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To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

quantamagazine.org

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Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#51

Post by toomuchtodo »

phs318u wrote: post #50
adriand wrote: post #17

I remember sitting at a bar in a distant city in some other country one night, and the person next to me, who I had just met that day, suggested that we do a shot together. Now these shots were big, and it had already been quite the night, and I remember thinking, "If I do this shot, it's probably the last thing I'll remember tonight." It was, but that's not the point of this anecdote. This experience gave me the ide…

I may be mistaken but believe William Gibson had a similar concept in one of his novels where prostitutes would work while in such a state. They could do disturbing work and be free of the consequences of those memories. I also believe that if such a drug were available it would find first use in the military by certain specialist units.

Neuromancer was the novel, “meat puppet” was the term.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#52

Post by vagab0nd »

jeffwass wrote: post #15

Relevant convo between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson (My choice of Italics highlights). Below excerpt from A Study in Scarlet , Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1887. —— My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled…

Came here to say this, which is the first thing I thought of after reading the title of this article.

Incidentally, I first read the Chinese version of "A Study in Scarlet". And I remember vividly (because I read it many times) what Sherlock said was translated as "Even if I had known it I would have tried to forget it". It wasn't until I read your comment did I realize it's actually "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it." Funny.

EDIT: formatting

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#53

Post by Waterluvian »

ZainRiz wrote: post #31
adriand wrote: post #17

I remember sitting at a bar in a distant city in some other country one night, and the person next to me, who I had just met that day, suggested that we do a shot together. Now these shots were big, and it had already been quite the night, and I remember thinking, "If I do this shot, it's probably the last thing I'll remember tonight." It was, but that's not the point of this anecdote. This experience gave me the ide…

There might be a market for this with high end consultants or psychiatrists as a more secure alternative to signing an NDA. It'll be something similar to the movie Paycheck You give the consultant the drug, then proceed to share your secrets with them and get their expert advice on your issue. Then by the end of the day/week/whatever they'll forget everything you told them and your secrets will be secure.

I feel that fundamentally won't work. Experts like that become experts because they are exposed to years and years of clients. One can build useful abstractions without giving away secrets.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#54

Post by hammock »

adriand wrote: post #17

I remember sitting at a bar in a distant city in some other country one night, and the person next to me, who I had just met that day, suggested that we do a shot together. Now these shots were big, and it had already been quite the night, and I remember thinking, "If I do this shot, it's probably the last thing I'll remember tonight." It was, but that's not the point of this anecdote. This experience gave me the ide…

They made a movie about that- it's called Men In Black.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#55

Post by IloveHN84 »

I have probably reach the top of my Remembering capabilities.

Often I feel actively the urge to make free space in my mind to store new information. Technology helps me keeping offloading useless/unimportant facts and store them somewhere else, but the overload of information is being an issue

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#56

Post by jck »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #30
adriand wrote: post #17

I remember sitting at a bar in a distant city in some other country one night, and the person next to me, who I had just met that day, suggested that we do a shot together. Now these shots were big, and it had already been quite the night, and I remember thinking, "If I do this shot, it's probably the last thing I'll remember tonight." It was, but that's not the point of this anecdote. This experience gave me the ide…

Such a drug exists. Namely, anything of the benzodiazepine class.

Benzos have anxiolytic effects. I think OPs premise is a drug that has no psychoactive effects (apart from the no long term memory thing)

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#57

Post by djsumdog »

firethief wrote: post #41
analogmemory wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people recognize that as Ambien https://popula.com/2018/07/22/the-ambien-diaries/

Ambien is not a benzo. The bizarre behaviour it causes seems to be related to sleepwalking, which is not a common side effect of benzodiazepines.

I met someone who was on a clinical trial for Ambien. He'd pass out almost immediately, but first he'd see crazy wild hallucinations. But only for like 15 seconds to a minute.

When it was finally released on the market, the dosage was a fraction of what he had take in his clinical trial.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#58

Post by djsumdog »

hammock wrote: post #54
adriand wrote: post #17

I remember sitting at a bar in a distant city in some other country one night, and the person next to me, who I had just met that day, suggested that we do a shot together. Now these shots were big, and it had already been quite the night, and I remember thinking, "If I do this shot, it's probably the last thing I'll remember tonight." It was, but that's not the point of this anecdote. This experience gave me the ide…

They made a movie about that- it's called Men In Black.

They don't often willingly get their memorizes blanked though.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#59

Post by toomanybeersies »

1996 wrote: post #22
adriand wrote: post #17

I remember sitting at a bar in a distant city in some other country one night, and the person next to me, who I had just met that day, suggested that we do a shot together. Now these shots were big, and it had already been quite the night, and I remember thinking, "If I do this shot, it's probably the last thing I'll remember tonight." It was, but that's not the point of this anecdote. This experience gave me the ide…

anterograde amnesia is a property of some anesthesics used in emergency: the basic idea is that it may hurt, but the patient won't remember. (actually, it is more of a dissociative effect - ketamine does that)

Ketamine absolutely stops you from feeling pain. It's one of the things that's dangerous about using it recreationally, you can injure yourself and not even be aware of it. Your leg could be bleeding out, but you're too ketty to notice and just keep partying on.

I haven't seen anybody seriously injured form this, but I've heard second hand stories.

Re: To Remember, the Brain Must Actively Forget

#60

Post by laumars »

CuriousCosmic wrote: post #29
cryptozeus wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No I would not want to take it. "buyers remorse" will be so huge that I will regret for the rest of my life. For example if something bad happened then its fine but if something good happen and I can't remember, that would suck !

Alternatively, what happens if you are accused for a crime that you didn't commit during your "blackout period"?

Not remembering committing a crime has never been a valid defence thus far and we have drugs that cause far more extreme behavioural changes besides just memory loss.
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