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No more fear....
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by
 
on 2005-12-04 12:35:34 (edited 2005-12-04 13:36:23)
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Scientists experimented on mice by skimming off some of their genes and somehow managed to "mask" the fear from mice, now imagine how that works on us.... heres an article= http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5018060   |
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Re: No more fear....
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by
on 2005-12-04 13:34:00 |
They did not "take off the fear", they reduced the mouse's ability to RESPOND properly to fear-inducing experiences. Yes, altering stathmin levels in humans could prove useful in treating anxiety disorders, but it does not "remove" fear. Do anti-depressants "remove" depression? NO! They mask it. Take away the drug, the depression comes back. Take away the stathmin re-uptake stimulant, and the person/rat becomes fearful again. 
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Re: No more fear....
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by
on 2005-12-04 13:35:25 |
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jeez dont have to be so rough about it XD ok ok ill edit it.... |
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Re: No more fear....
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by
on 2005-12-04 16:52:59 (edited 2005-12-04 16:53:53)
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was i being rough? i was being critical of the media's careless over-generalization, no you personally. i assumed you brought up the topic for it to be discussed...
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Re: No more fear....
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by
on 2005-12-04 18:41:36 |
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touche ^_^ (even though i do not know what that means...) |
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Re: No more fear....
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Wow..... Scientist have figured out how to control the levels of human emotion. How will they play god next?
Wise Man says: "Take a dog off its leash and it will wander."
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Re: No more fear....
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by
on 2005-12-11 16:37:10 |
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Engineer: what do you define as "playing god"? ever since the invention of pain killers scientists have been manipulating our brain's perception on a chemical level, or as you put it "controlling the levels of human emotion". when you eat food, you change your blood sugar, which changes your mood. when you watch TV, your brain is stimulated by images to produce feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, etc. Buddhist monks practice meditation that alters their brain's electrical activity more than any modern medicine. Is that playing god?
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Re: No more fear....
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Humans are the only creatures that feel the need to create their own environments, and control their surroundings. It is not necessarily "playing god", but feeding our insatiable urge to be in control. Not like that is a bad thing, I'm sure these technologies will help many people. "Play god" is usually just a phrase used to dramatize any advancement in environment manipulation, anything as mundane as pastuerized milk to pain-killers.
"Death destroys a man, the idea of death saves him." E.M Forster
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Re: No more fear....
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if i have no fear.... i would make a rebellion army with the same genes as mine and rebel against the world.  |
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Re: No more fear....
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by
on 2005-12-12 09:17:06 (edited 2005-12-12 09:18:14)
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@Kisuke: a bird who builds a nest is "creating its own environment", right? @Shigeki: sounds like a plan!
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Re: No more fear....
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Err...you are taking "environment" too liberally. Perhaps I phrased it poorly. I don't mean physically, per se, but our mental surroundings. If we are distressed, we ususally have some type of compensation or consequence for it. If we are in pain, we take some measure to either stop or get rid of the ailment. Other animals don't have the mental capacity of suffering we humans do. Suffering being defined not only as pain, but mental pain. For example, a person to be executed is not feeling physical pain before he is killed, but feels the pain in anticipation. A line backer injured on the field may feel the physical pain of his injury, but he probably feels the mental distress of the realization that he may never play again. Humans are the only animals with the capacity for suffering, and as a result, we manipulate our environment, whether it be physical or mental surroundings, to alleviate our distress.
"Death destroys a man, the idea of death saves him." E.M Forster
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Re: No more fear....
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by Rukia_chan
on 2005-12-14 02:28:50
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Hey.... being fearless is cool...well..at least i think so...I mean think about all the fearless people u can create, better army and better stuntmans..hehehe, but then horror movies won't thrill us anymore and that ain't fun.. |
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Re: No more fear....
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In my opinion a life without fear would be a very dull one indeed. No roller coaster would excite you, no movies could scare you, some one could pull a gun on you and you would feel terror. People would do all kinds of crazy and foolish things if they were fearless. Fear keeps society in check alot of times. Although on the other hand fear is also a tool of government. Im not saying mine in particular, just government on a whole. People in power use fear to control the people. If, for example, the United States government tells everyone that their are terrorists around every corner it can scare people into allowing them to monitor all email, snail mail, and eventually phone conversations. Fear is a balancing act in nature and given the choice I would not live without it.  |
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Re: No more fear....
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by Aoi Azzura
on 2005-12-22 18:57:46
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Okay, may be it's not really playing God, but eliminating our sense of fear? What good does it do? Fear is our natural way to sense danger. Life is interesting because of it. To overcome fear we must fight it. Even animals have fear. We'll be a living vegetable without it. Fear is not a curse. It's a gift. 
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Re: No more fear....
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| Fear is a natural thing to us. It's a something that balance the world, like if there is evil there is a good one (holy), a positive and negative, it is a one of the key to learn something. Example, without fear, we wont know that there is courage.. |