‘We can implant entirely false memories’ is an intriguing review of the research of Elizabeth Loftus. Ideas about memory have always intrigued me.
I’ve been thinking about memory lately because i’m adamently opposed to the concept of trails put forward by Vannevar Bush in “As We May Think.” I know that the construction of our past is not always the same as the actual reality, but i prefer it to the realistic portrayal of experience. Personally, i’m quite happy to not have easy access to the replay of mistakes made. I realize that the memories that i hold are not only the actual events, but the embellishment of the good and the dismissal of the bad. I have a tendency to store all of these details and emotions around joyful activities, while i conveniently forget much beyond the facts of negative ones. I tend to consider this a good thing, although it can cause problems when i cannot stay mad at someone, even when i should for my own sake. But, it always pains me to interact with people who only hold on to the bad.
This research makes me think crazy thoughts. If you can implant a memory, can you also eliminate memories? For example, what would it mean if someone conveniently forgot that they were abused. Would this be a relief? In what ways are memories a protective force vs. a limiting force?
Sadly, this all comes down to a philosophical debate about what is best for an individual and society. Do we believe in constructing ‘happiness’ or ‘truth’? And what on earth does either one mean?
“Do we believe in constructing ‘happiness’ or ‘truth’? And what on earth does either one mean?”
Sweetie… you gotta offer us vodka if you want the answers to those questions. 🙂
The other interesting upshot of this is that our personalities are, at least partially, defined by these memories. So, if I forget the last two jobs I might have worked at, and all the corresponding skills (at least outwardly), how would people treat me? And would that feedback loop then move my personality in other directions?
This concept can also be used for good (eliminating bad experiences which may lead to things like ‘math anxiety’) or bad (repressing important lessons to prevent certain behaviors…as in maybe crusading against an ill because of the loss of a loved one or family member).
Our brains are the new horizon of the next century, and we’re just arriving on the shores of this glorious New World.
there is a nice short story by italo calvino written for ibm’s 50th or somesuch, it is in numbers in the dark, and it has some interesting implications for the social system behind computerized world memory, it is probably worth reading with ‘as we may think’
bush’s trails were theoretical. pristine. they carved crisp navigable lines through a high-fidelity dataset. but they were the platonic form of real trails — contemporary and imminent real-world phenomena that are much more messy, organic, heterogenous.
i’m surprised you’re so against trails. i can understand being against perfect trails, but real trails are and will be imperfect. real trails ARE the stories we create about our past, in whatever medium is relevant or chosen.
your blog is a trail.
blogs are probably the most robust instance of trails today.
when trail creation is too automated, too hi-fi, too out of human hands, then it’s time to worry. even consumer profiling is sloppy, tho. not that we shouldn’t worry about it, but that it’s an automated trail that is as inaccurate, interpreted, and interpretable as a human-created one. both blogs and consumer profiles have pros and cons. how can we come flat out adamantly against one or the other? i find it difficult to be that binary.
Note: not opposed to some trails (i still keep a diary, y’know). I’m opposed to Bush’s notion of trails. I don’t want a record of every path i’ve ever taken. My blog is a publicly constructed trail. You (of all people) know that not all of danah is on this blog.
indeed. and you balance the private and bloglic (publog? sounds like an imbibery journal) damned well. i’m just saying that i don’t forsee bush’s trails ever happening, in the same sense that platonic forms cannot exist. i believe the record will always be infused with noise, in large part due to human-system interaction/intervention. bring the noise. (how uncynical of me.)
If you can implant a memory, can you also eliminate memories? For example, what would it mean if someone conveniently forgot that they were abused. Would this be a relief? In what ways are memories a protective force vs. a limiting force?
welll..
traumatic memory sure is tenacious. evolution doesn’t want us to forget our badstuff.
there are two [at least two] interesting implicit tensions in what you’ve put forward: one is the contest between freedom for and freedom from, and the other is the struggle for supremacy among the possible meanings of “conveniently.”