--- mirah@... wrote:

> > I think we would find the same for other forms of
> > supposedly alcohol induced behaviour, except from the obvious
> > debilitating effects like being unable to walk in a straight line and
> > so on.
>
> You are saying that alcohol (in quantity) affects a person's walk, but
> not his thoughts or feelings.
>
> What about Sodium Pentothal?

Alcohol can affect a person's ability to think. He can also interpret it as
causing certain thoughts, but he can change that interpretation. For
example, alcoholics can stop drinking heavily because they no longer
interpret drinking alcohol as the most rewarding thing they can do.

I said before that chemicals can induce sensations that a person interprets
such that he acts differently. One implication of this is that a person can
change their reaction to a drug by changing their interpretation of the
resulting sensations.

Sodium Pentothal is a general anaesthetic and a barbiturate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_thiopental

Apparently it makes thinking more difficult and so can be useful when
you're trying to bully somebody into giving up information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_serum

The fact that is often does not work is because different people have
different interpretations of what is going on when they take it IMO. Some
people are weak, confused or feel guilty enough to start with that when
they get confused they give up information, others are not. That is, at any
rate, my best guess.

Alan



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