Changing Memory

Memory is a remarkable quality in anyone's life. When we look back on the past we can see birthdays, friendships, inside jokes, sadness, laughs, little snapshots of things that have happened in our lives. Some of these have become vague, while others have remained crisp and clear, almost seeming immune to the sands of time...or so we may think.

We looked at an article some time ago and it was all about how human memory is actually ridiculously inaccurate. The human brain is not a machine and we only truly perceive everything through electrical impulses (from various senses) that our brain interprets. The problem is that these same processes are created through imagination as well. What this means is that it becomes remarkably easy to manipulate memories. Researchers were able to convince subjects of memories such as hugging Bug Bunny in Disney World as a child with the right faked evidence (Bugs Bunny is a Warner Bros. character, would never be at Disney). As I said before, it also shows yet again how unrealistic it is in court to rely on eye-witness testimony.

Metaphor!

What would it be like to have perfect memory? Only one woman on Earth can answer that question and that is a subject known as AJ. She possesses the ability to remember precisely what happened on any given date of her life down to the smallest detail. It's a skill that has utterly baffled neurologists. She's lucky to have the perspective of it being a gift, however she admits it's difficult when you can remember terrible memories in vivid detail. How awful would it be to have the ability to play back some of the most hurtful moments of your life perfectly?

No, AJ is not an elephant.

If memories have the potential to be so unreliable, why do we even bother with them? It's because memories are a big part of who we are. As cool as it would be to remember everything in vivid detail for a few days, it wouldn't make you happy. Memories are meant to be the past, not the present. That said, being able to look back on memories is important because it can give you some standing about how you got to where you are today. If you took a high-paying corporate job for instance and realized after three years you had no happy family memories, it might be a wake-up call to make a change. We are the product of our past experiences.

The ability to erode memories is actually a survival instinct if you ask me. In fact, if I recall, the article stated that the mind will actually shape memories to benefit you more. Fantasize them up out of their reality. Anyways, forgetting. It's not because I believe all memories are inherently bad, not true at all. The fact that they do though is only more inspiration to create new ones. If a memory is something that isn't meant to linger, than we realize that the moment is infinitely more precious.

Never stop questioning.

Links!
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1738881&page=2 -AJ
http://discovermagazine.com/2006/apr/perfect-mem/ -AJ