Unmapped territory
There exists a theory to the effect that we never actually forget anything: we merely misplace it. It goes something like this:
Near as I can figure, it only gets “lost” because we stop keeping track of it. There’s so much knowledge stored in that vast, disorganized warehouse of knowledge both useful and not, that the only way to get hold of any one piece of it when you want it is to keep the index up and running. But the way the brain works, the index consists of associations rather than actual location addresses like on, say, a computer hard drive.
Which is why when I’m trying to remember something and having trouble, I usually have to go back through what I was thinking about when the information got filed. Other times I may just have to give up and wait for something else to accidentally spark an association (which often happens just about the time I stop trying to remember it).
For a highly-unreliable system, this is actually pretty reliable. If there’s something I need to do tomorrow, I don’t write a note to myself; I leave something out of place. The next day, when I happen upon the anomaly, the connection is made.
I might also suggest that this propensity is of particular value to the blogger. There’s no way I can recall on demand the contents of the last 15,000 posts (which would go back to the fall of ’02 or so). But if something current happens to match up with something I once said, there’s the accidental spark, and the words will start to flow. You thought I was quoting myself for the sake of search-engine standings? No, just rebuilding my own internal not-really-an-index.
There’s one further complication, at least regarding my own memories: certain of them are tagged as Bad, things I’d just as soon not think about at all, and if one of them happens to be activated, the whole lot can come crashing down on me at once. Under those circumstances, the best I can do is to invoke the Scarlett O’Hara Temporal Displacement Method.
rammer »
31 July 2010 · 10:10 pm
Yes, this I do as well. Not being quite as organized as you, I put my keys with the bills that need to be mailed, or stuff paperwork into my shoes.
Donna B. »
31 July 2010 · 11:28 pm
My problem would be remembering why something was out of place… if I even noticed it was.
I have had to go back to something similar to what I did as a newlywed — I’d pick up the mail at the post office, open the bills, write the check, buy the stamps and mail it back right then.
Now, I go to the mailbox, stack the mail in front of the computer and enter it all in BillPay. And I don’t have to buy stamps. Or drive anywhere. Progress is good.
LeeAnn »
1 August 2010 · 7:34 am
I have the most spotty memory I can remember having. HA! Seriously, several blows to the head in previous years (sports injuries) have left me with a memory rather like Swiss cheese…. full of holes, but savory in what remains.
And mice-nibbles round the edges.
KingShamus »
1 August 2010 · 7:34 am
Funny things about memory: Before I had a cell phone, I knew all my friend’s phone numbers off the top of my head. They were easily pulled up in the old memory bank whenever I needed them and that was that.
Now that I have a cell phone, all their numbers are stored in the cellie’s memory card. I couldn’t tell you what my buddies’ phone numbers are if you put a gun to my head. I’d have to refer to my electronic rolodex to tell you what their digits are.
I’m not sure if that’s progress or regress.
ak4mc »
1 August 2010 · 12:12 pm
I’ve posted enough links to old posts of mine in various of your comment threads, that I’m sure I don’t need to say, “Ditto.”
Jeffro »
1 August 2010 · 2:28 pm
If I walk into a room with a purpose that for some reason is forgotten, the usual trick is to go back to the original room that inspired the reason for leaving. This actually seems to work.