James Lu: Week 14 - Perfect Memory
Perfect Memory
Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory is the scientific definition for what most people know and consider to be the "perfect memory": those people that can remember things from the day they were born and those that can read a book and recall every single word, number, and punctuation mark on the page.
Having such a memory was always both a superpower and a curse to me. With such a remarkable and powerful memory, the normal loss to time can not occur, which is both helpful and hurtful. Imagine not being able to repress some of the worst memories you have, not being able to forget even the smallest of insults, not being able to forget the things you would rather leave out of your head. Traumatizing events would last a lifetime and the idea of "healing with time" would mean nothing to somebody with a genuine photographic memory. While it may fade with time for others, no such luxury would be given to those both blessed and cursed with such a boon and a curse.
But it is a boon, for which scholar would not dream of such an ability? To be able to skim a textbook and completely recall its words would be beyond useful in the field of law, as demonstrated by the TV Show Suits and one of its iconic protagonists, Mike Ross. His memory could not save him when he was caught taking exams for other "less fortunate" students, but it did allow him to practically memorize every single law decision and basically take the LSAT for fun. He proved to be one of the greatest lawyers to practice law with his photographic memory, which allowed him to rise to the top even without the law degree his fellow lawyers possessed. Yet beyond this fictional character and the many others (Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds), there are many cases in the real world.
Stephen Wiltshire is one such man in many ways: he was able to draw the entire New York City skyline from just a 20 minute helicopter ride and was able to recall from memory and then recreate an aerial panorama of Singapore's skyline. What he can accomplish with his memory is truly amazing.
There are people out there that possess this ability to remember everything and anything from their lives. But with such power comes great drawbacks. Would you ever willingly impart this "gift" upon somebody?
1st Image linked
Mike Ross linked
Painting linked
Hi James! When I saw the words "remember things from the day they were born," I thought of the Promised Neverland character, Ray, who remembered being in his mom's womb. Every time when I'm studying for a test, at one point, I always wish I have photographic memory, but I never even considered the drawbacks of it. As someone who already stresses over the smallest insults, I would fare horribly with photographic memory. Perhaps photographic memory would make me more mature as I can learn from past experiences easier, and I wouldn't have that problem.
ReplyDeleteHey James, I have always wondered what is different about a brain with such really sharp memory from a brain with average abilities. However, photographic memory is just like every other great thing: it has its setbacks. I am not entirely sure if this is true, but being able to memorize things this greatly can also lead to a lot of headaches (again, I am not entirely sure about the accuracy of this claim). Nevertheless, I would still have the memory if I had the chance because the benefits outweigh the downsides by a huge margins. Feeling horribly nostalgic and having headaches is nothing compared to the mastery that such an ability would bring.
ReplyDeleteHey James, your blog post was really interesting. After reading your blog post about people with photographic ability, I immediately thought of the Cam Jansen series, which was about a young girl who had “perfect memory” and thus was an expert at solving cases. I have always thought that having photographic memory would be such a cool ability. Imagine how much easier it would be to study for tests if you could just look over the content and memorize it immediately. It would almost be as if all of your tests were open book. I think this ability would also help a person in their careers. For example, you could easily become a top doctor because you would have an excellent memory of many different diseases and their symptoms. Although the drawbacks you mentioned are significant, I think that for most of us, even without a photographic memory, the things you wish to forget the most, are not really forgotten. The insults and experiences that hurt us the most are memories that live with us forever, and it is so impossibly difficult to bury and forget them, no matter how badly we want to. Thus, I think not being able to forget would be a price I would be willing to pay. The main drawback of photographic memory that I see is that your life would be defined by it, and other people might see your achievements as less worthy since you have this super cool ability.
ReplyDeleteHi James, I really like the nuance in which you explore this topic of photographic memory. I have always wanted to have the ability, since I thought it would be so much easier to study for exams and do well in school. I also thought it just made a person smarter since they were able to retain so much information. But you bring up some really good points. I never thought about the negative implications of having photographic memory. There are definitely moments in my life that I would like to not remember with excruciating detail and having photographic memory would make it really hard to do that. Anyways, this was a really interesting read, and I look forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDeleteHi James! I have previously been aware of the idea of possessing a “perfect memory;” however, I found out that this is considered the Highly Superior autobiographical Memory only after reading through your blog. It is really fascinating to find out that there are currently people in our world who can remember every small detail from the day of their birth to the current day. Especially when you start taking advanced classes in high school and college, these studies and memorization tools help you a lot in terms of grasping information quickly, thus providing you with more time to do other activities that you would like to do in your free time. However, having this photographic memory could be a problem for people who genuinely cannot forget their past memories that could have been traumatizing.
ReplyDeleteHi James! The idea of having a perfect or photographic memory certainly seems more like a gift than a curse. It just has so many practical applications for careers and life in general. A detective with the ability to perfectly recall every detail of a crime scene or a doctor that has an encyclopedia-like memory of medicine would instantly be considered to be in the top of their fields. Personally speaking, it would save me so much time from studying and forgetting things I have to do. Although, the idea of having so much information seems overwhelming and I wonder how people with perfect memory manage that.
ReplyDeleteHey James, the concept of having a perfect memory seems like such a gift in my opinion. I recently started watching Suits, a show revolving around how a high school drop out ends up practicing law as a result of this ability. By being able to simply memorize every case he has every seen or studied, the main character is able to practice law much better than many who have been training their whole life for it. Despite being a drop out in high school, this ability is able to convince an associate at a reputable law firm to hire him illegally, as his abilities and talents are so desirable. Having this ability in real life would certainly make school a whole lot easier.
ReplyDelete