When I was posting in the 'Memories?' thread, I remembered a case study we had covered in Psychology, about Clive Wearing, a man with no long-term memories whatsover, who can't remember anything about his life, but his wife. I went to find a Youtube video and I found this video, and I recalled everything I was taught about him. It brought to my mind how vital our memories are to us, it defines us and allows us to be aware of everything. Without it, you don't live. No life before, and no life ahead. Your now, your time right now, is basically 'I've never done anything before' and is repeated for every minute for as long as you live. The video is here. Do you think you could or would want to live, like that?
This may sound stupid, but I've heard this questions explored many times in the anime FullMetal Alchemist. I think it would be hard to define yourself as a person with no memories, but it wouldn't mean you had no life. A person, to me, anyway, is defined by what they do in the present, not what they did in the past. As long as you can function and make decisions based on your instincual personality, you are "alive". That's how I think of it, anyway.
Memories basically define each human being. Not just memories of events, but memories of things which allows them to get ahead in life. For example: When someone is good at math, they don't learn everything on the spot, they REMEMBER techniques they learned in the PAST and apply it to what they are currently doing. The same applies to english, science and so on. Memories of life experiences, allow people to look at what to improve upon, what to forget, and what to look back on. Without these memories, humans would be dull, and learning would be 10x as difficult.
Well, firstly, a major component of memory is time, which is an illusion. So if life finds its foundation in an illusion... Well, I leave you to meditate on that. Of course there is much more to memory, but I find that part interesting. As for the topic du jour: No, I would not want to live without memory. In fact, had I the sense, I would probably ask to be killed. It's haunting enough having a very poor memory; having virtually none would probably horrify me, if I had time to be horrified. The thought of being in a state where even fear is impossible is frightening enough to me by itself.
My brother is doing Psychology and I thought you weren't aloud to reveal the name of a case study to people because it was a real case.... anyway I agree with what Trixter said: memories do define each human being, because exsperiances will ditermin how we act in each situation
Uhh I'm not 100% sure on this but that may only be with cases that have legal issues i.e. the subject wishes to remain anonymous or the report on the study has not been approved or finished. I'm doing first year university psychology and not once have I heard the phrase "Do not tell people this person's name." Everything we look has been approved be some board of PhD owners. I have heard of a guy who has had only a few minutes moment of memory who I can't remember the name of (funny that). Unlike Clive he had full knowedge of his condition. As a coping mechanism he decided to keep a journal to update his memory of what he was doing before. However he would think he wrote something down wrong. For instance in the morning just after he got out of bed he would start a new page and write "9am. Just woke up." A few minutes later he would cross out that entry and update it with a new time until he got fustrated enough to stop writing it and move onto trying something else.
Clive Wearing was well knwon before he lost the ability to process long term memory, so his case was revealed in the mediaand has become known as one of the most severe case of brain damage damage becasue of it. But yes, usually the people being studied are kept confidential so ad to protect themselves against discrimination or invasion from the press, etc, but a few participants are known by name. The protection of the welfare of the studied participants was enforced more greatly after the case study of Genie, another very public case. Time is not an illusion. If it was, then how can we age? How can a sun 'die'? How can things be born and grow? Time is part of this existence and one of the laws of the universe. Memory is the time we have experienced something and recall it whether it is the recall of a skill, the meaning of a word or an episode in your life. Without it we basically live in the now since we have no idea what the future is like since that is based on experiences in the past, which you would also lack. It's like Wearing said, 'It's Death'. that sounds exactly what Clive does. He'll make an entry in a journal and a fe wminutes llater he says that he didn't write it and will cross it out. On ething I really find quite funny is how his love for his wife is the one thing he has, he would always write about her in his journal and love the time with her. This case kinda proves that 'Love can conquer all.'
