Memorising?

luka

Well-known member
Virtually everyone here must have wiped their memories with a teenage skunk habit long ago in any case I certainly, don't remember anything before the age of 11 and I try not to remember anything from 11 to 16
 

sufi

lala
chopsticks
i learnt chopsticks as a little one but can't play any instrument and havent played chopsticks since i was a kid.
i wonder if i yt it, whether it will come back - there is a keyboard right here... will report back shortly 🤖
 

sufi

lala
i learnt chopsticks as a little one but can't play any instrument and havent played chopsticks since i was a kid.
i wonder if i yt it, whether it will come back - there is a keyboard right here... will report back shortly 🤖
not a chance muscle memories extincted

actually i could do the first 3 notes then lost interest, but it didnt seem to be stored in a fleshy ROM or something like that
 

sufi

lala
Dont think I had read this before or i'd have remembered the dollar bill thing, obvs visual memories work for me

of course the computer/"IP" metaphor is just that - it's a metaphor, and the article is accurate on how "sticky" the metaphor is and how difficult it is to think outside it, to conceptualise thinking in other ways. they slightly miss the whole entertaining reflexiveness of the situation though - their approach is really quite old school meatspace sciencey concepts

so they externalise tech instead of seeing the relationship - how conceptualising brains as computers has affected the development of the group cyborg = the designs and functions of the internets etc, and its effect on how we behave and think - it's a pre-2012 essay, and actually those are the bits that are maybe useful and open to wild speculations
& that's how you escape from the tech analogy or they will have us churning blockchains with that spare capacity once used for iambic pentameter,
2.jpg

probably poetry & vibrational frequencies how we should conceptualise the brain turn the metaphors inside out
 

martin

----
How many poems can you recite? Can you recite anything from memory?

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, but it's not very long. I'm good with old phone numbers, which is weird cos I'm shit at maths. But maybe not so weird as if you forgot them, pre-internet, you were screwed.

I get fake memories of objects, though... like I'll remember some album or book cover being green, then track it down and it's actually pink. That might just be early onset of dementia.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I've memorised poems in the past but (ba-dum-tsch) I've forgotten them now.

Off the top of my head (with a fair share of hesitation and brow furrowing)

"When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate
Wishing myself like one more rich in hope
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possessed
Desiring this mans art and that man's scope
With what I ???????? contended least
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising
Hap'ly I think on thee and then my state
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate
For thy sweet love remembered such joy brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings"
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
In general my memory is terrible and this causes me a lot of angst because I wonder why do I even bother reading books when I subsequently forget 99.999% of what I've read.
 

woops

is not like other people
In general my memory is terrible and this causes me a lot of angst because I wonder why do I even bother reading books when I subsequently forget 99.999% of what I've read.
1> immediate sensory pleasure
2> you will consciously remember your favourite bits
3> you will subconsciously remember the rest
4> finding out if it's worth rereading
5> you'd be bored otherwise
 

woops

is not like other people
1> immediate sensory pleasure
2> you will consciously remember your favourite bits
3> you will subconsciously remember the rest
4> finding out if it's worth rereading
5> you'd be bored otherwise
that's my contribution to the "let's all cheer up @Corpsey" wave that seems to be breaking over the board at the moment.
 

woops

is not like other people
oh plus i forgot one of my favourite reasons 6> to look like an intellectual when in public, do not underrate 6>
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Faces more than names (rarely forget a face), lines of quotes rather than entire passages

If you‘ve any brain cells left for faces you can work as a Super Recogniser, few fun tests online. Decent salaries for consultancy work if your scruples are a) zero as it may be a case with Met/CPS, or b) cracking a rape trial or murder case and giving families/friends of victims justice, or c) combine a)+b) and subterfuge
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Yeah, I had a minor epiphany about it recently that some of your points there refer to – namely, that even if you don't consciously remember what you've read, you've still undergone that reading as an experience, and so will have (ideally) "acquired" some sort of perspective/wisdom, whether or not you're aware of it.

And of course (as your points 1 + 2 refer to) reading doesn't have to be about acquiring wisdom – and I've become far too convinced over the years that it is. It's something that you do for pleasure, to imagine, to escape, etc.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
"When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate
Wishing ME LIKE TO one more rich in hope
Featur'd like him, like him with friends possessed
Desiring this mans art and that man's scope
With what I MOST ENJOY contended least
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising
Hap'ly I think on thee and then my state
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate
For thy sweet love remembered such WEALTH brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings"
Didn't do too badly here, corrections/insertions in big bold capitalised red letters, in case that's too subtle.
 

sufi

lala
i have a lot of deepseated coping strategies so i don't have to rely too much on the flakey short term memory - i reckon they have become so habitual that i don't even notice any more but it means i can defrag and reboot the system regularly and still keep shit together more or less
 

luka

Well-known member
One of the interesting things about aphantasia is memories, such as they are, aren't stored as image.
 

luka

Well-known member
Another interesting question is how important is memory to your sense of identity. For some writers, like my friend Mike for instance, it's absolutely central. For me it means almost nothing.
 

luka

Well-known member
If I've ever thought about my past it's always been with a vague sense of shame, distaste, embarrassment
 
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