Lobotomizing Logics: A Critique of Memory Sports and the Business of Mapping the Mind

Abstract

In the penultimate stages of the sci-fi adventure film Flash Gordon (1980), Ming the Merciless attempts to erase the memory of brilliant scientist Dr Hans Zarkov using a kind of cognitive hoover. ‘We’re going to empty your memory as we might empty your pockets, doctor,’ growls General Kala, Ming’s ruthless assistant. Zarkov’s head is held steady with a steel clamp while a laser probes his memories and projects them onto a screen. Scenes from Zarkov’s former job, the death of his wife, his childhood and images of parents are all played back as they are being wiped. After the ordeal Zarkof is an automaton: a man without memories able, then, to service Ming’s hyper-galactic colonial ambitions, at least for a while …