Pop, to be a good human being

Bye bye Batman. This isn't Gotham city but if it was, the winged superhero might find himself without a job if morality-altering drugs become a reality. British scientists say we are getting there soon. But with no road rage, sexual misdemeanours, and a bit of lying, wouldn't the world be an utterly boring place?

Nou00a0sexism, racism or homophobia. No corruption. No need for Batman, Superman, Spiderman or any other superhero. And in a world without crime and wrongdoing, there'd be no need for prisons either, because anyone displaying deviant tendencies would be fed a puree of morality-altering drugs that would turn them from thieving liars into simpering altruistic do-gooders.



Sounds like a plan? It might actually happen, if British researchers working on morality-altering drugs have their way. Hold on, we are as shocked as you are.

Our surprise is a product of a chapter in Enhancing Human Capabilities, a book that chronicles the absolute latest scientific developments in human enhancement. The chapter on moral enhancement has co-author Dr Tom Douglas discuss how pharmacologically-induced goodness is a real possibility, not just the stuff of Steven Spielberg movies.

Does that mean we'll get clean politicians and no 2G scams? That we wouldn't mind.

Prozac does it too
"It raises more questions than it answers," is Mumbai psychiatrist Dr Parul Tank's bewildered response to our question on the subject. Consultant with Fortis and Asian Heart Hospital, Tank believes morality-altering drugs are not in any way a subject of research in India, at least for the moment. "It's very interesting but such drug research and development, if any, must be in a nascent stage," she says.

British researchers and Douglas quote the examples of drugs like Prozac and Oxytocin, already available in the market that intervene in biological processes to create more empathy and help reduce aggressive tendencies. In an interview to a UK newspaper, Dr Douglas says that drugs that affect moral behaviour already exist, but we tend not to think of them in that way.

Oxytocin, also known as the 'love hormone' is known to increase feelings of social bonding and lower anxiety, while Prozac lowers aggression and bitterness against environment, thereby making people more agreeable. What is that if not ethic-altering, he asks, adding that Oxytocin (a hormone released by women primarily while breast feeding) can already be inhaled through a nasal spray in small doses, upon prescription.

Tank is not convinced. "Prozac and anti-depressants are drugs that alter impulsiveness. They reduce the urge to behave aggressively, and calm you down. They can't turn you into a moral person."

Inducing ethics into an individual through medication raises several questions, she points out. "Does it mean a person's genetic composition can be altered? Morality is a bio-psycho-social code of conduct. Biology is what you are born with, while psycho- and socio- are what your upbringing, surroundings and circumstances hand you. It is very complicated. For example, why is it that some people smoke in a group but only a few get addicted? Two people with the same biological composition may react differently to the same negative stimuli because of a different sociological component involved. A morality-inducing drug would have to take into account all of this."

Morals mean nothing; I steal to feed
Like her, petty 'offenders' too are not sure about the value or need for such a drug, specially when the definition of good, right and wrong is subjective. Mumbai resident and male sex worker Noorie (name changed), for instance, finds the whole theory preposterous. "I don't know how you define morality. I don't believe that any drug can alter a person's character," he says. "I am happy with my life and happy with my partner, so I don't need to take any drug. I am an upfront person -- I don't lie and I am honest with my partner. That makes me a man of good values," is his firm declaration. This, coming from someone in a much-maligned profession that often throws up a debate on values.

Noorie has a friend in a small-time Bandra crook we quizzed. The young man with eight robberies under his belt and a case registered against him, is on the same page. "I don't think a drug can control a person's moral response. It's circumstances that are the cause of problems. I have indulged in such acts because of circumstances. Morals have nothing to do with my actions. A person is forced to commit a crime. He doesn't do it of free will. I do what I do to look after my family. Morals fly out of the windown when you have mouths to feed," is his honest response.

Manufactured morals
And even if goodness could be induced by a pill, would it be of any value? "Also, how long would its efffect last?" asks Tank. "Like any other medicine, this too would have to be taken in prescribed doses at appropriate times to have any sustained impact."

Say for instance, such a drug were to be administered to a volte-face-doing Shahid Afridi, or A Raja. Would they agree to take it in the first place, and how would it alter the circumstances around them? The question of manufactured morals begs these questions.

Llewelyn D'Mello, creative head at a national radio station, is perplexed at the idea. "Doesn't that take all the fun out of being human? If everyone is all good, what is the point to life? What will parents teach their children and what will kids have left to learn?"

And here's the big question. If everyone was good thanks to the pills they popped, and one person decided to stop taking his dose, would that throw the moral cosmos out of gear?

Movie morality

Behave morally, I order you to!
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess's acclaimed novel about a delinquent teen Alex in a British society torn apart by vice, asks the question: can ethics and morality be created and induced? Alex is subjected to a series of experimental aversion therapy exercises formulated by the government to solve the crime problem. Alex is shown a series of gruesome, violent images of crime, pain and hurt in a bid to create an aversion to that kind of behaviour. Burgess also pits free will against human choice by asking the question: is it morally right to force someone to behave in a morally upright manner?u00a0 The 1962 novel was adapted into a critically-acclaimed film of the same name by director Stanley Kubrick in 1971.