[ExI] StemCells Inc.and Alzheimer's.

[Anders Sandberg]

On 26/07/2012 02:37, Mike Dougherty wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 12:12 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>> I treasure old friends with whom I shared experiences.  I like to talk to
>> them and see how well our recollections agree.  I have at least one friend
>> whose old memories have drifted towards the negative.
>>
>> OK friends, which is it with you?  Do your old memories drift?  If so, which
>> way?  Why do you suppose?  Are there other axes besides positive/negative?
>> Such as boring/interesting?  Weird/normal?
> Are the facts recorded in a neutral encoding and it is the reassembly
> that wraps them in your current mindset?

It looks like the encoding is biased by the original mindset, then gets 
modified by reconsolidation and other memory-warping processes, and then 
reassembly maps them in our current mindset. Memories do drift, 
especially if you have persistent mood disorders. But they are never 
neutral factual accounts.


> How much of the phenomenal Now is a merely the story we tell ourselves
> about the world "out there"?

What kind of answer would you like? Or would even make sense?

Remember that 75% of the input to the lateral geniculate nucleus comes 
from the cortex, not the eye.


> Why should our memories be any more or less malleable than so-called real time?

Because they would then be useless. Memory is about storing past 
information so that it can guide future decisions - if it is too 
malleable you don't get enough information into the future.


-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Faculty of Philosophy
Oxford University