Maybe our memories aren't under our direct control, but certain types of alterations of our brain will affect our memories. Since, given current technology, the procedures available for altering our brain (brain surgery, brain injury, drug abuse) are not very precise in their effect on memories, I wouldn't recommend them . . .

Many philosophers have held that the only thing that is bad in itself is pain. Nothing else can count as bad except to the extent that it gives rise to pain. But I wonder whether your suggestion (if I’m understanding it correctly) is closer to the truth. It’s not pain itself that is harmful; rather, when our bodies and minds are functioning properly, pain serves as a mechanism by which we are alerted to genuinely harmful conditions. Pain is, as it were, an alarm system that alerts us to the presence of harm, but does not itself constitute harm. To think otherwise is to mistake the menu for the meal. In fact, one might argue, in the ordinary case, the occurrence of pain is beneficial– it alerts us to genuine harm and makes it difficult for us to do anything else until we attend to and eliminate that harm. However, in some circumstances, our alarm system can get out of wack (as, for example, in the case of depression) and it can alert us to problems that don’t exist and prevent us from doing things...