Memory is something I have taken for granted, as I’m sure a vast majority of the world’s population has done as well. On a day-to-day basis, I don’t think about what it would be like not to remember my childhood, or what I ate for breakfast, or where I went on vacation last year. Sure, sometimes certain memories slip my mind, but for the most part, I can recall the events that have transpired in my life.
After reading about the amnesiac EP in Moonwalking with Einstein, it made me ponder what life would be like if my hippocampus had been eaten away by disease while the rest of my brain stayed intact. It sounds like an absolute nightmare, and one that you don’t even know you’re experiencing.
Our memories are often what shape our character, in my opinion. It’s often said that it’s our experiences that mold who we are…but without remembering our life experiences, would they even matter? Without our memoires of those experiences, what or who would we be? I am trying to imagine what my character would be like if I couldn't remember losing my mother to cancer or if I couldn't remember playing the violin. My character might be quite different if I couldn't remember 9/11, or the way I could see the New York skyline from the second floor of my house where I grew up in New Jersey.
I am also fascinated with the idea that our brains already know everything, we just haven't found a way of remembering or accessing the information yet. What if that is true? What if there is a way of unlocking our brains to the vast stores of information it very well could contain, unbeknownst to us (or unbeknownst to our memory). To me, this is also related to the character in Foer's book Daniel and other "savants" - are they tapping into those previously untapped memories?
If we all know the same things, and if some way we could all unlock that knowledge, would our personalities still remain unique and individual, or would they merge into one giant, collective personality? I don't know. I would like to think that we would still each be different, but it's hard to say.
In Plato's Meno, Socrates says, "And if the truth of all things always existed in the soul, then the soul is immortal. Wherefore be of good cheer, and try to recollect what you do not know, or rather what you do not remember."
Are we just immortals waiting for the veil to be lifted?
If we all know the same things, and if some way we could all unlock that knowledge, would our personalities still remain unique and individual, or would they merge into one giant, collective personality? I don't know. I would like to think that we would still each be different, but it's hard to say.
In Plato's Meno, Socrates says, "And if the truth of all things always existed in the soul, then the soul is immortal. Wherefore be of good cheer, and try to recollect what you do not know, or rather what you do not remember."
Are we just immortals waiting for the veil to be lifted?
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