Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-25555436-20150726193923/@comment-80.192.105.94-20150727224342

Well then, that may work. Now I'm not entirely sure how Grimm sense fear per se, it may be through the classical effects of raised heart rate, perspiration etc. This is a poor method at best however and wouldn't explain the detection of sadness very well. I had the view it was some crazy metaphysics going on. And if they can sense fear and other negative emotions, then presumably they can sense their absence as well. This could cause suspicion amongst the more intelligent Grimm as to the (relatively) sudden drop in normal emotions - a black hole that stands out, so to speak. This would still lessen Grimm attacks however, in that regard. So I'm not sure if artificially modifying emotions would effect them in that regard. But we don't really know enough to make any valid claims, so for now I'd say "I suppose so".

Keeping it quiet however, is a lot more problematic. It will become obvious when people are completely unfazed by things they used to be, especially en masse. And if the government clamps down on efforts to find out why, then that's just going to backfire.

Any other effects...risk of survival instincts being harmed - no reason to fear something may cause an underestimation of threat level. But this would only potentially be a problem for soldiers in the field, who should be disciplined to take care of this.

So we end up with a disturbingly happy society, where you can see your friend eaten alive and yet keep on smiling. The effects on social interaction, personal actions and society itself could be huge - problems may not be addressed due a reduced "feeling" of those problems - actions promoted by guilt, sadness, anxiety cease to exist and thus bringing the potential consequences. But that isn't the point of the exercise in and of itself.

And even if you did know, you may not even be able to get paranoid - you can't fear because we've made sure your fear is overruled.

However, probabilities may mean the Grimm may end up just coming across these settlements anyway if there are enough of them, which I would presume there are to justify holding up in a megapolis. So for now, perhaps just stick to mass extermination...which should be all the easier in a modern industrialised society. If medieval armies could survive with nought but swords and magic powder, I'm sure high-altitude aircraft with radar guided bombs could do even better. And they have the power of Skype too.