Fabellectomy

Fabellectomy is a fictional or hypothetical medical procedure described in speculative fiction and theoretical discourse, intended to remove fables—narrative beliefs or mythic schemas—from a person’s cognitive repertoire. The term combines “fable” with the surgical suffix “-ectomy,” signaling the removal of a narrative element rather than a physical organ.

In imagined contexts, fabellectomy is presented as a way to alter or erase embedded stories that shape identity, moral outlooks, or cultural memory. Proponents in such works may describe using advanced neuromodulation, precise neural targeting, or computational rewriting of memory traces to diminish or eliminate specific fables. Because the concept is fictional, there are no real-world protocols, devices, or clinical outcomes associated with it.

Actual medicine does not recognize fabellectomy as a legitimate intervention. There are no approved procedures, regulatory guidelines, or evidence base for removing stories or narrative beliefs from the brain. Discussions of fabellectomy in nonfiction frameworks are typically used to explore questions about memory, autonomy, and the ethics of narrative control rather than to propose feasible clinical options.

Ethical considerations in fictional treatments of this kind focus on consent, identity, cultural heritage, potential misuse for propaganda or coercive control, and the unintended consequences of erasing parts of a person’s life story. Debates often hinge on the limits of altering personal memory and belief, and the balance between healing and autonomy.

See also memory erasure, neuromodulation, cognitive liberty, narrative therapy.