wickey@convex.UUCP (05/20/87)
In the latest Scientific American there's an article about how the brain
stores memories, my first thought was "Oh boy!" but as I started reading I
became very uneasy about the techniques used to gather this data. By
destroying certain parts of a monkey's brain, through surgery or drugs, the
authors attempt to determine the effect on the monkey's ability to remember
and create new memories. I've probably become a little more sensitive to this
issue since the recent discussion in misc.headlines on animal "rights".
Even though I'm sure some of the knowledge gained by these procedures will
benefit some humans, I can't help but wonder about the kind of people which
would mutilate a creature in such a manner. These kinds of techniques are
particularly questionable if you buy the argument that the difference between
a human and a monkey is a difference of degree, not kind.
Let me add here that I grew up on a farm and participated in raising and
slaughtering animals for food and see nothing wrong with that. I wish I had
a more positive statement to make about resolving this type of situation or
a better method for gathering information on various brain functions but all
I have is a vague feeling that these kinds of experiments are not "good".
Faron Wickey {allegra, ihnp4, uiucdcs, sun}!convex!wickey
-If you have any answers we'll be glad
to furnish complete and thorough questions.