The Memory Zip

There's nothing one can do about changing the past, but we can deny it, at least to ourselves. We can erase it too all together, as easy as clicking the 'Delete' button. The memory of it anyway, as though it had never happened. This is what the modern science tells us. Hasn't the whole world, at one time or another, tried to erase certain unpleasant occurrences from their memories since time immemorial?

But there's now a new mix of chemical called 'Zip', that would wipe out all your unwanted memories. In the experiments with rats, a dose of Zip completely deletes any memory the animal had up till the present moment. The molecule functions to erase the motoring process, affective habits and geometric knowledge. It's effective, highly specific, and does not destroy any brain cells. It erases effectively and cleanly the very moment it's applied.

The scientists used this molecule of oblivion to study the biologic bases of the memory. One of the big problems not resolved of the classic neurology. It's being considered now the possibility of using it with human patients. The initial idea is to use it to help people forget traumatic experiences in the past but affecting them negatively in the present, like in the case of rape victims, painful loss of a loved one, etc., or to rid them of habits associated with causes that had led them to the use of drugs.

The biggest problem, as is often the case, is the invisible frontier. Why not erase all the painful memory? To do that, or just to modify it, even though concerned only the painful memories, is a possibility full of uncertainties. One thing is that people have aversion of suffering at the moment of experiencing it, quite another is to erase their past, a part of their life, all together. The experiences of pain and suffering are part of the formation of life and of each individual. Many of the unpleasant experiences constitute to a valuable body of knowledge about the world and survival, that one shouldn't forget in certain situations. They also form part of the learning. Or as a reminder. Like the popular saying 'Once bitten, twice shy'? Remembering a bad experience sometimes stops one committing the same mistake twice. Or helps to enhance the new achievement.

My argument is that someone with the chemical in the hand and an insufferable memory in his head, the selective amnesia might thus become an abusive drug in the future or even source of crime

 

Tags:memory,zip

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