The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever

Well can't wait for that to get into the water supply....talk about attack of the zombies..

Will you have to remember to take it every morning?

I thought that's what booze is for, well it works for me anyway

And how potentially dangerous is that?

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

George Santayana

I wonder what would happen if you took two of 'em?

I don't remember.

You don't remember....?

I suppose the pain of memories can be so bad that a person might be open to trying anything to stop the pain. An obvious comparison, though, would be Alzheimer's. To everyone but the person experiencing it, it is painful, from the perspective of losing one's memories. Or, at least, not having the same connection to them.

Without knowing how memory really works -- and I can't imagine any researcher claiming to really know all the ins and outs of it -- it is also a roll of the dice as to how such drugs might affect "memory" overall. What if the drug creates an "altered" person (personality)? We are all changing due to life events. But there is a continuity we all understand when coping with them. This may create discontinuities that are non-reversible in an abrupt manner. Of course, PTSD does, too. Which is why solutions are sought for such suffering.

It leads to an interesting question. Would you be willing to take an experimental drug that you know will possible alter your memories -- both good and bad? Or alter your "personality?" How would your family and/or friends feel about you doing so? Who are you, really? Pondering it may not be so different from pondering death.