with the Tea Party and science comprehension,” Kahan wrote.
“But then again, I don’t know a single person who identifies with the tea party,” he continued. “All my impressions come from watching cable tv — & I don’t watch Fox News very often — and reading the ‘paper’ (New York Times daily, plus a variety of politics-focused Internet sites like Huffington Post and POLITICO). I’m a little embarrassed, but mainly, I’m just glad that I no longer hold this particular mistaken view.”
What a damning quote, isn't it? He had an impression - from the NY Times, POLITICO, cable TV other than Fox News - that was WRONG. Not only that, he admits he lives in an intellectual echo chamber.
At least he has the balls to admit it.
"'Republicans' - just spend (~80% of the federal deficit is from Reagan & 2 Bushes)"
Good grief. So the Democrat party has had total control of the government includind supermajorities in the Senate and House not too long ago and we are farther in debt now than we - or any people at any time ever in all hostory - have ever been. $17TRILLION and counting I may add.
So how's that working out for you then?
They need to get to work on STUPIDITY. Fear has it's uses.
I could be both good and bad.
The good thing is that religion would end because no one would fear that Hell place that is crammed into ones head as a child, but the bad thing could be that we may die out sooner because we would not fear the bear coming to eat us.
The deeper side though thinks that this might be a GREAT idea because I am afraid of heights and flying. In order for me to get on a plane I have to pretty much take enough sedatives to kill a horse. There isn't anything out there strong enough to where I have no clue of my surroundings. I also have anthropophobia which causes me to work from home and conduct business over the phone, text, email or online. It is very difficult for me to be around crowds of more than 5-6 people at a time.
"That's right...I said it."
I'm biased against conservatives because I've lived through everything from Vietnam, Iran Contra, the first and second gulf wars, and a two-term Bush presidency that embraced torture. Much of this was strongly supported by the American populace and press, so the "liberal press" whine doesn't carry much weight.
When bias occurs this way, it's called 'learning.'
Vietnam? Kennedy and LBJ were conservatives? Who ended US involvement? Oh, yeah, the EEEEVUL RETHUGLICAN Nixon.
Embraced torture? What's Obama done about THAT? Oh, yeah, escalated to "extrajudicial killings" of US CITIZENS.
Not that either Bush could be called a "conservative", so your labeling is way off anyway.
You wouldn't know "learning" if it were a 10-ton rock that landed on your impenetrable skull.
I have a heavy dht habit of around 1700mg per day and the long term side effects lead to hardcore paranoid delusions, but still not as bad as fucking clowns.
I think we have reached the point at which being a conservative must be regarded as evil. One issue is the constant sheltering and support of race hate groups. The second issue is wanting to control the actions of others with belief systems that want to regulate abortion or pornography. If one dislikes abortions then simply don't have one. If one dislikes porn then don't consume porn. The notion that one's personal moral beliefs must be stamped upon everyone else is just wrong. Then there is a continuous display of lack of concern for others. Failure to support education or the teaching of science as well as the failure to support those in distress and dire need can not be tolerated. For example Palm Beach,Fl. has laws that make it a crime to feed the poor. And yes, good people do fear conservatives. And maybe we need to fear them even more than we do today. But more to the point if phobias are an expression of genetic damage then we have a proof that many people thought to have been mentally ill have nothing more than a damaged gene. Not only will that go a long way towards saving lives and eliminating suffering it will also mean that insurance companies would be forced to treat this form of "mental illness" as a physical illness and that in itself would open up care for some disabled people. Phobias can be so severe that people are totally non functional.
Don't bog us down in details, gets in the way of us hating conservatives!
Muahahahahhahhaha
(yes that's sarcasm)
"I think we have reached the point at which being a conservative must be regarded as evil."
Lovely.
"the constant sheltering and support of race hate groups."
Citation please? Which was the party that pushed for and passed civil rights legislation over the objection of which other party? Which party was Robert Byrd from? Then there's that whole civil way thing that Lincoln used to free the slaves (simplification I know), which party was he from again, was that Democrat?
G'wan, I'll wait for you to respond to these before continuing.
Isn't considering groups of people to be evil EXACTLY what you find wrong with conservatives?
Specifically my fear of clowns who live in sewers? Clowns who live in sewers and who also repeatedly say, "We all float down here." Because I think if I could talk to that guy I could help him.
I think we have reached the point at which being a conservative must be regarded as evil. ... The notion that one's personal moral beliefs must be stamped upon everyone else is just wrong. ...
Unless YOU are doing the stamping, I guess.
The sad thing is, you probably are delusional enough to consider yourself "tolerant". Hell, you probably pat yourself on the back so much over your "tolerance" that you've dislocated your shoulder multiple times.
There is no Democrat party.
I stand by the fact that people who aren't afraid of heights have brains that don't work correctly. Your brain is trying to keep your dumb ass alive by making you not go near ledges and stuff. We're afraid of bugs and spiders because they're often poisonous. Same with snakes. I'm not afraid of snakes at all so guess who's more likely to get bit, me or someone who's afraid of snakes? So why correct something that is a benefit? You know what my solution to spider phobia is? Kill the spider.
The problem with your statement is you start with the presupposition that your worldview is correct. Those who are against abortion feel that way because they perceive an unborn child as a human being who has a right to life. Yet liberals always frame the argument as "conservatives are against women's rights" (even though it's only a single "right" in question). Then again, phrasing it that way changes the frame of the discussion from women's rights to "when does life begin?", which is much harder to argue in favor of abortion, since by scientific definition life begins at conception, and by genetic definition the fetus is a human being. It's much easier to re-frame the issue as women's rights, and paint opponents as sexist bigots. Also, the law in Florida you mentioned came to light because it was used to stop a church from feeding the poor. The same church that is filled with conservatives (who are also painted as "idiots who believe in a magical sky fairy", because again, it's easier to paint your opponent as stupid than it is to actually debate their ideas).
"Which was the party that pushed for and passed civil rights legislation over the objection of which other party? Which party was Robert Byrd from? Then there's that whole civil way thing that Lincoln used to free the slaves (simplification I know), which party was he from again, was that Democrat?"
You are making a common modern mistake. You are using the Progressive/Conservative categories and Democratic/Republican parties interchangeably. The time frame you are talking about the Democrats were the conservatives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_modern_American_conservatism). You can and should be proud of the historical accomplishments of your political party but please be aware of which party would be implementing those changes to society today.
"Democrats were the conservatives"
You can't be serious with this bullshit are you? Are you high?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964
"On the morning of June 10, 1964, Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) completed a filibustering address that he had begun 14 hours and 13 minutes earlier opposing the legislation. Until then, the measure had occupied the Senate for 57 working days, including six Saturdays."
Robert Byrd - Democrat -
Byrd led the Democratic caucus as Senate Majority Leader from 1977 to 1981 and 1987 to 1989, and as Senate Minority Leader from 1981 to 1987. From 1989 to 2010 he served as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate when the Democratic Party had a majority, and as President pro tempore emeritus during periods of Republican majority beginning in 2001
In 1946 or 1947, Byrd wrote a letter to a Grand Wizard stating, "The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation."
Sure he did leave the Klan, so I guess he get's a pass huh. Cause as we all know this was one of the most powerful DEMOCRATS EVER. So Lincoln, a Republican freed the slaves, the Republicans pushed the civil rights laws and the Democrats include KKK grand wizards.
But yea, Republicans are like totally racist and shit.
And now you have shown why there is no longer any civil conversations in modern politics. You have repeatedly requested a citation for contentious claims. I provided a URL that backed up my statement and you instantly jump to insults and insinuations.
It has everything to do with the public face of the so called conservative party in America.
If you don't like it, you should either disavow the GOP or clean house. They are representing you as a homophobic elitist hypocritical ignorant martinet.
Bullshit, Democrats are not and have never been conservative, your link shows no such thing.
"They are representing you as a homophobic elitist hypocritical ignorant martinet."
I said provide a specific example, and you fail to do so. So here is my response to you.
[].
Which was the party that pushed for and passed civil rights legislation over the objection of which other party?
Let's face it, neither of those parties exists in a recognizable form today.
"With the decline of the conservative wing of the Democratic Party after 1960, the movement is most closely associated with the Republican Party (GOP)"
Literally the second sentence of the article... Thanks for playing.
"the conservative wing of the Democratic Party"
The Blue Dogs. Who always prove themselves to be progressive in the end when needed to support the Democrat party in socialism.
Hell the Republicans are not conservative, you are trying to say the Demrcrats were? There were - and still are Democrats that are more or less socailist than the party in general, that's all it's saying.
Now you bore me.
In this we agree. They have both gone farther towards socialism.
Please do not use homophobia when describing such people.
TFA is talking about phobias as genetic. i.e. they aren't something you choose. They are what you are born with.
Homophobia, as you are talking about (AFAIK) is the kind of hatred that is a choice. It isn't fear. It's downright hatred. Fear can lead to hatred, but I think phobias aren't directly tied to that.
In other words, there is a thing that is homophobia, a literal fear of gays that is akin to fear of heights and spiders. But that is a genetic thing apparently and not the same thing as the "homophobia" taught by many conservatives.
They just accept their brainwashing to hate homosexuals, or fail to see it, or something similar. I say this as someone who identifies as a conservative. And as someone who sincerely believes he has homophobia in the sense of what that word really means. I get the flight or fight response when near someone I know that is openly homosexual unless I'm trained to do otherwise. I know this by way of an old friend I grew up with in high school who came out as soon as he graduated. It still bothers me to be around him, but I can be. Others like him cause a sort of panic response in me.
I'm just saying. Please stop making homophobia an insult to the morality of a person when the actual word means something different. It's what happened to retarded (mental retardation was a completely legit medical term once), and I don't see how those who make this word an insult are any different from those who made gay an insult personally.
There's nothing to fear here, move along..
Here.
OH! Here's a heap of examples!
Then there's the whole Rush Limbaugh tough on drug abusers except when blowhard radio personalities take so much non-prescribed oxycontin their ears quit working. Why hasn't he had himself locked up? (just Google, there's far too many references to link)
Then there's these.. Here too. Even some (former) Republicans agree.
What crazy crack are you smoking?
Can you be a little serious? No what Todd Akin said was pretty stupid - but the statements of one man at one time do not make for a party policy. Nor will I tell you I agree with everything every Republican ever said either. And come on, Rush and Palin? Really?
You cannot make the case that Republicans as a party believe in and support these things. I can make the case that the Democrats believe in wholesale socialism if not outright communism and that to do so they have engaged in fear mongering, corruption and intimidation under the color of law; case in point Louis Lerner.
Lerner and the IRS is a serious example, Rush Limbaugh and Todd Aiken making a stupid statement is not.
Next on the agenda, we clone Jem'Hadar and become galactic overlords.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
Perhaps it's you who have been led by the nose no? I mean that's the assertion in the original post here, it's the basis for this discussion.
I responded specifically and directly to the only point raised about which I cared; the one I quoted.
You reply with more political nonsense.
Congratulations, you broke the rust of the old cogitator and fired it up to let 'logic' happen with regards to one very tiny piece of your life and then you rushed to shut it off again just as fast as you could... Congratulations again! Seriously you are now more rational then the majority of people on the planet.
You still look ridiculous when you deride others for being 1% more irrational than you.
So who is it that opposes gay marriage, abortion (even in the case of rape for a fair percentage), birth control, etc.
I hear stuff from Democrats I disagree with all the time, but it tends to be the GOP saying things that are outrageously stupid or blatant lies, batshit crazy, or just sociopathic.
Hmm, soooooo.... if you are going to simply decide that any formerly elected official of the past century, who called the,selves a Republican (and were elected as such) were not REAL Republicans... then you might as well just check yourself into the looney bin now
Lemme see
Hoover, who slid the nation into the Great Depression and disenfranchised Veterans to the point that they formed up into Hoovervilles... Wasn't a REAL republican
Nixon, who used the CIA to plot against free elections and subverted the normal chain of checks and balances... wasn't a REAL Republican
Reagan, who cut taxes for the wealthy and Gave America its first Trillion dollar deficit wasn't a REAL republican
G H W Bush, who actually managed to realize that he had to raise taxes (and close numerous military bases) wasn't a REAL Republican
G W Bush, who subverted every possible government regulatory body (resulting in financial calamity) while simultaneously planting the country into multiple decade-long wars wasn't a REAL Republican
So just who the eff do you THINK is a REAL Republican?
And for my 2 bucks, all of the gopers named above SHOULD put fear into the hearts of the voters (which, btw, is one of the primary methods that they use to get voters to vote goper in the first place... i.e. Red Scare, War on Drugs, War on Terror, etc...)
I don't think so considering that I'm disappointed in the Democrats for shifting to the right. The rest f the world has noticed that the U.S. has no significant left, just right, righter, and wingnut.
The Dixiecrats, that is Southern Democrats (who held the Confederacy close to their hearts and fought against the Republican carpetbaggers from the North in the antebellum era), were the party of Byrd and KKK and all sorts of nastiness
They became disillusioned with the modern Democratic party and all of the notions of Civil Rights and desegregation
Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan realized that there was a rift that they could take advantage of and this resulted in the Southern Strategy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy
This took the dying Republican Party and grafted a bunch of bible thumping, segregationist, race-baiting scum to it, resulting in the Republican Party of today
Enjoy it, hell, even Lee Atwater disavowed it before his death
Read up on the Southern Strategy of the Republican Party
It will explain it all to you in easy words:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy
OK, so, as a Republican who values the lives of the unborn, how do you resolve that with starting two wars that resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 non-combatant civilians who had actually been born?
Simple feed the children LEAD ... If you want to build the perfect warrior...
An interesting idea, but modifying "fear DNA" is a great step towards bio-engineering "warrior drones". Think Tyrell Corporation...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
All hail the Daleks! Destroy the humans! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!
So,
Reagan took the debt from $1T to $3T
Bush Sr took it from $3T to $6T
Clinton took it from $6T to $5T
Bush Jr took it from $5T to $12T
Obama from $12T to $17T.
Add it up, Republicans overspent $12T out of $17T debt. So it's only 70%.
And Obama had to deal with the mess of the Bush tax cuts (again, spend only republicans) and an actual recession (when the government actually should be spending). But, yeah, all $17T is his fault. If you're a fucking idiot.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Thanks for admitting your bias, though. It always gets denied and it's nice to see it admitted up front for once. It's like the time the New York Times came right out and admitted it was a liberal newspaper and not objective at all.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Religious people would be the answer to your question. Why they tend to lean conservative is a different question.
No true scotsman?
By scientific definition life began somewhere 3.5 billion years ago, just once, and we are all just a continuation of that one single starting point. Life replicates by splitting a living part of itself off into a separate entity, not by jump-starting new life in a separate piece of inert matter.
The question is when the mother and child become separate beings, rather than just the one being a growth in the other. That line tends to get drawn at the point of viability, when you could remove the child from the mother's body and still have it survive. That's not at conception, however.
This would be most welcoming for those who are facing problems related to hyperventilation syndrome