Customize your memory?

[RICHARD]

Interesting concept, but it could easily be taken too far. Would you WANT a bad memory removed? I can understand for PTSD cases, etc, but I can easily see it becoming a boutique option if it became mainstream. Muh as I dislike some of my bad memories, they're part of my life.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...70390834135678

I think a lot of these studies could use a strong contingent of medical ethicists on the panel.

I was changing a wall heater and touched a live wire. I forgot about all my bad experiences at that moment and focused on trying to get my hand away.

[Lady's Human]

I was changing a wall heater and touched a live wire. I forgot about all my bad experiences at that moment and focused on trying to get my hand away.

That would explain why so many of your posts are charged with humor.......

You're truly electric as the barkeep in Thursday's.

[Karen]

Oi! Bad puns!

I do think the theory is interesting, but agree medical ethicists should be an integral part of these studies, as sometimes people with repressed memories react badly to certain things and don't know why until they somehow remember and deal with that past event. I wonder if this would be the same, if an electronically "forgotten" memory could lead to the same issues repressed memory sufferers deal with.

I am thinking of a specific friend, let's call her "Dotty" - she had been abused by a neighbor, sexually assaulted, and because of other unfortunate circumstances in her life, completely repressed the whole thing. Yet as a young adult, she would sometimes have very adverse reactions to ordinary circumstances, and not know why. The not knowing why she was upset was as bothersome for her, sometimes even more than the bad reaction itself. (She's since gotten help, remembered, dealt with and has moved on emotionally) But would someone with an electronically erased memory suffer the same issues?

[redbird]

I agree Karen, bad memories are part of our past and it makes us who we are today. I would definitely not want them removed, that is just too frightening.

[Cataholic]

A victim of rape? Incest? Witnessing a murder? Yeah....erase away.

[Lady's Human]

A victim of rape? Incest? Witnessing a murder? Yeah....erase away.

And how would the courts handle it with a witness with an edited memory if there was an appeal?