5 ms·

Our Irrational Fear of Forgetting

46 points by anupj 15y ago

Meai 15y ago
Let me summarize the article: "Forgetting stuff every now and then isn't that bad." Yes, that is indeed the entire content of the article. I apologize if the article is meant as a joke, I'm not entirely sure either way. This makes me wonder: "[...]but she discovered an upside to forgetting. She had forgotten old rancors as well as President George W. Bush’s name." I also wonder why I keep reading newspapers.
- Alex3917 15y ago
  Dunno, this article really hit home to me. This past year has been the first time I've been involved in a relationship that's gotten to the transactive memory phase, and that's kind of scary. On the one hand it frees up cognitive cycles to let you do things you never could have done otherwise, but on the other hand there are chunks of your life that are disappearing. (If I remember correctly, this is theorized to be one of the reasons why men are more likely to commit suicide after a breakup.) I guess that's the way it's always like with our parents, but somehow it feels different with a significant other.
maeon3 15y ago
We are measuring our own human memories against the flawless nature of computer system memory and as a result people are raising the bar on what "normal human memory" should look like. We shall just have to decrease the amount of time it takes for humans to access the flawless computer memory. When the amount of data for one person to remember becomes too great then increased specialization is required.
- wahnfrieden 15y ago
  We can also take advantage of computers to help us to be able to actively recall things, using spaced repetition systems. These are an attempt to make long-term memorization as efficient as possible.
6ren 15y ago
I have a fear of forgetting insights i just had - it's not irrational, because if I don't grab them quickly enough they vanish (though sometimes come back).
tphyahoo 15y ago
Alzheimers is a spectrum disorder. At its worse, it can be far more awful than losing your memory. Language can be severely impacted, resulting in a kind of mumbling word salad effect that takes a lot of tolerance and patience to listen to and attempt to decipher. There can be paranoia, mood swings, anger, terror. The loss of language in particular helps me understand why some sufferers would rather end it all. Existing in the moment, with memories dwindling -- I can imagine living with that. But having your language cut out from under you, and god knows what is happening with your ability to think in other ways? Alzheimer caregivers, particularly in countries with poor social safety net, have serious negative impact to their health -- both physical and mental -- as well as their finances. One study suggests that the financial impact of being an alzheimers caregiver can be as high as $600,000 when you factor in lost work, lost opportunities, stress related health problems, and of course nursing care if you outsource the problem rather than keeping the care in-family. As somehow with severe alzheimers in my family, I have no trouble at all believing this statistic. By all means we should be understanding and loving to everyone with a debilitating mental illness, and to their caregivers. But minimizing the severity will get you nowheres when you are faced with the reality of a really bad case.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
orangecat 15y ago
The fact that only 1 in 8 Americans older than 65 has Alzheimer’s fails to register. That's supposed to be comforting? Alzheimer's isn't the only way for your mind to fall apart, and a lower bound of 12.5% of that happening doesn't give me warm fuzzies. Aging really, really sucks and we need to fix it.
- biot 15y ago
  That was my take as well... people are hopeful that they'll win the lottery at odds of one in millions. Would people not play the lottery if the odds were "only" one in eight? Alzheimer's is only slightly better odds than Russian roulette.
- archgoon 15y ago
  Smokers have a 11-17% chance of developing lung cancer, according to this study. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7895211 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7895211
  - corin_ 15y ago
    As a smoker, my two thoughts are: 1.) I'd rather have a 10% chance of dying than a 10% chance of living many years with something like Alzheimer's. 2.) I'm not someone who says "I wish I could quit but I'm addicted", I find it easy not to smoke but I do it because I really enjoy smoking. I'm trading possible early death with current pleasure. Alzheimer's doesn't have any upside or choice involved.
    - ewald 15y ago
      You say it like if you smoke, you cannot get Alzheimer.
      - corin_ 15y ago
        No, I really don't. I was merely pointing out the difference between smoking risks and normal risks. As a smoker maybe I have an equal chance of getting lung cancer as Alzheimer's, but personally I'm more worried about the latter.
blahedo 15y ago
"...she discovered an upside to forgetting. She had forgotten old rancors...." This bears repeating, because it's both interesting and unexpected. I have a relative with Alzheimer's—diagnosed a year ago—and while the signs are unmistakable, she's also still perfectly conversational, reasonably independent, and most surprisingly, much more amiable towards people to whom she was formerly rather cool. Our best explanation is exactly as stated in the article: that she had basically forgotten the rancor. Anyway, I saw her so clearly in that line of the article I had to point it out, because it was (and still is) so surprising to us that this would be an effect of Alzheimer's.
MichaelGG 15y ago
Nonsense. Your memories comprise much of who you are. Losing them is like losing parts of yourself, and it's extremely disconcerting. I'm only 29, but I've had a few points of memory loss (amongst other mental issues). You've done things, significant things even, but have zero recollection. I've had to go to my email and IM archives to verify events and convince myself that yes, they happened. It's shocking when you find out days or whole weeks have happened, yet they are just erased from your mind. Imagine if a family member asked you about your trip to X, a place you'd never gone, yet everyone acted as if you had. You'd laugh and think it a joke, until you realised it wasn't a joke - then how'd you feel? Coupled with dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer's (or another loss of mental function), it's no wonder some would want to kill themselves. Why would you want to live in a disjointed dream, perhaps with a constant sense that something is terribly wrong, but not understanding what's happening? Why would you want to destroy others' memories of you, by leaving them with years of "not you"? I probably have 2 or 3 decades before things are really bad (perhaps a lot more with advances in medicine and technology), but if I ever get too bad, I'm going out on the highest note possible. If not for me, for my family.

46 points by anupj 15y ago

Meai 15y ago

Let me summarize the article: "Forgetting stuff every now and then isn't that bad." Yes, that is indeed the entire content of the article. I apologize if the article is meant as a joke, I'm not entirely sure either way. This makes me wonder: "[...]but she discovered an upside to forgetting. She had forgotten old rancors as well as President George W. Bush’s name." I also wonder why I keep reading newspapers.

Alex3917 15y ago
Dunno, this article really hit home to me. This past year has been the first time I've been involved in a relationship that's gotten to the transactive memory phase, and that's kind of scary. On the one hand it frees up cognitive cycles to let you do things you never could have done otherwise, but on the other hand there are chunks of your life that are disappearing. (If I remember correctly, this is theorized to be one of the reasons why men are more likely to commit suicide after a breakup.) I guess that's the way it's always like with our parents, but somehow it feels different with a significant other.

maeon3 15y ago

We are measuring our own human memories against the flawless nature of computer system memory and as a result people are raising the bar on what "normal human memory" should look like. We shall just have to decrease the amount of time it takes for humans to access the flawless computer memory. When the amount of data for one person to remember becomes too great then increased specialization is required.

wahnfrieden 15y ago
We can also take advantage of computers to help us to be able to actively recall things, using spaced repetition systems. These are an attempt to make long-term memorization as efficient as possible.

6ren 15y ago

I have a fear of forgetting insights i just had - it's not irrational, because if I don't grab them quickly enough they vanish (though sometimes come back).

tphyahoo 15y ago

Alzheimers is a spectrum disorder. At its worse, it can be far more awful than losing your memory. Language can be severely impacted, resulting in a kind of mumbling word salad effect that takes a lot of tolerance and patience to listen to and attempt to decipher. There can be paranoia, mood swings, anger, terror. The loss of language in particular helps me understand why some sufferers would rather end it all. Existing in the moment, with memories dwindling -- I can imagine living with that. But having your language cut out from under you, and god knows what is happening with your ability to think in other ways? Alzheimer caregivers, particularly in countries with poor social safety net, have serious negative impact to their health -- both physical and mental -- as well as their finances. One study suggests that the financial impact of being an alzheimers caregiver can be as high as $600,000 when you factor in lost work, lost opportunities, stress related health problems, and of course nursing care if you outsource the problem rather than keeping the care in-family. As somehow with severe alzheimers in my family, I have no trouble at all believing this statistic. By all means we should be understanding and loving to everyone with a debilitating mental illness, and to their caregivers. But minimizing the severity will get you nowheres when you are faced with the reality of a really bad case.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

orangecat 15y ago

The fact that only 1 in 8 Americans older than 65 has Alzheimer’s fails to register. That's supposed to be comforting? Alzheimer's isn't the only way for your mind to fall apart, and a lower bound of 12.5% of that happening doesn't give me warm fuzzies. Aging really, really sucks and we need to fix it.

biot 15y ago
That was my take as well... people are hopeful that they'll win the lottery at odds of one in millions. Would people not play the lottery if the odds were "only" one in eight? Alzheimer's is only slightly better odds than Russian roulette.
archgoon 15y ago
Smokers have a 11-17% chance of developing lung cancer, according to this study. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7895211 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7895211
- corin_ 15y ago
  As a smoker, my two thoughts are: 1.) I'd rather have a 10% chance of dying than a 10% chance of living many years with something like Alzheimer's. 2.) I'm not someone who says "I wish I could quit but I'm addicted", I find it easy not to smoke but I do it because I really enjoy smoking. I'm trading possible early death with current pleasure. Alzheimer's doesn't have any upside or choice involved.
  - ewald 15y ago
    You say it like if you smoke, you cannot get Alzheimer.
    - corin_ 15y ago
      No, I really don't. I was merely pointing out the difference between smoking risks and normal risks. As a smoker maybe I have an equal chance of getting lung cancer as Alzheimer's, but personally I'm more worried about the latter.

blahedo 15y ago

"...she discovered an upside to forgetting. She had forgotten old rancors...." This bears repeating, because it's both interesting and unexpected. I have a relative with Alzheimer's—diagnosed a year ago—and while the signs are unmistakable, she's also still perfectly conversational, reasonably independent, and most surprisingly, much more amiable towards people to whom she was formerly rather cool. Our best explanation is exactly as stated in the article: that she had basically forgotten the rancor. Anyway, I saw her so clearly in that line of the article I had to point it out, because it was (and still is) so surprising to us that this would be an effect of Alzheimer's.

MichaelGG 15y ago

Nonsense. Your memories comprise much of who you are. Losing them is like losing parts of yourself, and it's extremely disconcerting. I'm only 29, but I've had a few points of memory loss (amongst other mental issues). You've done things, significant things even, but have zero recollection. I've had to go to my email and IM archives to verify events and convince myself that yes, they happened. It's shocking when you find out days or whole weeks have happened, yet they are just erased from your mind. Imagine if a family member asked you about your trip to X, a place you'd never gone, yet everyone acted as if you had. You'd laugh and think it a joke, until you realised it wasn't a joke - then how'd you feel? Coupled with dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer's (or another loss of mental function), it's no wonder some would want to kill themselves. Why would you want to live in a disjointed dream, perhaps with a constant sense that something is terribly wrong, but not understanding what's happening? Why would you want to destroy others' memories of you, by leaving them with years of "not you"? I probably have 2 or 3 decades before things are really bad (perhaps a lot more with advances in medicine and technology), but if I ever get too bad, I'm going out on the highest note possible. If not for me, for my family.