Sci-Fi Movie Plot? Maybe Not A New Medication may be able to erase your bad memories

Alex Settle
Staff Writer

Every year, every decade, every generation brings new technology that seems to defy the impossible and now something both haunting and astounding is being developed: A brand new medication, now animal and human tested, has been proven to remove bad memories from the front of your mind, and replace them with happier recollections, just by taking a pill. In essence, this drug erases your bad memories, fears, phobias and regrets. Something this amazing poses too many questions: How is this possible? Does it actually work? Should this be released to the public?
So really, does it work? In the latest study, Dr Merel Kindt of Amsterdam University tested the drugs on 60 men and women. He and his team created arachnophobia in each of the volunteers by showing them pictures of spiders while giving them gentle electric shocks, thus creating a negative association with spiders.
The next day, half of the test group took the experimental pill and the other half took a placebo. Each volunteer was shown pictures of spiders while sudden loud noises were played in their ears. The results showed that the group who took the pill had a much less extreme response, proving that they forgot the negative memory of spiders from the previous day. Twenty-four hours later, when the medication was “out of their system,” the test was done again, and once again the group that took the pill showed a calm response, meaning that the pill had actually subdued the memory even after it left the body.
Currently this miraculous pill is progressing well in development, but it still raises a few questions of ethics. Many scientists oppose this medication questioning if it will destroy what makes us human. On a much more practical scale, if no one remembers anything bad that happened to them, no one will ever learn from their mistakes. Dr. Daniel Sokol of St George’s, University of London said, “Removing bad memories is not like removing a wart or a mole. It will change our personal identity since who we are is linked to our memories. It may perhaps be beneficial in some cases, but before eradicating memories, we must reflect on the knock-on effects that this will have on individuals, society and our sense of humanity.”
Scientists who support the pill claim that it should be used to overcome phobias, obsessions, eating disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder in former soldiers. Are the positive effects enough to balance out the prospective negative effects? Tests are still being run and it will not be ready for public or wide-scale market use for years to come. So far, it has only been proven to reduce anxiety and stress for a short amount of time, and further testing will show the longevity of the effects. The ability to remove memories has been used in science fiction plots for years, but in our lifetime, it will no longer be fiction.