Year 2050 A.D
Technology has advanced leaps and bounds, more than what people had predicted at the turn of the millenium. Moore's law still holds good, although a lot of technocrats believed that it would run out of steam by 2017. Cloning is common, and clones mingle and cohabit with humans on a regular basis. Human thoughts are guided more by microchips and gazillion transistors implanted in their heads than by the wrinkles on the cerebellum. It is during this time that Dr. Don T. Know comes up with his miracle drug "selective memory washer".
Most of us have seen the "memory eraser" that Tommy Lee Jones flashes at unsuspecting people and blinds out their short term memory. That might be movie-stuff, but Know's invention is for real. This drug allows one to blotch out memory between specific times or for that matter specific dates. However Dr. Know believes that the drug should be used to wipe out all the "event" related memory rather than just doing a selective erasure.
The philosophy is a little hard to understand and let me try to elucidate the aim and the motivation for the drug. The aim is to remove all memories related to particular events. It would not effect that part of memory which helps you remember your friends and relatives or for that matter day to day activities like brushing your teeth or eating your waffle. It tries to remove memories like the fight you had with your boss yesterday or the car crash you had a forthnight ago or for that matter your date last evening. It's basically all kinds of event related memories, be it good or bad.
For example, if it's a bad memory then you probably dont want to remember it in any case. On the other hand it has been observed that people tend to reflect on their good memories when they are in a state which is not as happy as their memory. This invariably leaves a tinge of sadness in them. This concept maybe a little difficult to understand, but with some introspection you would realise that good memories always leave you with a sense of wanting to be in that state, which proves that you would rather be in that state than the present state. Under such circumstances why have any memory. Devoid of this attribute of reflecting at the past, you can live each day as if it's a new day and enjoy it to the fullest. Imagine starting each day fresh, no good memories or bad ones, and you have the power to create whatever memories you want for the day - and incase you fail, despair not, they shall be erased by tomorrow.
There is still no clear demarcation as to which part of memory the drug should attack on a daily basis so as to keep you contended all the time. If you ask me whether Dr. Don. T. Know's drug would be a hit....my answer would be "DonT Know" !
( I have explained this concept in a rather obscure fashion, and will make an effort at writing a more explanatory sequel)
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5 comments:
Pointy.Focus on your real job,man. Creating mass confusion is your knack but u need to refrain from doing so. Would you remove the memory of being whacked at pcg? or the memory that you culted thadaal money from AID and bought mustang,laptop, la trip and god knows what else. How is LA? ne exciting events? do they have an AID there?
Selective memory wiping is a technique widely used in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Watch it to see some repurcussions of such an action (obviously no good can come from wiping out Kate Winslet out of anyone's mind).
Selective memory loss by a drug?? There have been experiments on mind control by drugs since the 50's (Like the CIA's MKULTRA program which gave us the popular term: brainwashing). In the other 50's (the 2050's) I would expect something much more advanced than a pill. By that time, human minds should semalessly connect to the internet. We should be able to upload memories and even download some. Bionic implants and cloning would make any drugs unnecessary. Simply get it replaced. Especially since you mentioned Moores Law, by 2050, they should be able to integrate 1 Trillion transistors on a single chip and it would cost about $5 in todays money. With such enormous computing power at mans disposal managing the collective memories of 11 billion people will be possible. And I think it would be much more precise than a drug. But I guess the point of your post was not the means but the ability to have that kind of technology and its impact, in which case the above was an unnecessary rant on a technicality. So,what were you talking about again?
Machan Mudit, u r posting page long comments at 3:00 am in the night on my blog and Rohan's blog....and I am joblessly reading them now (athough I on Pacific Time)
You should have been down with 6 tequila shots and a dose of Green Eggs by now.....whats happening at Crowbar...
By the way abt the comment, my point was more about the concept of "selective memory erasure"....the pill was introduced just as a reference to a tool for this procedure...I am sure by 2050, we would be exchanging our entire bio with someone, by a mere handshake (with a microchip embedded in the palm)
Dint go to Crowbar after you were gone, but just had a late night fart session with Piyush Thakre which invariably ends at ungodly hours. Will be going to the Breaking Benjamin show on the 18th though. Coming back to your post, memory erasure and mind control are scary. What if you get addicted to it? It would be a 'Memento' like situation. We stand to lose our grip on reality. Besides erasing bad memories of an event wont undo the event itself. It will create a confusion of humungous proportions with you rediscovering the unfortunate event over and over again. Why someone would want to make such a drug/device is beyond me? It does not help anyone.
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