Memory Error
Isn’t memory an amazing thing? I couldn’t remember how to do something today that is a normal part of my job. I had to go ask a co-worker how to do it. Yet I can dial a friends number in New York without having to look it up and I remembered at the store last night that my roommate said we needed a new toaster, even though I was just running in for a camera battery. I’ve seen incredible displays of memory and incredible displays of memory loss. The woman at the lunch truck can remember every order yelled at her from the little opening in the plastic window no matter how specialized it is, yet one of my superiors can’t remember the status report I gave him the day before.
Wouldn’t it be nice if human memory worked like computer memory? We could upgrade when we came close to exceeding storage. We could go through and erase unnecessary data (like ex-girlfriends phone numbers and the names of all the Smurfs). We could re-organize our memory to make accessing it much faster. And think of the programs we could up load; I could be an accomplished pianist in no time at all. The only real problem is we would have to stay away from magnets or it would all end up erased.
The only downside I could see to having a computer brain is that we would probably all end up like Keanu Reeves in Johnny Nuemonic. And if I have to follow in Keanu’s footsteps, I would rather it be the movie The Replacements… because at least there he gets the girl and wins the game.
Isn’t memory an amazing thing? I couldn’t remember how to do something today that is a normal part of my job. I had to go ask a co-worker how to do it. Yet I can dial a friends number in New York without having to look it up and I remembered at the store last night that my roommate said we needed a new toaster, even though I was just running in for a camera battery. I’ve seen incredible displays of memory and incredible displays of memory loss. The woman at the lunch truck can remember every order yelled at her from the little opening in the plastic window no matter how specialized it is, yet one of my superiors can’t remember the status report I gave him the day before.
Wouldn’t it be nice if human memory worked like computer memory? We could upgrade when we came close to exceeding storage. We could go through and erase unnecessary data (like ex-girlfriends phone numbers and the names of all the Smurfs). We could re-organize our memory to make accessing it much faster. And think of the programs we could up load; I could be an accomplished pianist in no time at all. The only real problem is we would have to stay away from magnets or it would all end up erased.
The only downside I could see to having a computer brain is that we would probably all end up like Keanu Reeves in Johnny Nuemonic. And if I have to follow in Keanu’s footsteps, I would rather it be the movie The Replacements… because at least there he gets the girl and wins the game.
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