Post: #1

'Morality Pills' Close to Reality, Claims Scientist



"Morality pills" that alter users' personalities to make them "better" people could soon be a reality, a neuroscientist has claimed.

At a London conference on how science could be used to improve human brain function, Molly Crockett, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, explored the possibility of substances being used to alter deeply rooted human personality traits, in a way that was previously limited to fiction like RL Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

"At the time this was science fiction but recent studies have shown that by shifting people's brain chemistry you can change people's personalities," said Dr Crockett.

Among the substances discussed by Dr Crockett as candidates is the hormone oxytocin, which has been dubbed the "moral molecule", and been found to boost trust, empathy and cooperation.

However, Dr Crockett said that other tests had shown the hormone to boost envy and gloating.

The second candidate she discussed was serotonin, referred to as the "happy hormone" and widely used in anti-depressants.

She said that though its effects on the emotions were well documented, tests she had conducted also showed its impact on decision making when subjects were presented with a moral dilemmas.

She said that half of a test group was given the anti-depressant Cilatopram, which contains serotonin, and the other half were given a placebo.

They were then presented with the Trolley Problem, a well-known moral dillema, which they had to decide if they would rather push someone in front of a trolley to save a group of people from certain death, or let that person live and see the group die.

Most who had taken the drug said that they would not sacrifice the one person for the group if they had to interact with them directly, for example by pushing the person.

Dr Crockett said that for some this showed that the drug could act to enhance moral qualities, but others might disagree.

"This is less a scientific question, than it is a philosophical question," said Dr Crockett.

"I think the place to start is that there are probably certain types of moral behaviours that we would want people to want to do," she said, adding that drugs that led to people making a small sacrifice for the benefit of many would probably be described as moral enhancers by most, and further tests could show the effect of drugs on enhancing these qualities.

However, she said that the question of when to administer such drugs was also one for ethical debate, rather than scientific research.

Post: #2

better in which way? Easier to control?

Post: #3

Daily dosis of Soma?

Post: #4

I hate moral dilemmas like that. They're either or fallacies.

And I also remember reading about the flip side of oxytocin. It makes users very distrusting of different people and cultures.

http://time.com/49399/oxytocin-racism-study/

Post: #5

Quote:"I think the place to start is that there are probably certain types of moral behaviours that we would want people to want to do,"

Am I the only person here who finds this type of thinking disturbing with future consequences?

They already drug little boys to reduce instances of boy-ish behaviour, aka aggression but how long will take for the government to sanction these type of drugs to curb violence in boys and supposedly "anti-female" thoughts?

I was a little bastard growing up but I did not need drugs to enhance my sense of moral behaviour, that is where empathy is learned and encouraged by your environment and peers.

What happens if you take someone off of these meds? They will suffer some form of problem I am sure with murder spree's a likely outcome.

I hope I dont see this happen in my lifetime.

Post: #6

And who the fucks get to decide what and who is moral or not? You best believe that no one in my family will never take one of those pills

Post: #7

The irony of progressive thinking is that they think they can rehabilitate and "nice" the whole world into changing to fit their utopian vision, yet at the same time they want to limit the individual's freedom to make any of their own choices along the way, or be responsible for them.

Post: #8

No way I would take one of my own free will. In any event I think this is over-hyped. It sounds to me like it's just oxytocin, which has been around for a long time. But things will get interesting when psychiatric pharmacology is so advanced they develop drugs that really can change personalities. Person A is arrested for a serious crime, say murder. Is found guilty. Now if he agreed to take a pill that would change his mental makeup so much that there was a near zero percent chance of re-offending this would pose problems for the justice system. Right now they pretend that they do not sentence people to jail for "revenge", but in order to rehabilitate offenders and remove people who may harm others from a community. But if a pill could do both of these things then why send anyone to jail? Just ensure the offender pops his pills and you're done. Of course even if the drugs existed jail sentences would still be handed out. Because judges, and the justice system in general, is full of bullshit. Revenge is a part of their thinking no matter how much they'd like to think they are above it.

Post: #9

would not push one guy under the train to save a group has mostly to do with the fact that there are too many people in the world

Post: #10

I'm pretty sure 1984 won't happen by communism. It will happen by liberalism and progressivism. Just wait until 'neutro-gender' pills come out on the market. Then the real fun will begin.