I’ve always been quite fascinated with memory. I think, had I not pursued a degree in finance, I probably would’ve pursued a degree in psychology.
Our lives, everything that we know and think we know, are stored as memory. We live in continous moments, but each moment is merely an infinitely small unit of time. Everything else is memory. If I woke up tomorrow with someone else’s memory, I probably would just live that person’s life, not knowing that I had another one previously. I wonder if that’s ever happened before, if my current life is merely an inserted memory, and all of my friends and family and relationships and material goods were merely inserted into my life. Maybe there are secret memory agents that come to you at night, and change your memories, so you don’t remember certains things that can compromise… whatever it is that is compromisable.
Imagine if the government has this power. What if the red light thingie in Men in Black(I and.. II) is real. Well, I guess shock therapy kind of does the same thing… or lobotomies maybe. But what if memories can be inserted as well? What if you have a permanently depressed person, and then you artificially change that person’s memory so that he thinks he’s had a wonderful life? What if you were really bad at getting girls, and someone gave you the memory of that bald guy (or that guy with the stupid hat and goggles)? what if you needed to learn how to fly a helicopter in 15 seconds and then someone stuck a metal tube into your cerebellum? Whoa, do I know kung fu?
Maybe the things they did in Eternal Sunshine will be possible someday. I bet plenty of people have thoughts in their minds they wish erased, or changed, even temporarily. Perhaps you can live a day knowing that you did get the girl. Or that you did get that promotion. Or that you shot a 62 at Pebble Beach. Or that you come from a long line of sherpas and you live on mount everest. that would be a weird one to wake up to.
Maybe one day modern science will allow us to enter and leave VRs. where you can experience anything you want to experience. but how can one tell we’re not already in VR? ugh. i think my head is about to explode… time for a drink.
Tags: memory
