mind-opening; eternal sunshine meets real science

My family just started getting the washington post everyday (before we only got it on sundays) so it happened to be sitting on the table, and i glanced at the front page. There was the usual info on elections and whatnot, and then this other article titled "Is every memory worth keeping?" .. if you've got the time you should definitely read it!

Basically scientists discovered this drug that can be used after traumatizing experiences to alieviate the stress associated with the memory of the event. Immediately i thought of eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (a movie i also recommend!) and just pictured that scenerio happening in real life! Fortunately (or unfortunately) they can't completely erase memories, but the studies are in progress and people are going right now for post-traumatic stress problems to get help... but its weird to think how many other areas of peoples lives this stuff could be used/misused in. Apparently marajuana is being used in this study also.

which got me thinking... who decides whether or not it's okay to take this medicine to feel better about a sucky memory? Most people, including myself, would say.. the person should be able to decide given that they are the only ones who can know the trauma and how bad it is... but when you give a person that much freedom they really can use it any way they want. I mean, take weed for example, weed reduces stress and some people have some stressful lives, so the only difference there is that its illegal for someone to use. I mean people can come up with so many reasons for doing what they do, and you can't really stop that process, because it would be like stopping the research their doing in any controversial field. follow that thought?

so if doing drugs is justified by science, what then? i mean.. i think it really comes down to who you are and whether or not you trust the natural way your life goes without any type of drugs. I'm sure people didn't always have a bottle of ibuprofen in their kitchen to take when they had headaches, but we dont seem to be too upset about that now. i know you pick your battles and whatnot, but this could change the way you look at people. or it could atleast change what you think you know, like what happens to be wrong or right with lots of issues...

i do like issues like this though for the thrill of there being something unexperienced or unseen or not fully explained or understood. I'm not really for the memory-reducing pill, but the fact that some people are being offered it just defies anything i thought was possible. that barrier remark of "oh it's just a movie" is really getting broken down, cause crazy stuff that happens in these sci-fi movies like eternal sunshine can actually happen!

the only bad thing is.. i can see the next debate over whether or not its right (just like the debates on abortion or stem-cell research) when really it's in the idea that it might be right or wrong and we don't know, that this wild mind-opening experience can be lived. instead of taking a side, wrestle with the idea and give both sides a sincere thought. now dont you just wanna read the article? click.

later,
Jodi