(2 of 2)
Memory is thus the imprinting of a code on RNA molecules in millions of cells, like punch holes in a set of IBM cards. For example, an impulse caused by the ear's hearing "concert A" scurries from cell to cell until it finds those containing RNA molecules already keyed to respond to that note, and it is this chemical response that constitutes recognition of the note. The average human brain has ten billion neurons, so the number of possible permutations is astronomical. Further, said Dr. Hyden, this theory explains why neurologists have been unable to find precise centers in the brain for most higher mental functions: through its content of many imprinted molecules, each neuron may participate simultaneously in many neuronal networks—and therefore in many memories and complex thoughts.
Brainwasher on Tap. The next thing was to learn whether mental function can be chemically controlled. It can, said Dr. Hyden. Small doses of a new synthetic substance called tricyano-amino-propene ("triap") caused drastic changes in neuronal RNA and proteins in animals—and, according to preliminary studies, in man.
"There is now evidence," said Hyden, "to prove that the RNA and enzyme changes are followed by an increased suggestibility in man. A defined change of functionally important substances in the brain could be used for conditioning a whole population." A police state government, he theorizes, could add such substances to tap water and brainwash the whole population at once.
Dr. Hyden's picture of the possibilities was not all dark. Chemical countermeasures to reverse the brainwashing are "not difficult to imagine," he said. And where mental disease can be shown (as a few uncommon forms have been) to result from a metabolic defect, the defect might be remedied by chemical stimulation of the neurons.