Right now, it’s a bad hack that involves putting the promoted post a the head of the line, date-stamp wise. So while dbl posted this question originally on the 5th, I “promoted” it today by changing the datestamp. In the future, I’ll do it properly under the hood with non-visible metadata and avoid the timewarp business. Oh, for time!

Would I vaccinate someone against an illegal drug? In the mindhacker link, it specifies “your child” and I would definitely say “no” if we are talking about vaccinating as a prophylactic, because a) I have no reason to believe that my (imaginary) child will ever have a substance abuse problem, and b) even if there were a way of determining that he or she might be predisposed toward addiction, at the point that this might become an issue, there may be other options, or improvements to the original vaccine (which, btw, we have no way of knowing is completely harmless - it could prove to have long-term negative physical or mental side effects)… so basically, I wouldn’t cross that bridge ’til it reared up and bit me in the ass. If my child were already a victim of addiction, and other therapies had failed to save him/her, I would do it as a last ditch effort if I felt his or her life was in danger.

For myself? No, because I’ve already met and escaped those demons - except, possibly alcohol - but even then, “no” because I’m capable of giving it up on my own.

Now, the more interesting question is whether the legal system should ever have the right to administer such a vaccine in the case of multiple offenders who pose a threat to themselves and others as a result of their addictions - and that’s a pretty thorny problem, better left to more subtle minds than mine. I can imagine scenarios in which serious/repeat offenders are offered a choice between having the vaccine in lieu of an extended prison sentence - an idea that seems to offer many benefits for a variety of problems, including overpopulation in prisons. But it’s not at all difficult to imagine how such a system could be abused, and any scheme of state-mandated physical or psychological modification should be viewed with the greatest suspicion.

I personally would, I think. I don’t like the idea of something else controlling me that completely and I’d want to eliminate all risk of succumbign to that.