This episode leaves you with more questions than answers. It successfully demonstrates the potential implications of the evolving nature of digital storage and accessibility, specific to being integrated into memory.
Back all the way to the beginning of recording of life beyond mortal memory, when the first caveman picked up a stone and wrote on walls. Fast forward to the day that the first black and white photograph was developed. Then the first motion picture. Then the first digitally stored video. Then as digital memory advances to a higher degree along with picture quality becoming as realistic as the human eye can record, or even better. We really aren't that far away from such technology as shown in this episode. Most of my childhood was filled with adults stockpiling old photographs. But the primary theme of this episode stems from the medium of recording one's life changing from modern day selfies to actually being able to 're-do' any past memory from the point of view of your own eyes, as many times as you feel necessary. Like a cyborg-type memory controlled by a human mind.
It really breaks down the impacts on the relationships between people to people as well as between people to establishments. The mind is a complex organic machine that has evolved with habits that protect its own sanity. The ability to have a 'grain' that surpasses the protection the mind has for itself, by being able to going back to reflect upon your memory in real-time, is dangerous because it pushes people beyond the limitation of human capacity. Having a perfect memory removes an important coping mechanism inherent to the human condition, which is having it fade. An imperfect memory is necessary because it allows for the ignorance of events that would otherwise be hidden from us. With the ability to surpass our human memory we also run the risk of causing paranoia from the accessibility of detail that we would not otherwise have. The key difference between writing a journal and having a recorded memory is that our mind has to first process the memory before we can write it down, versus a raw recording that allows a variable of interpretations.
After watching this episode, it made me reflect upon my own life, for how and why I feel a need to record and store it with picture and video. Though there is momentary satisfaction in being able to have a physical 'copy' of my life, is there truly a purpose beyond that? Sure, there's a nostalgic value for very old memories, like childhood birthday parties on home video. I have to ask, what's the difference between an individual recorded event, and recording ones entire life? Well, there isn't.
Back all the way to the beginning of recording of life beyond mortal memory, when the first caveman picked up a stone and wrote on walls. Fast forward to the day that the first black and white photograph was developed. Then the first motion picture. Then the first digitally stored video. Then as digital memory advances to a higher degree along with picture quality becoming as realistic as the human eye can record, or even better. We really aren't that far away from such technology as shown in this episode. Most of my childhood was filled with adults stockpiling old photographs. But the primary theme of this episode stems from the medium of recording one's life changing from modern day selfies to actually being able to 're-do' any past memory from the point of view of your own eyes, as many times as you feel necessary. Like a cyborg-type memory controlled by a human mind.
It really breaks down the impacts on the relationships between people to people as well as between people to establishments. The mind is a complex organic machine that has evolved with habits that protect its own sanity. The ability to have a 'grain' that surpasses the protection the mind has for itself, by being able to going back to reflect upon your memory in real-time, is dangerous because it pushes people beyond the limitation of human capacity. Having a perfect memory removes an important coping mechanism inherent to the human condition, which is having it fade. An imperfect memory is necessary because it allows for the ignorance of events that would otherwise be hidden from us. With the ability to surpass our human memory we also run the risk of causing paranoia from the accessibility of detail that we would not otherwise have. The key difference between writing a journal and having a recorded memory is that our mind has to first process the memory before we can write it down, versus a raw recording that allows a variable of interpretations.
After watching this episode, it made me reflect upon my own life, for how and why I feel a need to record and store it with picture and video. Though there is momentary satisfaction in being able to have a physical 'copy' of my life, is there truly a purpose beyond that? Sure, there's a nostalgic value for very old memories, like childhood birthday parties on home video. I have to ask, what's the difference between an individual recorded event, and recording ones entire life? Well, there isn't.