--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "TurquoiseB" wrote: > > Trust your memories? You shouldn't. > > That's the message of this wonderful TED talk, *well* worth the 18 > minutes. Memory isn't static, like a recording device. It's more like > Wikipedia, and can be "edited," both by yourself and by other people. > > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tedtalks/mystery-of-memory_b_4159290.htm <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tedtalks/mystery-of-memory_b_4159290.html\ >
One of the reasons I liked this TED talk is the synchronicity and timing of me stumbling upon it. I discovered it just after starting to re-watch an old favorite TV series, which is *all about* memory, the control and editing of it, identity, and self-identity. I started re-watching it partly out of a sense of withdrawal. After "Breaking Bad" went off the air, I've been trying to find a current series that has that same level of brilliance to watch, and failing. So I decided to go back and re-watch a series that I loved at the time, and loved so much that I've seen it numerous times. This will be my fourth re-watching of the entire series, all 26 hours of it. Consider this post a shameless commercial for the series, if you've never seen it. If you haven't, I think you've missed out on one of the best science fiction TV series ever made. 'Way up there in the Top Five, even ahead of its brother series "Firefly." The series, of course, is "Dollhouse." And as I re-watch it I no longer long for more episodes of "Breaking Bad." The old ones will still be there on the shelf, ready to re-watch and re-enjoy a second time, or a third, or a fourth. A good movie or a good TV series is like a fine whiskey or tequila that "ages well," and develops more character over time. You see it again and discover that your memories of it and how good it was were *not* implanted, and that it's not only as good as the first time you saw it, it's better. "Dollhouse" deals with weighty issues, remarkably similar issues to the ones that Elizabeth Loftus ended her talk discussing: Memory, self-identity, and how those are fragile things.
