[ExI] Superior Autobiographical Memory

[Ben Zaiboc]

Max Asked:
> Does anyone else here have the sense that their memory of past events is
> particularly poor?

Not just a sense.  I have virtually no autobiographical memory, beyond a few months, and even that is patchy.  You know those dark corridors that light up as you walk along, and go dark again behind you?  That's my life. Almost everything I remember about my past is almost certainly made-up, or at least intensely distilled, down to fairly abstract concepts (i.e. specific sights, sounds, etc., are lost, just the basic idea remains).  This doesn't really bother me, though.  I live in the present, and anticipate the future.  The past is dead.

Actually, I think Spike has it right.  I do remember significant encounters from a few years ago, like meeting Douglas Adams and Richard Dawkins in Cambridge, or the early Extrobritannia meetings when Aubrey would sometimes come along.  Although in a rather condensed fashion.  If you asked me what any of them were wearing, I'd be guessing (apart from a massive beard, in one case!).  Anyway, these memories are probably only retained for bragging rights.

Ben Zaiboc