I was just listening to a npr show called Radiolab. Every week or so they have a new show focusing on some theme. They then talk to scientists and people that have had strange/profound experiences with this theme. Usually the show chooses themes that are not usually associated with science, such as love or heroism or falling. It's a good show and I would suggest it to anyone.

This latest show I was listening to was from one of their achieves and was about memory. Brain functions and memory have always fascinated me. Even as a child I would sit and think about things like "what is an idea? How is it stored in me? Is it purely ethereal and intangible. If it is then how can my tangible brain access it?" I would usually do this while playing a video game and when no solutions came to mind I'd just go back to the game.
He's got he whole world in His hands
Anyway back to the show. Apparently back in the early 2000's some scientist discovered a drug that prevented memories from forming. The didn't explain exactly how it worked but it had something to do with destroying certain proteins in the brain.

They tested this by making rats associate certain tones with an electric shock, like Pavlov's dogs. When they played the tone the rats would arc their backs and brace for a small shock. They made sure that rats reacted the same way (they did), then they gave new rats this drug right as the tone was played and the shock given. These rats had no association of tone with shock unlike the other rats. Other tests where done with multiple tones and the rats only did not form the connection when the drug was given.

Moreover, even more strange they then gave the drug to rats that had already formed this memory of music and pain (scientists are so cruel) and if they gave the drug right at the time that the rat must be remembering, ie right as the rat heard the tone and braced for impact, the rat forgot the association. They can selectively, if somewhat imprecisely, destroy memories in the brain.

They have even moved on to human trials, People with PTSD. The case given in the show was a young woman who had been raped by a doctor as a child. She was so ashamed of this that she only ever dressed in the dark. She never told anyone. Tried to lie to herself about it. Really bad stuff here. But when she remembered this incident and was given the drug, she was less ashamed, less pained by it. She was very please by this, because it helped her heal and move on.

Philip K. Dick approves of this...or does he?

Now this strikes me all as just plain creepy. At the simplest level our memories are us. They are our personalities I think. If I lose my memories what am I? Are people suffering from Alzheimer's really still themselves?

Even if this woman says she is the better for not remembering as clearly, what do you all think?