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"Science fiction has gotten more accurate as we've gotten closer to the present, because science fiction stories have not only attracted, but also generated current scientists."
- Larry Niven
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| Erased Memory | ||
| A procedure that deletes selected memories from the human mind. |
In the story, Quail is apparently an ordinary man who dreams of making a trip to Mars. Low on funds, he approaches Rekal, Incorporated to have some false memories (extra-factual memories) implanted - he will at least have memories of the trip he wanted.
Unfortunately, there was a pre-existing condition; he actually had gone to Mars, but the memories had been erased.
| "...The trip is very vivid in his mind - at least under sedation. But apparently he doesn't recall it otherwise. Someone, probably at a government military-sciences lab, erased his conscious memories; all he knew was that going to Mars meant something special to him, and so did being a secret agent. They couldn't erase that; it's not a memory but a desire... |
| Technovelgy from We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,
by Philip K. Dick. Published by Fantasy and SF in 1966 Additional resources -
|
This may not be a procedure that can be done more than once:
For an earlier version of this idea, see anti-heptant from Jack Vance's 1956 novel To Live Forever. See also this article on brain erasure from Edmond Hamilton's 1948 story The Knowledge Machine.
"...Maybe they can erase your memory once more, I don't know...
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and Technology from We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
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Tech news articles related to We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
Tech news articles related to works by Philip K. Dick
Erased Memory-related
news articles:
- Amnesia Drugs: Bad Memories Blocked
- Memory-Erasing Chemical
- Selective Memory Deletion In Mice
- Tetris Reduces Emotional Scars
- Can Brains Erase Memories?
- Memory Erasure Thanks To Snails
- DCS May Extinguish Fearful Memories
- Erased Memories In A Flash Of Light
| 3D Printed Organs From Space |
| Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor |
| NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI) |
| MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User |
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
