Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about the use of torture to extract information from suspected terrorists. We, as humans, have been torturing each other for thousands of years, with no really new developments in the practice since we first began. Whatever its virtues for other purposes, as a means of obtaining accurate information, it is demeaning to both the torturer and the victim, and it is not reliable.
Still, we need information, and I suggest that we apply a pharmacological approach to the problem. I am thinking of the so-called “truth serum,” which used to be mentioned in popular fiction. If we do not have such a thing, why not? We already have psychotropic medications which work on the mind.
Such a method need not be unpleasant. When my daughter was delivered by Caesarean section, her mother was given an intravenous drug. Before she went under, she cheerfully related everything that popped into her head.
If we were to apply the same creativity to developing a truth serum as we have done to inventing euphemisms for “torture” and “prisoner,” then our interrogation sessions would be more productive, and Guantanamo would be a much happier place.
Charles DeBruler
Everett
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