I鈥檝e spent three decades learning how to alter people鈥檚 memories. I鈥檝e even gone so far as planting entirely false memories into the minds of ordinary people 鈥� memories such as being lost in a shopping mall, cutting your hand on broken glass or even witnessing demonic possession as a child, all planted through the power of suggestion.
Psychological scientists have learned so much about planting false memories that some say we almost have recipes for doing so. But we haven鈥檛 seen anything yet. Over the next 50 years we will further master the ability to create false memories. We will learn more about who is most susceptible and what works with what kind of people. The most potent recipes may involve pharmaceuticals that we are on the brink of discovering.
In 2048, a descendant of George Orwell will write 2084, a book about a totalitarian society in need of control. When we have mastered the false memory recipes, we will need to worry about who controls them. What brakes should be imposed on police, lawyers, advertisers? More than ever, we鈥檒l need to constantly keep in mind that memory, like liberty, is a fragile thing.
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