Scientists claim they have discovered the brain mechanism responsible for susceptibility to group pressure — and a way to control it. Dr. Vasily Klucharev, the lead researcher, says, “People can try to reduce conformity in certain situations, especially when they know about negative consequences of group pressure such as criminal behavior, propaganda or aggressive marketing,” and suggests a drug that could accomplish this. Transhumanist Rachel Haywire finds this development “extremely inspiring to me as someone who views groupthink as the major problem with Humanity 1.0.”However, the article notes that “such drugs would be controversial … as they could be used by companies hoping to make their employees more reliable or to help control rebellious individuals.” I don’t know what the fuss is about — I, for one, can hardly think of a better way to encourage individualism than a mass program to chemically control peoples’ brains.
The real question why a paper with a sample size of 49 is taken seriously at all.