Carry It Forward: Memoria Ex Machina

From Memoria Ex Machina, I will carry forward the idea that memory is selective, self-serving, and constantly changing. As explained in the paper, our mind plays tricks on us with our memories. Not only do we layer memories of people, to a point where we can only remember the most recent version we've known, but our minds also specialize in preserving that which is painfully static, like electronics. The essay recalls electronics from certain times, but not sounds of voices. The nature of memory is a vast science, but this one oddity is the thesis of the paper, and sticks with me.

Years from now, will I remember my brother's face, or my laptop? Probably the latter. Once this has been established, I wonder how I can use it to enhance my life now, knowing how sadly little of it I will remember. Does it mean I should spend more time with family and friends, whose roles in my life, and the way I will remember them, will change? No, I'm going to forget about it anyway. Does it mean I should spend less time with technology and appreciate the ever-changing-but-still-the-same outdoors? No, that will always exist outside my memory. Beyond cynicism, what will I carry forward? I know. I'll always remember that memory captures a shifty world in a shifty way. The disappointments and highs of yesterday and tomorrow will soon only exist, or cease to exist, in the way my mind and I deem fit. That terrible depression from that terrible let down need not exist for more than one day after I get over it. The happiest times mean nothing unless I actively preserve them in my mind. After all, I already can only recall scattered pieces of my summer, and school only started a few weeks ago.

I will remember to remember what has been good, and that both good and bad can vanish from existence as soon as they came in. At the end of the day, I'll know that tomorrow that day may not have to have been, and, just like my future, my past is my choice.