I would bet it was initially developed by the CIA or military to wipe memory.

The CIA for its agents who saw to much.

The military for soldiers who did too much.

Just a guess.

Sounds like the beginning of a bad horror movie....or romantic comedy.


Seriously though, if true, this is frightening.

So ..... hypothetical future situation ...

A terrorist/psycho/madperson/etc enters a packed movie theater and proceeds to unload his/her arsenal into the packed movie theater audience killing many and wounding many more.
S/he then leaves the crime scene, takes one of these "forget" pills and promptly loses all memory of what just occurred.
Would this stand up in court as a legitimate defense that the perpetrator literally had no recollection of the crime ?

I personally, would buy a whole bottle of those pills! lol

Sounds like something they would inject into James Holmes once they had him in the solitary suicide watch cell.

Well...emotionally speaking and mentally speaking of the Hell my memories of my ex create,I would say "Shut up and take my money!!"

But realistically speaking--I wonder how they can target just those selective memories and what the consequences would be since there would be bound to be blank spots or places that can no longer connect since we are the sum of all our experiences,including memories,so that and then what others have already mentioned regarding them being used for "dark purposes" would make me dubious regarding their existence and use.S+F

After reading the article, I can't help but think how this reminds me of Total Recall. I read that it could help with OCD, but I wonder if it could also potentially benefit with comorbid effects such as Tourette's Disorder.

Nobody saw 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'?

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind with jim carrey is a movie exactly about this

A couple hate eachother and both end up going to a clinic of some sort to forget eachother, and end up meeting again and it is a good movie , one of carreys serious movies.

Really though, if you forget things then you never learn from your mistakes do you?

Dumbest idea ever IMO. Just another drug that will be abused, so people can go on being blissfully unaware of the real world out there.

The Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, come to mind! LoL

My experiences- good and bad - define me. I like to examine my stupid mistakes, my ignorant mistakes...and learn from them.

You think that society is an 'idiocracy' now? Just wait.

Originally posted by Astyanax

I suppose there will be a few other uses for it too. What would you use it for?

I wouldnt I remember how long it takes to remember power DATA so I wouldnt.. Imagine this being used to make you forget you were here BEFORE IF NOT ON MARS as you are reborn into soul material elsewhere if not here AGAIN. Mistakes help you learn so to forget them means you may repeat the same mistakes again.

Originally posted by TKDRL
Dumbest idea ever IMO. Just another drug that will be abused, so people can go on being blissfully unaware of the real world out there.

A majority of the population is blissfully unaware in the first place. A drug will do nothing but help people stay that way.

This sounds like something out of MKULTRA...

Memories both good and bad shape your character. In fact, we learn more about ourselves from traumatic experiences.

I don't think erasing any kind of memory is a good idea.

As far as OP's scenario, I think you would keep making the same mistake over and over again. I've seen groundhog day....