[lit-ideas] Re: 'Eternal Sunshine' drug selectively erases memories

Quoting Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> JK:
> >>I hate to say it because cynic I am not (usually) -- but w/out your
> memories you wouldn't know you lacked your memories.<<


You don't need to know. Indeed, you *must* not know. That's precisely the point
for the torturer. 

Not like:

'Orenz: "Of course it hurts. The point is not *minding* that it hurts."

Walter O.
Classic Movies Forever



> 
> Makes me think of "Blade Runner", of implanted memories to make the
> replicants "real".  I rate "Blade Runner" as one of the very best movies I've
> seen, on a par with "The Pawnbroker".  In "Blade Runner" the replicants come
> off as more 'human' than any of the humans.  God, I love it.
> 
> My problem is, of course, short-term memory.  Sometimes I think I'm living
> the film "Memento" -- an OK film.  But so what?  We're all just trying to
> interpret the experiences we can remember, which after a full day of
> claptrapcluttermutter isn't much to work with.  Best to just let it all wash
> out to sea.  Wait like the sand crabs for the tide to come in and see what it
> brings this time.
> 
> The Greeks believed, or so I believe they believed, that one had to drink of
> the river Lethe before entering the netherworld in order to forget their
> previous existence.  That makes sense to me.  As a kid I used to wonder about
> heaven and how I would feel about not having a body anymore.  I've always
> thought my body was me.  I couldn't imagine me without it. What good is
> existing without the senses?  God would have to wipe the slate clean or else
> he'd have a lot of homesick souls moping about heaven all day.
> 
> My 2 cents.
> 
> Mike Geary
> Memphis 
> 
>   
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Julie Krueger 
>   To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
>   Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 10:12 AM
>   Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: 'Eternal Sunshine' drug selectively erases
> memories
> 
> 
>   I hate to say it because cynic I am not (usually) -- but w/out your
> memories you wouldn't know you lacked your memories.  
> 
> 
>   On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 8:59 AM, Ursula Stange <Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>     "Eternal Sunshine" refers to the movie, of course.
> 
>     One of the comments at the bottom of the page mentions potential uses of
> a memory-cleansing drug.   Torturers could make you forget that you were
> tortured, for instance.   An even worse scenario occurred to me.   Imagine a
> torturer threatening you with this drug -- threatening to wipe your memory
> clean.  Wouldn't you tell them everything you know (and even things you don't
> know) to hang on to your memories of your childhood, your parents, your
> children, your first kiss...   Who would you be without your memories?   
>    
>
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/brain/dn15025-eternal-sunshine-drug-selectively-erases-memories.html
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------
>     To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
>     digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   -- 
>   Julie Krueger
> 
>   Visit www.VoteForChange.com. Register to vote and help spread the word. 
> 



------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: