Our memory is not like a closet or file cabinet where we store past experiences and retrieve them on demand. We reconstruct our memories from scraps of neuronc activity and each time it's a new memory. To the extent that we feel we have sufficiently recollected the associated feelings and body sensations of the original "memory" we believe we have remembered it.
By lie I mean we believe in the fiction of remembering. WC --- On Sun, 10/19/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: "Synonyms" > To: [email protected] > Date: Sunday, October 19, 2008, 1:44 PM > In a message dated 10/18/08 8:08:05 PM, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > > By the same token that there's no baseball game so > is there no memory. All > > memories are reconstructed piece by piece inventions, > lies told anew with > > every "recollection". > > > I'd say there are indeed memories -- of sense data that > arrived in our > consciousness -- "visual memories" off this guy > hitting, that guy throwing; > aural of > the sound hitting the bat, the crowd cheering. > > I'll bet William's visual memories are much more > vivid and detailed than > mine. But I wouldn't say mine are "lies" if > by "lies" you have in mind > "knowingly > and intentionally false". Some of what I might claim > are memories of sense > data are not "veracious" because I simply > don't have the strong > visual-processing > apparatus that William does. So there are lots of lacunae > and blurry areas in > mine. Other alleged memories of mine -- the ones that are > allegedly "false" > because I have invented the alleged recollection -- > don't deserve to be > called "false" because the inventions aren't > intentional. Many times I've > thought I > recalled something I saw -- like, say, the contents of a > photo on someone's > desk -- but, when I revisit the photo, the > "recalled" details turn out to be > quite "imaginary". "Wow. I could have sworn > that..." > > > ************** > New MapQuest > Local shows what's happening at your destination. > Dining, Movies, Events, > News > & more. Try it out > (http://local.mapquest.com/?ncid=emlcntnew00000002)
