Dorothy Winsor ([info]dawtheminstrel) wrote,
2012-02-25 13:35:00
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Would you do it?

From the cover of "Wired" magazine:

One pill to erase your worst memories. Want to try it?

Ooh. Good question. I think not. My memories are part of what make me what I am. But then, my worst memory isn't so very bad compared to what some people endure.

Hm. Would you do it?

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  • 20 comments

[info]dot_o_choillmor

February 25 2012, 21:22:38 UTC 2 months ago

Only if anyone else involved would also forget ;-)

I probably wouldn't. But wouldn't it be nice to be able to do it for other people?

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 25 2012, 21:26:29 UTC 2 months ago

LOL. Yeah, I have some scenes I'd like to erase from the heads of the other people involved.

[info]tropic_dm

February 25 2012, 22:50:11 UTC 2 months ago

If it wasn't for the fact that I want to keep my worst memory alive as a reminder to never ever do such a stupid thing again, I'd go for it, but on the proviso that the other people involved forgot too.

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 25 2012, 22:51:46 UTC 2 months ago

It's true that we learn from our stupidity--one hopes. "Wired's" article talked about stuff like PTSD, which is a whole other level of pain from anything I've experienced.

[info]tropic_dm

February 25 2012, 22:56:21 UTC 2 months ago

So true, but I wonder if taking away the conscious memories would have any effect on the subconscious memories - there have to be some of those surely, something that has gone deep into the person's psyche that cannot be erased by a mere pill.

[info]jay_of_lasgalen

February 25 2012, 22:53:40 UTC 2 months ago

No. My worst memories aren't that bad; the worst being when my Dad died - and it wouldn't change that. (And I wouldn't trust the pill not to wipe all my memories!)

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 25 2012, 22:55:55 UTC 2 months ago

I think I agree.

[info]meckinock

February 26 2012, 01:44:20 UTC 2 months ago

Yeah.

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 26 2012, 01:50:51 UTC 2 months ago

That seems daring to me. I wonder what difference it would make.

[info]meckinock

February 26 2012, 02:08:50 UTC 2 months ago

When I was young, I used to keep a journal, but as time went on, I decided it didn't make me feel better, so I stopped. Some memories do nothing good but bring only pain. There are moments I'd be glad to never remember again. There are only a handful of exquisitely painful ones, and I don't think of them all that often, but never would be even better. There is nothing good about them and no reason to keep them.

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 26 2012, 02:09:48 UTC 2 months ago

Maybe they already shaped you anyway. It's hard to know.

[info]meckinock

February 26 2012, 02:24:03 UTC 2 months ago

The time my dog died crying in pain because the vet got the IV in wrong as he was trying to put him to sleep. The time my mother told me that every night she went to bed, she prayed that she wouldn't wake up. The same time, when she was dying, she asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I was under so much stress that all I could think to myself was "you to be dead" because Christmas was two months off and I couldn't imagine two more months of the hell we were in. All that probably did shape me. I just don't need to remember it.

[info]radbooks

February 26 2012, 07:54:06 UTC 2 months ago

There have been days when it would have been very tempting, but no, I think I'll keep my memories even the really dark, hurtful ones.

I saw this post earlier today and I had this nagging sense that it reminded me of a book and it came to me just now. It's The Giver by Lois Lowery. I'm sure you've read it at some point. But the people have given up all of their memories (and negative sorts of feelings too!) to create a utopian society without strife and one person is given the responsibility to hold ALL of those things for the community - doesn't that sound like a wonderful job? That was one Newbery Award winner that was worthy of the award. :)

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 26 2012, 12:19:32 UTC 2 months ago

The Giver! Yeah, I've read it and you're right. As I recall, things go awry, as they usually do in utopias.

[info]perelleth

February 26 2012, 12:30:42 UTC 2 months ago

I wouldn't. But that may only mean that my life hasn´t be hard enough for my memories to trouble me, as you also say. Also I don´t dwell that much on the past. BUt I can see how people would benefit from that, only wonder if erasing memories would make it more difficult to cope with the changes in personality those experiences may have caused. Human behaviour and psyche are so complex...

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 26 2012, 14:44:10 UTC 2 months ago

You've had some pretty stressful adventures at work, and that doesn't touch on your personal life, so I thought you might do it. I guess only the person involved knows how painful any memory is.

[info]fafojoy

February 26 2012, 18:16:21 UTC 2 months ago

No, as you say, they're part of what made us who we are.

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 26 2012, 18:24:46 UTC 2 months ago

Isn't it odd that most of us wouldn't do it?

[info]bmlg

February 27 2012, 04:42:34 UTC 2 months ago

I'd rather a pill that would give me the self-control to not go OVER AND OVER memories and stuff in my head. But I'm pretty sure there are no pills to instill virtues.

[info]dawtheminstrel

February 27 2012, 12:25:21 UTC 2 months ago

A no-obsessing pill would be a very useful thing.
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