Memory Erasing, Coming Soon Says
Cognitive Liberty Group
Paycheck Movie Raises
Important Mental Rights Concerns, Experts Say
DAVIS, CA - What if you could take a
pill that would safely erase unwanted memories?
Experts at the
Center for Cognitive Liberty and
Ethics (CCLE) say that memory-erasing drugs are on the way, and they
question whether the legal system is prepared to deal with the changes such
drugs will bring.
Memory erasing is about to go mainstream with the
new movie Paycheck-starring Ben Afflek and Uma Thurman-set to
open in theaters nationwide on December 25. In the movie, Ben Afflek
plays an engineer whose memory is erased to ensure that he won't divulge
trade secret information to competitors. The new Paramount Pictures release is
bound to generate public discussion about the ethics and legality of
memory-altering technologies.
"Drugs that substantially dim memories are already
in use," says Wrye Sententia, Director of the CCLE, a nonprofit law and
policy center that protects freedom of thought. Ms. Sententia notes
that emergency rescue workers - for example those sent to clean up after a
plane crash - commonly take a drug that helps reduce their memories of the
gruesome scene. Drugs like these may soon be used be used in emergency
rooms to dim memories that might later trouble victims of serious accidents or
violent crimes. [1]
In an August edition of Science magazine, Mark
Eisenberg et al. published new findings indicating the possibility of
developing a drug that selectively dumps or dims memories of incidents that
may have occurred as far back as early childhood. [2]
(Read
More about Memory Erasing)
According to Richard Glen Boire, Legal Counsel for
the CCLE, drugs or technologies that reduce or erase memory raise new
legal dilemmas that society should be preparing for now. "Just like the
printing press and the Internet changed the parameters of free speech,
memory erasing drugs and other neuropharmaceuticals currently under
development are going to change the parameters of freedom of thought," notes Boire.
He questions whether current Constitutional interpretations will
sufficiently address the neuroethical implications of such technologies.
The Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics (CCLE) is
a collaborative effort by a multi-disciplinary group of experts working to
protect the future of freedom of thought. The group believes that freedom
of thought will be the next big civil rights issue, and hopes that the
movie Paycheck will initiate public awareness about freedom of thought issues.
Will you have a right to erase your own memories?
Will your employers? Will memory-erasing drugs be prohibited, and consequently
sold by street dealers rather than pharmacies? Can your employer condition
your hiring or firing based on whether or not you're willing to take a
memory-erasing drug?
"These are the sorts of new legal issues that we
will be dealing with in our lifetime," says Boire. The rules we create today
regarding our cognitive liberty will define the future of freedom of
thought."
Notes
1. Goodman, Ellen, "Matter Over Mind?" Washington
Post, November 16, 2002
2. Eisenberg, Mark, et al., "Stability of Retrieved
Memory: Inverse Correlation with Trace Dominance," Science 22 August
2003 Vol. 301 Number 5636: 1102-1104
For more writings by Richard Glen Boire, J.D. on the
issue of memory-erasing drugs, see:
Boire, Richard Glen, "Forget About It?" Brainwaves,
Wednesday, August 27, 2003. Online at:
http://www.corante.com/brainwaves/20030801.shtml#50203
Boire, Richard Glen, "Cognitive Liberty and the
'Right to Erase Memories' Explained" Brainwaves, September 5, 2003. Online at:
http://www.corante.com/brainwaves/20030901.shtml#51336
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