鈥淚 WILL break up my father鈥檚 empire.鈥� The film Inception tells the story of an attempt to influence a businessman鈥檚 behaviour by using futuristic gadgetry to get inside his mind.
That makes for an exciting movie, but there鈥檚 a simpler way. Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus can condition people just by planting false information on a personality profile. For example, 鈥渞eminding鈥� someone of that time they drank far too much vodka as a teen may make them want to drink less of it in the future (see 鈥�I could have sworn鈥� Why you can鈥檛 trust your memory鈥�), even if the event never occurred.
Is this ethical? That, of course, depends on how voluntary the procedure is. (Loftus has already had requests from people seeking to kick habits.) Fiddling with one鈥檚 memory might seem creepy, but it has a precedent. People have long drunk to forget. Perhaps soon we鈥檒l remember to not drink.
Advertisement
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淩emember to forget鈥�
