A PILL TO WIPE THE CONSCIENCE CLEAN

But, Diane, I'll lose 95 percent of my memory! ;( c.i.

That is as bad or worse than the concept of cloning. Fear and conscience go hand in glove. If you have no fear or conscience anything goes. The use of such a pill will turn one into a Frankenstein. Ban it! Ban it! ban it?

What about the super ego - if we erase conscience then we have no means of curing what goes wrong with the super ego. Acceptance and letting go is the key tool to regaining mental stability!

Brave New World gets the edge over Nineteen-Eighty-Four again.

<shivers>

Brave New World my first thought as well fbaezer but what about a person with cronic acute Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD)? To date there is nothing to relieve this syndrome you just have to live with it. If such a pill where developed to assist in over coming PTSD I would be first in line.

http://www.ncptsd.org/facts/general/fs_what_is_ptsd.html

Joanne, I was once told in a particular setting that there was nothing wrong with me, I was coping. I looked at the guy, brain starting saying - "grab table, turn it over, starting spouting many insulting cuss words at Dr, tell him where he could stick coping, his clip board, and every other thing in his God foresaken organiztion and end the event doing I don't exactly know what."

Instead, I began thinking - "I'm coping, I'm coping, I'm coping, I'm coping, I'm coping........"; smiled crookedly, said "thank-you" and walked out - never to return. The Dr still to this day has no idea what he missed and I have a tool that when I am frustrated to the max and angry as hell I just simply think - "I'm coping, I'm coping, I'm coping, I'm coping, I'm coping........" and the whole world is better for it; especially me.

JoanneDorel,
I haven't made up my mind whether I like the idea or not.
Experience tells me to put little trust in the human side of real world applications of science.

Well, it'll never be banned. We just don't do that, it seems. So.... how about we regulate the hell out of it?

It's interesting that the articles author choose to cast the entire concept of the drug in terms of military aggressiveness. Nothing stirs the emotions quite like playing off of that big bad military gremlin!

How likely is it that any such drug would be used by the military more than it would be used by common street thugs? Why doesn't the author mention the possible use of such drugs by criminals as they plan their car-jackings? Or by use of the drug by inmates at our local prisons?

I have a lot less concern about any such drug being used by the military than I do by it's ready availablity to every moron on the street. Fear and inhibition are a HUGE part of are what keeps our society together. When the general population looses that then the military becomes a minor issue.

C.i., you old sweetie, I don't believe you for a minute!!

Au, yes, much worse than cloning--it would certainly turn us into Frankensteins, taking away a vital factor of what makes us human.

BillW, everyone who has had to deal with tough emotional conflicts knows that acceptance and letting go are what lead to true healing. Do you think that if the choice existed, people would opt for a pill instead of going through the pain and long hours of work neccesary to achieve acceptance and letting go?

I don't know enough about psychiatry to have any idea of how the super ego would be affected, but it makes sense that it would play hell with the pull the super ego has on our sense of self and our sense of morality.

Fbaezer, shiver is right!! It sounds like a horribly mutilated combination of Brave New World and 1984.

Joanne, PTSD is one possible use with a positive outcome. The flashbacks and intrusive memories could at least be reduced. It is a tough call. Like BillW, I tend to prefer repeating his mantra of "I'm coping, I'm coping."

Littlek, God, I hope this pill would have the strictest possible regulation!

Fishin,' the author might have picked on the military for the emotional edge it puts on the story, but the military also has the organization, money and scientific resources to put this to use.

I don't know if street criminals would have access to something this high risk. I have no doubt they would use it and sell it if they had any way of getting it. If that happened, I agree it would be the end of civilized society.

Well I have done everything I can do and I do cope. It is the reactions that people have towards me because of the PTSD that I cannot control. And that is what causes most of the problems I have in relation to the PTSD. If there was a pill I would take it in a heart beat. The worst part is I just took the longevity test that Phoneix posted and I am expected based on the questions there to live to be 97, not unexpected but not really what I wanted to hear.

Do they make one big enough and strong enough for the Bush Administration?

BillW, the Bush administration doesn't have a conscience.

D'oh, do I have to sit in the corner?

Dear BillW, I would never ask a wolf to sit in the corner. Be kind to animals is my motto.

Reminds me of a sedative or two I've had under medically supervised procedures

Husker, I'd be willing to bet you didn't lose your conscience--just your consciousness.

Diane

I read somewhere that a popular brand of sleeping pill was developed in response to the problems British troops were experiencing in the Fauklands (sp?) war. It seems that tired soldiers weren't 100% up to the task of combat the morning after a disturbed night's sleep.
Now, if they removed conscience as well, they could create perfect killing machines. What a thought! Doesn't it give you the chills?
And what does it tell us about the priorities of scientific medical research?

Already perfected that in America, we call it the Vast Right Wing Republicans - trouble though is they do fight, they're all chickenhawks! Hope it isn't a pill, they'll put it in the water supply!