According to Stan Berkowitz: "The inspiration for the anti-fear gas was mostly desperation. The fear gas story had already been told, and I couldn't think of an interesting way of retelling it. Around that time, it occurred to me that much of what keeps society together is fear. Fear of authority, fear of reprisals if we act on all our impulses. Take away all that fear, and society would crumble (except, of course, for the people who are motivated purely by altruism and community spirit -- all two or three of them)."