Everything I Consume: Junkyard

I listened to an interesting old radio show today. It was an episode of X Minus One called Junkyard. If you want to check it out here's the link. Or you can read the script. I'll wait.

Who's got the power?
The power to read
Who answers the call
For friends in need?
Super Why! Super Why!
He's the guy he's…
Super Why!

Sorry, I can't get that freaking song out of my head. Welcome back. Anyway, the premise of this story is a spaceship lands on a barren planet (except for parts of an alien spaceship) and the crewmembers begin forgetting things, like how to turn on the engines. Gradually, they figure out a tower on the planet contains a "memory trap" which is sucking out their memories. The captain theorizes that these memory traps are what makes people forget things not just on the planet but everywhere in the universe. Since we are so far away from these memory traps we just forget our house keys or wallet every once in awhile instead or how to read or use an engine. The only way to get to the memory trap and reverse the flow is to get a crew member really, really drunk and have him go into the tower.

When did we stop believing that any problem at all (like occasional forgetfulness) could be solved by either science or drinking or both?