Reliability On Memory

Humanity’s Reliability on Memory

Memory is arguably every organism’s most precious possession. It is the means by which species retain information over time, and recall upon it in the present. Unfortunately, contrary to what people used to believe, memory can not always be taken for granted, thus the growing significance to the study and research on the mind’s power for storage and recollection. Memories aren’t accurate accounts of history, they evolve over time, as they are twisted and laced from experiences, emotions, illness, and the passage of time.

With every new leap in technology, comes the comparison to the brain. The brain is a wax block (philosopher Plato), the brain is a telephone switchboard (neuroscientist Charles Sherrington),

Events are what start the process of developing a memory, and consequently, the first step in restoring memory is our senses. If our senses are not working properly, then there is no way we can form a memory. This phenomenon is most easily demonstrated in war. As an overdose of adrenaline and stress often courses through the veins of soldiers, commonly resulting in the health condition known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD’s various symptoms all come from the severe delay in their memory, and can also be seen in victims of childhood abuse, rape, political violence, and the Holocaust. The adrenaline and stress of these events can cause both acute and chronic changes in the brain- often impairing synapse connections in memories. This impairment usually destroys the memory connection, as “memories of some events are too painful to be redeemed. Instead the events will be forgotten. After final justice has been served, such memories will slip the minds of those who are rapt in eternal worship. Tran argues instead for "a type of recapitulation, where human history, and its manifold memories, is drawn into God's life of love, which need not forget. . .This past remains present in the veteran, in those who "surrendered him to the state and its killing," But instead of receiving the past embodied in these strangers and enemies, we devise elaborate strategies of avoidance--silencing, repressing, romanticizing, forgetting.". . ."Two such strategies--forgetting. . .and the reintegration practices of warring societies." (“The Vietnam War and”). But in some cases, can increase memory; some PTSD victims have vivid memories of their traumatic event. PTSD is not the only illness that impairs