Science Closes in on “Memory Erasing” Pill

…and sets off heated debate about what this means for human identity. Meanwhile, we make a list of what we'll erase the second this stuff gets FDA approval.

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet have their memory slate wiped clean so they can relive their terrible trainwreck of a relationship all over again (romantic!). But what if you could do this in real life?

Thanks to a group of scientists at Amsterdam University, you just might be able to -- according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, they've hit on a drug that interferes with "how the brain makes and remakes memories of frightening events," and early testing on humans shows promise.

This is big news for individuals who live with post-traumatic stress syndrome, but it still raises all sorts of questions. What happens to our identity without sad memories? How can people learn from their mistakes if they don't remember them? Will The Matrix sue for copyright infringement? But perhaps the biggest question of all: how long until we can get our hands on this stuff?

Here's a partial list of memories we'd erase: 2Girls1Cup, the "after" photo of Sheyla Hershey's 38KKK-cup breasts, the end of Old Yeller, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Harrison Ford, do you need money? Seriously, we'll take a collection), Jackass (all seasons, plus the movies), Rock of Love, Celebrity Rehab, the Bush presidency, and a documentary we once saw about how hot dogs are made. And that's just on Day One.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Trailer
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