Thursday, July 25, 2013

Very Scary: MIT Researchers Plant a False Memory in the Mind of a Mouse

Carolyn Y. Johnson at BoGlo reports:
The chamber illuminated with reddish light would have been familiar to the mouse -- the laboratory animal had scurried before on its black cardboard floor and smelled the faint whiff of vinegar. The mouse froze. A series of electric foot shocks would be coming soon, as, the mouse remembered, had happened the last time.

But the shocks never came. The memory wasn’t real.

In a mind-control experiment that demonstrates the astonishing power of new neuroscience tools, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers planted a false memory in the mind of a mouse using genetic techniques that allow them to trigger specific brain cells with light. The scientists were able to make the mouse recall something that had never occurred -- having its foot painfully zapped when in the familiar red chamber -- and react in fear exactly like it would have in response to a real memory.

Johnson goes on to report that "Scientists won’t start planting false memories in people[...]" If you believe the government isn't working on that exact capability now, I have a fog making machine here in San Francisco that I would like to sell you.

The world is changing very rapidly.

4 comments:

  1. They don't even know what a memory is...they figured out how to make a mouse stop based on stimulus and response it sounds like from reading the article.

    You can find world famous neurologists admitting they don't really even know how memory works. So this is sensationalism at best.

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  2. If thats not creepy than I dont know what is

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  3. I guess I get to play scientific thought police again...

    There is no human equivalent to genetic engineering of this sort. These types of techniques require killing several mice to get the job done. And IF scientific resources are being put to use in this way, it will be under the justification of eliminating genetic diseases, not for mind control. But the technology is nowhere near being able to do this without many deaths. Show me these death camps, and I'll start getting concerned.

    If a secret govt operation like this is going on, it would be the largest, most provocative conspiracy ever. I guess Bob didn't get the memo that Lysenko-style science is taboo, unproductive, unscientific, and would never get any attention for funding.

    (Elitist alert)...fellow libertarians...please stop embarrassing yourselves by demonstrating your clear ignorance of genetics (*cough* GMOs...)

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  4. The mouse now thinks it was born in Hawaii and is qualified to be President of the United States...

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