Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Very Serious Futurologists Bravely Endorse Yet Another Thing That Doesn’t Exist

The headline: IEET Readers Endorse Wide Availability of Morality Pills. Drilling down, we find that 28% of respondents want these non-existing “morality pills” made available over the counter without a prescription, 26% want the non-existing “morality pills” put directly in the water supply (yes, you read that right), 20% want the non-existing “morality pills” made readily available through health insurance, while 19% want the non-existing “morality pills” made available by prescription for people with unspecified “personality problems” (presumably this would be the "moderate-middle" Robot Cult contingent). There’s no point even beginning to ask whether these “morality pills” are safe for everybody who might take them in combination with everything else people might be taking since none of this exists to assess. Even if I try to treat this sort of futurological speculation as I usually do, as a kind of skewed or allegorical reflection on anxieties and hopes occasioned by actually-existing current issues (all of which would be better dealt with on their actual terms), I am at a bit of a loss to figure out how the mapping is supposed to be operating here exactly -- I mean, is it like stealth pro-ritalin advocacy? is it an endorsement of enforced counseling for folks who get red flags for anger-management issues? is it a subtle dig at Bircher anti-fluoridation paranoia? Who can say with these Robot Cultists? Sheesh!

6 comments:

jimf said...

> 19% want the non-existing “morality pills” made available
> by prescription for people with unspecified “personality problems”. . .
>
> [I]s it an endorsement of enforced counseling for folks
> who get red flags for anger-management issues? is it a subtle
> dig at Bircher anti-fluoridation paranoia?

We don't need "morality pills"!

We don't need more cell phones or laptop computers, either.

We need to give away lots and lots of Ouija boards,
so all the peoples of the world can
hear the advice of the Great Thetan of the Universe:

"There was only ever one reason that man should come to this
earth and that is to arrive unconscious, to be taught by
their peers to become Christ-conscious, to bring their
gifts, to manifest their gifts, and to manifest love.
This happened with the indigenous people of the world,
but there has been a great spiralling down of consciousness,
moving through Egypt, into Israel, into Greece and into
Rome, especially since the Romans came to power, the
consciousness of this planet has spiralled down and there
is an evil energy which is emanating from the days of
the Roman Empire and still flows through consciousness
today, this has caused great woundedness and great hurt
among the peoples of the world and this has to stop.

. . .

The new world is coming dear ones, the old governments
will go. The old way of living on this planet will go
and once you achieve the goal of Christ consciousness,
safe passage is assured. So, observe you bodies and
observe your feelings and feel what is true for you…
let your feelings come and let the feelings go… and where
there is any pain or any fear in your body… hand this
fear and this pain over to spirit world… let any emotion
that is in your body rise through your body… allow the
emotion to flow… let the feelings come and let the
feelings go…"

-- "An Entity Called Kryon"
http://somethingtothinkabout-en.blogspot.com/2011/05/kryon-channeling-this-planet-will-not.html

BTW, the Great Change is coming this September. Mark your
calendars!

jollyspaniard said...

There is a compound that makes you more benign but it only lasts for a few seconds. And you can also get the same boost from being treted nice by other people.

Perhaps they just need a hug.

jimf said...

> There is a compound that makes you more benign but it only
> lasts for a few seconds.

You're probably thinking about oxytocin.

There's a guy named Paul J. Zak (a.k.a. "Dr. Love") whom
Wikipedia calls as "neuroeconomist" who has apparently made
a career out of publicizing the effects of oxytocin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J._Zak

He also goes around hugging people (not that I'd mind, in
his case :-0 ).

There are also the "empathogens" like Ecstasy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathogen-entactogen

These are all empathy-promoters (and distrust reducers), but
that isn't exactly the same as a "morality pill" is it?
(What would a "morality pill" do, exactly? Make a Jehovah's Witness
wake up and leave the church, or bind somebody even more
tightly to the faith?)

Athena Andreadis said...

I was asked to be one of the commenters on Mark Walker's "Genetic Virtue Project" in a scholarly journal (Politics & Life Sciences, 2010). The lay version of this became Miranda Wrongs. Beyond the fact that there are no morality genes, the obvious other question is, whose morality?

Dale Carrico said...

whose morality?

You can say that again!

Athena Andreadis said...

As for the science portion, here's a quote from my academic article: "The analysis of the Genetic Virtue Project is like // preparing a crewed expedition to Mars based on the Ptolemaic view of the universe."