Pharmaceuticals may be used in the future to tamper with and manipulate memory, causing many arguments over a human’s right to remember. There are two differing opinions on this subject. One, an excerpt, given by the US President’s Council on Bioethics (pages 219-230), argues that a human may lose one’s sense of self by having a memory manipulated with. The other, a Nature article, says to give memory tampering drugs a chance, saying that the good my actually outweigh the bad.
The negative side has many valid points to contradict the use of medicine that would neurologically damage or hinder part of the brain. The argument that a piece of a person’s identity or, ‘sense of self’ may be lost holds fast. Memories are a key part of what makes a person them self and, tampering with the things that have happened to them in the past may very well change the way a person thinks or acts. There would be no way of knowing for sure until something was actually tested on them. Another statement made is that we are morally obligated to remember certain actions. The possibility that these drugs may get out into the public if made legal on by prescription, would heighten the possibility for people to not be able to testify or witness accurately. A criminal could just as easily take memory altering drugs before and after his crimes, so as to not remember what he’d done. In these cases, pharmaceuticals that alter memories could potentially be dangerous to the public.
On the positive side, given by the article in Nature, memory altering drugs could actually help the suffering. Anyone who has suffered a traumatic experience could benefit greatly from taking things that would repress or suppress the memory. This would be very advantageous, especially in the case of soldiers returning from war. People could return to a life they had before this experience changed them. People who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have had life changing experiences that often hinder the way they live. If they had a drug that could potentially erase those dark memories, families could be together again the way it was before the event. One drug that has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) propranolol, may be used as an agent to put a damper on patients who have gone through an emotional stressful time or experience.
Pharmaceuticals that have the power to tamper with and potentially suppress or erase memory are being discussed as we speak. The potential to not have to remember a stressful or emotionally taxing experience is extremely tempting. However, we have to take into account the negative side of these drugs. The power that it possesses could get into the wrong hands like many illegal drugs that are in circulation now. We have to figure out if the effect is worth the risk, or is the risk too dangerous for us to take?
Works Cited
Kolber, Adam. "Neuroethics: Give Memory Altering Drugs A Chance." Nature.com. 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
Schiller, Daniela, Marie H. Monfils, Candace M. Raio, David C. Johnson, Joseph E. LeDoux, and Elizabeth A. Phelps. "Preventing the Return of Fear in Humans Using Reconsolidation Update Mechanisms." Nature.com. 9 Dec. 2009. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
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