Friday, October 24, 2008

Total Recall for total real

Now my paranoid rants will seem even more plausible:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US researchers have said they are able to selectively erase memories from mice in a laboratory, raising hopes human memory afflictions like post-traumatic stress syndrome can one day be cured.

"Targeted memory erasure is no longer limited to the realm of science fiction," the research team headed by Joe Tsien, from the Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia, said in Thursday's issue of Cell Press magazine.

The new technique, which the team stress is at a very early stage, could be applied one day to the human brain to erase traumatic memories or deep-set fears, and leave all other memories unaffected.

....

Tsien said the technique might one day be applied to war veterans who "often suffer from reoccurring traumatic memory replays after returning home."



...or to those who know too much

2 comments:

Ian Alden Russell said...

I don't think you need to worry about being paranoid. I've spent the last few years researching brain-computer interfaces. (you can read an article where I reflect a little on it here: http://www.iarchitectures.com/iarchitectures%20images/CHAPTER_VI_opt.pdf)

It's already possible to have an implant put into your skull that allows you to link to a computer and control your mouse with your mind (or a robotic arm). Now granted - this is only been done on quadriplegics (e.g. Matt Nagle - read the Nature article here:http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7099/abs/nature04970.html), but scientists at Berkeley have also wired into a cat's visual cortex and recorded what the cat sees (http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/99legacy/10-15-1999.html).

My experience of working with techies is that anything is possible, it's just a question of RnD time and funding.

So my energy has turned from the Sci Fi to the ethical. The pace of scientific progress I feel has outpaced our intellectual capacity to reflect and make ethical decisions.

So to arms all my fellow ideologues. Now is our time to get involved!

-Ian Russell (www.culturge.com)

Chain Gang BBQ said...

So that explains what's wrong with "flying cashew," "wingnut" dumb ass liberal Democrats.

I knew there was a reason; now if we could just fix it so they couldn't reproduce, we'd be on to something.

Saul Alinsky for President! Or better yet, vote for Barack Obama; socialists of a feather, flock together.