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>to “hide” the memory of the pain like a circumcision. That's a pretty positive spin you put on lobotomizing a person, and stripping them of their human experi

>to “hide” the memory of the pain like a circumcision. That's a pretty positive spin you put on lobotomizing a person, and stripping them of their human experience. What you're describing genuinely sounds exactly like what is in "Brave New World." If you give people the option of forgetting everything bad whenever they feel like it, like dosing soma, they will literally constantly be doing that, and there's no way that could be a good thing. I understand the want to eliminate mental illnesses like PTSD and others, but for me personally, this is way overboard. As for the RFID thing, you're comparing apples to open-brain surgery. A sub-dermal implant, or even more critical devices like pacemakers, are leagues away from a computer in your actual brain.

mcmcmc 3y ago
I think you’re misinterpreting a poorly worded comment - I meant people would rationalize performing whatever surgery to add the neural interface in infancy by assuming that the child would want it in adulthood, and doing it before memories start being fully formed reduces the trauma impact of a major surgery. Nowhere did I suggest neural interfaces would be used to “eliminate mental illnesses” or that it would be anything akin to a lobotomy. Regarding Brave New World and dosing soma to forget your troubles… are we not there already? There’s a little dopamine machine in your pocket. If you’re tired of being poor or starving or mentally ill, just pop open TikTok and start consuming.
- michaelsshaw 3y ago
  I see what you're saying now. Forget the first part of what I said >Regarding Brave New World and dosing soma to forget your troubles… are we not there already? There’s a little dopamine machine in your pocket. If you’re tired of being poor or starving or mentally ill, just pop open TikTok and start consuming. Not really. The entire point in the book was not that it was escapism, but that their entire society was built around nobody ever experiencing pain, or really any emotion at all, not just procrastinating and ignoring any and all issues permanently. To quote the RWC: "Christianity without tears, that's what soma is." It's uncanny to think about that because it is so dehumanizing

mcmcmc 3y ago

I think you’re misinterpreting a poorly worded comment - I meant people would rationalize performing whatever surgery to add the neural interface in infancy by assuming that the child would want it in adulthood, and doing it before memories start being fully formed reduces the trauma impact of a major surgery. Nowhere did I suggest neural interfaces would be used to “eliminate mental illnesses” or that it would be anything akin to a lobotomy. Regarding Brave New World and dosing soma to forget your troubles… are we not there already? There’s a little dopamine machine in your pocket. If you’re tired of being poor or starving or mentally ill, just pop open TikTok and start consuming.

michaelsshaw 3y ago
I see what you're saying now. Forget the first part of what I said >Regarding Brave New World and dosing soma to forget your troubles… are we not there already? There’s a little dopamine machine in your pocket. If you’re tired of being poor or starving or mentally ill, just pop open TikTok and start consuming. Not really. The entire point in the book was not that it was escapism, but that their entire society was built around nobody ever experiencing pain, or really any emotion at all, not just procrastinating and ignoring any and all issues permanently. To quote the RWC: "Christianity without tears, that's what soma is." It's uncanny to think about that because it is so dehumanizing