Memory Alpha
Sorry, I had something shocking happen to me on Friday and I have been trying to figure out how to put it into words. So I figured it would be best to break it down over a few blogs to give me time to collect my thoughts. (and write it late at night when I am too tired to focus. okay, that is just a bonus)
I do not know how your memory works. I know how I process my memories, but I do not know if that the same holds true for others. I like to think everyone is just like me - that is what I've always been told. "Assume everyone is just like you and you will get along just fine in this world." But, I do not know that I can assume that any more, if I ever even did.
I consider memory to be flexible. If a group of people are gathered somewhere and something happens, everyone there will give you a different account of the events. Yet, they all believe their memories to be true. Why is that? It can be proven time and again that what they remember about any event is probably wrong, but they still trust their memories. So, why not change your memories? Why leave them as static places in your mind? You do not remember anything accurately anyway, so why not make your memories reflect the way you want things to have been?
I remember back in 8th grade, a friend was talking with his girlfriend and he called her "Peanut Butter." She asked why, and he said because she was easy to spread. And they all laughed. At the time, I didn't get the joke, but I tagged it for later. If I go to a lecture and do not understand some of the concepts or some of the key words, I tag that memory. Then, later on in life, when I understand the basis of the joke, or learn the key word to a lecture, I play the memory back to see if it makes sense. I revise my memories with knowledge that I gained. I can then laugh at the joke, or make sense of the rest of the lecture.
I have a lot of tagged memories. There are many things I didn't understand about the human world. But after Friday, a lot of them now make sense to me. And the results saddened me.
Well, you are probably reading the blog posts in reverse order, so you probably already know what happened, even though I haven't written it at this time. (ideally more people will read this well after I wrote it than are reading it real time, so the likely reader is one from much further in the future, probabilistically) This concludes part one: I had to update my memories to a better understanding. (and all memories are Alpha quality)
The Edward
2 comments:
My memory is like a sieve. If it doesn't have meaning (and my brain apparently decides what is meaningful and what isn't, I'm certainly not in charge) I forget it. I do "tag" like you do, but try to write it down coz, again, I'm, like, with the forgetfulness. Also, I did a bad thing in middle school and blabbed a friend's secret to another friend. So now, when anyone tells me, "don't tell anyone", I promptly forget what they have told me by the next day. My friend Kate just tells me "Cork" and I instantly know to forget. It makes lying so much easier!
I used to have a bad memory up until High School. I saw an ad in the back of a magazine for a book that claimed it would release ones hidden photographic memory. $10 and a few weeks later, a 10 page pamphlet arrived. The first nine pages were random techniques I had read before (association, locality, etc), but on the final page, he revealed his method: you were there. That was it. And that has worked for me better than any of the other methods. I just realized from that one idea that he was right, I was there for what I want to remember. So, if I just recreate that event in my mind, that information which I seek will be there as well. So, to tag a memory, I just "take a snapshot" of everything at that moment, then revisit it later. It worked for me! (Just like everyone know where they were during the space shuttle disaster, etc.)
That is cool that you have distilled that process down to a key word! I know what you mean, if you remember too much but do not remember that you are not supposed to say anything about a certain thing, that can be very bad. For me, I would want a way to remember it, but also associate that memory with a big, red "Say Nothing" flag.
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