The Making of the Forgetting Pill

Superinteressanter Artikel auf Wired über Neurowissenschaftler, die an der blauen Pille aus der Matrix arbeiten und Erinnerungen löschen wollen. Die sind tatsächlich schon ziemlich weit und die medizinischen Auswirkungen einer solchen Therapie sind wahrscheinlich unbezahlbar, ich freu’ mich aber schon auf die ersten Storys von zwangsgelöschten Erinnerungen von Geheimdienstfuzzis oder sowas.

This isn’t Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-style mindwiping. In some ways it’s potentially even more effective and more precise. Because of the compartmentalization of memory in the brain—the storage of different aspects of a memory in different areas—the careful application of PKMzeta synthesis inhibitors and other chemicals that interfere with reconsolidation should allow scientists to selectively delete aspects of a memory.

Right now, researchers have to inject their obliviating potions directly into the rodent brain. Future treatments, however, will involve targeted inhibitors, like an advanced version of ZIP, that become active only in particular parts of the cortex and only at the precise time a memory is being recalled. The end result will be a menu of pills capable of erasing different kinds of memories—the scent of a former lover or the awful heartbreak of a failed relationship. These thoughts and feelings can be made to vanish, even as the rest of the memory remains perfectly intact. “Reconsolidation research has shown that we can get very specific about which associations we go after,” LeDoux says. “And that’s a very good thing. Nobody actually wants a totally spotless mind.”

The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever (via Reddit)