Saturday, November 19, 2005

Brave or dumb

When researchers removed a certain gene in mice, they discovered that it reduced their ability to learn to avoid danger. The newspaper title called it a "bravery gene". The scientists referred to possible positive effects that this discovery might lead to, such as treating people who are troubled by disabling memories of traumatic events. But no mention was made of obvious problematic uses of this knowledge. People who are naturally high in fear are less likely to break the law. People who are naturally low in fear often become violent adults if they are treated harshly by their parents. And the thought of armies chemically treated to be w/o fear is really frightening.

1 comment:

Raymond's Edge said...

Yes that is scary. Fear of the unknown is what keeps people from doing stupid things. Like killing, stealing and worse yet.. Calling one of those late night info-mercials to order something.

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