The Future is now!

For anyone who's ever wanted to smash them open and make a cup of menstral cycle tea or a broth if you prefer

 

Did anyone else when they were a kid wonder what it would be like in the future? I did.. and here it is. This IS the future .. we've got our tablets, smartphones, electronic screens everywhere!

.. and i wonder what will it be like in even another 10 years from now? At the pace technology is moving, it seems to move faster every day!

 

Someone was saying on BBC radio 4 today that within a decade we may have instantaneous language translators on our phones.Personally the ubiquity of communication devices freaks me out a bit,and I have an impulse to keep it at bay.What if a device was invented to remotely send digital sound through space into your room? The psychiatrists would have a field day.

 

Ah, yes, the future. Every day, our phones get smarter and smarter, and our politicians get dumber and dumber. A bad combination of trends!

 

I was told we'd have flying cars by now, like all of us, you and I, flying.

 

10 years from now? If we make it that long.....Elysium.......maybe District 9......maybe Idiocracy.....? Unless something awesomely cool happens in the meantime.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUmwZZinUo4

 

What I mean is there will most likely be spy technology available soon,if not now,that will be able to send sound through space obviating the need for a receiver.(Or will be able to hijack your tech for it's own frequency.)If this falls into the wrong hands
or insidious State agencies it could be used against targeted individuals as a means of psychological harassment.As a voice hearer anyway,I am concerned about such advancements and other such "psy-tech" devices.

 

Was it Back to the Future 2 with the hoverboards?, I remember thinking they are probably only ten years away IRL

 

i can't imagine anyone not wondering about that.

funny how far off most predictions tend to be.

 

Actually, by the time your brain reacts to the present it's already past. So, in reality, this IS the past.

 

This - whatever it is - is like combo of future, the past, and most elusive of the three, the present.

The past only exists as memories, which are probably imperfect.
The future is a kind of virtual projection. At best a set of probabilities.

But the actual moment we are conscious of? Hard to pin down. One can only live it. But as is often said, baggage from the past prevents us entering fully into the here and now. I wonder if there isn't also baggage from the 'future'? In the sense that our projections may not be actualized with the flow of time.

 

I don't buy that example at all. If you are learning a song on an instrument you are much more likely to remember it after playing it several times, compared to if you just played it once then tried to remember it several years later. Same goes with sports, preparing for tests, etc.

 

And the computer hacker will be the Obermann of the Obermanns. This proves God exists for there were and still are greater understandings for Social Progress. Woops; we are regressing I hear of late for the raison d'etre of atheism, no need shall exist for liking the very thought of faith, for liking God; only for despairing people.

 

Yes you should have mentioned there are different types of memory, however I still find my examples applicable. For example baseball requires conscious, calculated, situational decisions on where to throw a pitch, swing the bat, when to run etc. Football quarterbacks size up a defense and call audibles, basketball teams make defensive/offensive adjustments.

Music requires a conscious decision on knowing when to change chords, based on the series of beats or time that they remain playing a chord, riff, melody etc. These are all better instilled over time and becoming accustomed to the situation in which it presents itself.

The example you gave seems to be something along the lines of state dependent memory, which in your specific example, the emotional investment would be the only reason why the person would have such a vivid memory of the experience. It's not due to the repetition of the memory, It's due to being in a similar state as the experience (I.e. butterflies come on after seeing the person again) This is different the claim you made prior to that of rehearsal of an experience being less effective in retaining accuracy of memory. So I guess your example didn't correlate with your argument as I see it.

 

A couple of things occur to me reading your post - One is the idea that each time we recall a past event, we actually only recall the last time we remembered it. If that's true then it would seem that our memories are not exactly what they seem. I have memories from early childhood for instance, which I've thought about so much over a long period of time, massaged them, maybe made them fit my agendas, projected all kinds of emotions onto them - I can't really trust such memories to be accurate.

If I think about a certain lady with whom I had an affair about 25 years ago, what I recall is mainly a kind of mirage I have built up through memory over years and tears.Nothing like the reality of the woman if I were to meet her today. So I tend to agree with what you are saying here.

On the other hand, I think there is something in us that does record everything in minute detail. Access to that kind of memory is something I only ever experienced under the effects of psychedelics.

 

I think there is emotional investment in motor memory, for instance when playing an instrument there is often this euphoric sensation of finally getting a song down and often an 'A-ha' moment when your ability to form a certain chord, learn a scale, play a riff etc. are accomplished. Those of us who appreciate great musicians can even relate with that feeling when they are playing. In my opinion that is a key factor why music is so universal, however I digress. ..

My point is those factors you have listed and link which show how memory can be faulty only take further precedent if there is no memory rehearsal of an event. Sports, music and test taking are good examples to show how memory improves with rehearsal because the coinciding muscle memory aspect of sports and music is so readily apparent and most are familiar with test taking. (Although I understand that even with rehearsal, those variables can influence the recollection of an event)

The only exceptions that I can think of where the account of memory would improve without rehearsal would be, as I said, in cases of state-dependent memories or the like where the memories of an event essentially get buried in the unconscious and can only be accessed with the corresponding feelings/sensations of that event. But that would also involve emotional investment as well which you are suggesting should not be trusted in regards to memories.

I would be interested in reading any studies that suggest memory rehearsal weakens memory of an event compared to elapsed recall.