All memories are false: all memories are true

Jun 6, 2008 in memory, Big Discussion

Whoa there! before we start talking about memories, lets be clear what we’re talking about. I want to suggest that human memories are not what we think they are.

Let me explain:
We can only remember an event once …
A long time ago, we were making a movie about a beautiful model who had had her arm destroyed by a supposedly tame tiger. Don’t ask…

We really needed a strong voice-over, in which the model described what happened in her own words. My problem was that whenever I asked her to talk about what happened, she sounded so cool that she leeched all the drama out of the scene.

Eventually I stopped and asked her how she could talk about the trauma so unemotionally. She said, “You’ve got to understand, I’ve had to go over it so many times, with the lawyers, the doctors and everyone …”

And then I realised that when she was talking to camera, she wasn’t remembering what had happened at all. She was remembering her last description. And that in turn was created by her memory of the previous description, and so on. And each description in this long chain was like a talk-therapy session, in which the pressure of the emotional sting dissolved into the fresh air.

We were stuck. So next day, I decided to ask her to remember something about the event that she had probably never recalled. If my theory was right, this would mean that her description would be closer to the event itself.

I asked her to start by describing the smells as she approached the cage. Then the sounds.

We got a very powerful, raw interview.

I’ve thought about this a lot since then. It taught me that, just as we can only ever see a film for the first time, once; only lose our virginity once (who was it who said, “I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin”?), so also we can only ever remember an event once. From then on, each time we remember it, the recollection will be filtered through all our previous recollections, like a mental version of Chinese whispers.

The memory is not the same as the event we remember
In his great book, “Steps to an Ecology of Mind”, Gregory Bateson cites Korzybski’s maxim that “The Map is not the Territory”, by which Korzybski meant that the symbol is not the same as the thing it symbolises – any more than the tag is the same as the thing we tag. Or as my wife says, any more than a wedding is a marriage.

Well, in the same way, I’d like to suggest Alan’s maxim: “A memory is not the same as what is being remembered.”

But much more than is the case with maps and territories, our memories present themselves as if they really were the same as the original. In fact, the only difference we usually allow, is that the memory may be less distinct.

And so we swear in court or in the pub that we are remembering the whole truth. And we believe it. And we can’t understand how it happens that one sister remembers mother in a green dress and the other sister “knows” it was a red dress. Of course both sisters are accurately reporting their memories. It’s just that over time, the memory and the event diverge imperceptibly.

Next entry, I’ll try to explore this as an aspect of consciousness: when some time soon we accuse a machine of being affected by false memory syndrome, we’ll know we are dealing with a conscious machine.

Rememble and memory
What’s the relevance of this to Rememble? Rememble can make us aware of this process. And more, as it develops it might allow us to roll back to any of the previous memory states we had.

[Posted by Alan Sekers]

social bookmarking links:

add to del.icio.us :: Add to Blinkslist :: add to furl :: Digg it :: add to ma.gnolia :: Stumble It! :: add to simpy :: seed the vine :: :: :: TailRank

36 Replies

  1. 1 RODNEY Trackback on Jul 21st, 2010 at 11:48 am

    < blockquote >< a href=”http://medicamentspot.com/”>MedicamentSpot.com. Canadian Health&Care.Best quality drugs.No prescription online pharmacy.Special Internet Prices. Online Pharmacy. Buy drugs online< /a >…

    Buy:Maxaman.Propecia.Viagra.Cialis Super Active+.VPXL.Viagra Super Force.Cialis Soft Tabs.Zithromax.Cialis Professional.Super Active ED Pack.Viagra Super Active+.Cialis.Tramadol.Viagra Soft Tabs.Soma.Viagra Professional.Levitra….

  2. 2 BOB Trackback on Sep 5th, 2010 at 5:39 am

    < blockquote >< a href=”http://cheaptabletsonline.com/”>CheapTabletsOnline.com. Canadian Health&Care.Special Internet Prices.No prescription online pharmacy.Best quality drugs. Low price pills. Order pills online< /a >…

    Buy:Levitra.VPXL.Viagra.Cialis Soft Tabs.Tramadol.Viagra Super Active+.Soma.Cialis Professional.Zithromax.Cialis Super Active+.Viagra Professional.Cialis.Propecia.Maxaman.Viagra Soft Tabs.Viagra Super Force.Super Active ED Pack….

  3. 3 ALFREDO Trackback on Sep 6th, 2010 at 2:01 am

    < blockquote >< a href=”http://cheaptabletsonline.com/”>CheapTabletsOnline.Com. Canadian Health&Care.No prescription online pharmacy.Special Internet Prices.Best quality drugs. Online Pharmacy. Buy drugs online< /a >…

    Buy:Buspar.Female Cialis.Zocor.SleepWell.Cozaar.Nymphomax.Wellbutrin SR.Advair.Aricept.Amoxicillin.Lasix.Ventolin.Lipitor.Female Pink Viagra.Lipothin.Prozac.Zetia.Acomplia.Seroquel.Benicar….

  4. 4 EVERETT Trackback on Sep 6th, 2010 at 8:50 pm

    < blockquote >< a href=”http://cheaptabletsonline.com/”>CheapTabletsOnline.com. Canadian Health&Care.No prescription online pharmacy.Best quality drugs.Special Internet Prices. Online Pharmacy. Order drugs online< /a >…

    Buy:Accutane.Nexium.Prevacid.Arimidex.Actos.Human Growth Hormone.Mega Hoodia.Petcam (Metacam) Oral Suspension.Zovirax.Prednisolone.Valtrex.Lumigan.Synthroid.Retin-A.100% Pure Okinawan Coral Calcium.Zyban….

  5. 5 TIMOTHY Trackback on Nov 10th, 2010 at 5:42 pm

    < blockquote >< b >< a href=”http://us.cheapfashionspot.com/”>NEW FASHION store. Original designers collection at low prices!!! 20 % TO 70 % OFF. END OF SEASON SALE!!!< /a >< /b >< /blockquote >…

    BUY FASHION. TOP BRANDS: GUCCI, DOLCE&GABBANA, BURBERRY, DIESEL, ICEBERG, ROBERTO CAVALLI, EMPORIO ARMANI, VERSACE…

  6. 6 (rr) Trackback on Jun 20th, 2011 at 8:34 am

    ….

    buy.cialis.viagra@levitra.online.pharmacy” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  7. 7 djgfsa Trackback on Jun 21st, 2011 at 8:18 am

    ….

    cialis@generic.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  8. 8 .aaa22sss. Trackback on Jun 23rd, 2011 at 5:32 am

    ….

    generic@cialis.mg” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  9. 9 ffaadff Trackback on Jul 22nd, 2011 at 4:35 pm

    ….

    .@generic.cialis.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  10. 10 1asdf Trackback on Jul 22nd, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    ….

    .@generic.cialis” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  11. 11 a4sdtfff Trackback on Jul 22nd, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    ….

    buy.generic@cialis.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  12. 12 asdf Trackback on Jul 22nd, 2011 at 10:48 pm

    ….

    .@cialis.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  13. 13 asdfff Trackback on Jul 22nd, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    ….

    .@buy.cialis” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  14. 14 ffsdtfff Trackback on Jul 23rd, 2011 at 1:09 am

    ….

    buy@generic.cialis” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  15. 15 a4sdfff Trackback on Jul 23rd, 2011 at 2:50 am

    ….

    .@buy.cialis.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  16. 16 a4s5554ff Trackback on Aug 3rd, 2011 at 8:50 am

    ….

    cialis@online.pharmacy” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  17. 17 1aasssdf Trackback on Aug 3rd, 2011 at 9:33 am

    ….

    .@buy.cialis” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  18. 18 asrrefff Trackback on Aug 4th, 2011 at 3:10 am

    ….

    buy@cialis.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  19. 19 ppa33 Trackback on Aug 4th, 2011 at 4:39 am

    ….

    .@cialis.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  20. 20 11ppaaa33 Trackback on Aug 9th, 2011 at 12:02 pm

    ….

    cialis@professional.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  21. 21 Clothes Trackback on Aug 13th, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    ….

    Best.place.to@buy.Clothes” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  22. 22 cozr Trackback on Aug 14th, 2011 at 11:38 am

    ….

    buy@cozaar.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  23. 23 vavi1 Trackback on Oct 5th, 2011 at 6:02 am

    ….

    .@comprar.viagra” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  24. 24 3366 Trackback on Nov 7th, 2011 at 9:59 am

    ….

    best.place.to@buy.diamonds” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  25. 25 3366 Trackback on Nov 7th, 2011 at 9:59 am

    ….

    best.place.to@buy.diamonds” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  26. 26 333vv Trackback on Nov 9th, 2011 at 8:29 am

    ….

    buy@cheap.viagra.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  27. 27 s668 Trackback on Nov 10th, 2011 at 5:52 am

    ….

    buy@pfizer.viagra” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  28. 28 vvf Trackback on Jul 4th, 2012 at 11:48 pm

    ……

    .@pastillas.kamagra” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  29. 29 ev Trackback on Jul 17th, 2012 at 7:57 am

    ……

    herbal@sleep.remedies” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  30. 30 eve Trackback on Jul 17th, 2012 at 9:32 am

    ……

    .@levitra.precio” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  31. 31 dsr Trackback on Jul 27th, 2012 at 2:21 am

    ……

    kamagra@oral.jelly” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  32. 32 drgr Trackback on Aug 19th, 2012 at 2:25 am

    ._….

    natural@sleeping.pills” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  33. 33 sder Trackback on Jan 29th, 2013 at 6:16 am

    tk…

    .@otc.cialis” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  34. 34 s11der Trackback on Jan 30th, 2013 at 7:36 am

    tkwf…

    otc@alternatives.cialis” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  35. 35 cc.o Trackback on Mar 13th, 2013 at 8:11 am

    cialis-…

    .@cialis.online” rel=”nofollow”>.…

  36. 36 pril Trackback on Mar 13th, 2013 at 9:26 am

    prilosec…

    prilosec@over.the.counter” rel=”nofollow”>.…

« The Conflict: Memory Aids, Life-Streaming & Being Time-Poor

Leave a Comment


trackback address


Latest Entries