The erasure of memories through pharmaceuticals is upon us and has been reported with some concern. Will expunging traumatic memory alter a person fundamentally or did the trauma already do the trick? Thorny questions about the nature of identity abound. An excerpt from “The Forgetting Pill Erases Painful Memories Forever,” Jonah Lehrer’s new report on the topic for Wired:

“This new model of memory isn’t just a theory—neuroscientists actually have a molecular explanation of how and why memories change. In fact, their definition of memory has broadened to encompass not only the cliché cinematic scenes from childhood but also the persisting mental loops of illnesses like PTSD and addiction—and even pain disorders like neuropathy. Unlike most brain research, the field of memory has actually developed simpler explanations. Whenever the brain wants to retain something, it relies on just a handful of chemicals. Even more startling, an equally small family of compounds could turn out to be a universal eraser of history, a pill that we could take whenever we wanted to forget anything.

And researchers have found one of these compounds.

In the very near future, the act of remembering will become a choice.”