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> full resolution What, generally, do you think this might mean?

bick_nyers 4y ago
The ability to experience a memory as precisely as you want, including the option of a full mental transplant, like loading a save file for a video game. See, hear, touch, smell, taste, and think the exact same thoughts as you did 15 years ago. The playback mechanisms will have some caveats, as it may not strictly be possible to playback perfectly, as you are a different person with a different brain and body than say 15 years ago. You could relive something in the first person perspective, or perhaps just observe yourself from a third person perspective. To a lesser degree, just being able to hear the dialogue in your brain at the time of a memory would be monumental. Then you can get into the business of using tools built around this, such as searching your memories, computing statistical analysis (maybe you can find out why you haven't been able to commit to an exercise habit for the past 5 years?), and so on.
- sethrin 4y ago
  I have aphantasia, so my experience of memories is generally closer to factual recall than sense experiences; additionally I don't have an inner monologue. Which is sort of why I asked: memory is not necessarily a record of our sense experiences. Keeping an arbitrarily precise record of our sense experiences would be quite cool and useful, but that would necessarily be a different physical process than memory, and any "memory" generated from that data would only be an interpretation of what that sensory experience might have been.
  - bick_nyers 4y ago
    When I mean memory I mean every possible electrical signal in the brain, including sensory input. Maybe it won't be possible to "see what your eyes saw 10 years ago" directly into the brain, but perhaps you could render it on a monitor? When it comes to not having an inner monologue, that complicates the example, but I think it's still possible to work with actual memory. What I suggested was a tool to search your memory by tapping into the words from the inner monologue, but if you don't have that available, you can still search the signals of the brain, it would just be less comprehensible. Say you're trying to quit smoking, you could pattern match the brain signals that are present when you have a craving by checking historical data, and pipe that feedback into a controlled release nicotine patch designed to slowly taper you down over a few months. Edit: While that particular use case doesn't sound exciting (why not just use a regular patch?), I don't think it's because the possibilities aren't exciting but more so I'm just not the best at imagining what the use cases would be specifically.

The ability to experience a memory as precisely as you want, including the option of a full mental transplant, like loading a save file for a video game. See, hear, touch, smell, taste, and think the exact same thoughts as you did 15 years ago. The playback mechanisms will have some caveats, as it may not strictly be possible to playback perfectly, as you are a different person with a different brain and body than say 15 years ago. You could relive something in the first person perspective, or perhaps just observe yourself from a third person perspective. To a lesser degree, just being able to hear the dialogue in your brain at the time of a memory would be monumental. Then you can get into the business of using tools built around this, such as searching your memories, computing statistical analysis (maybe you can find out why you haven't been able to commit to an exercise habit for the past 5 years?), and so on.

sethrin 4y ago
I have aphantasia, so my experience of memories is generally closer to factual recall than sense experiences; additionally I don't have an inner monologue. Which is sort of why I asked: memory is not necessarily a record of our sense experiences. Keeping an arbitrarily precise record of our sense experiences would be quite cool and useful, but that would necessarily be a different physical process than memory, and any "memory" generated from that data would only be an interpretation of what that sensory experience might have been.
- bick_nyers 4y ago
  When I mean memory I mean every possible electrical signal in the brain, including sensory input. Maybe it won't be possible to "see what your eyes saw 10 years ago" directly into the brain, but perhaps you could render it on a monitor? When it comes to not having an inner monologue, that complicates the example, but I think it's still possible to work with actual memory. What I suggested was a tool to search your memory by tapping into the words from the inner monologue, but if you don't have that available, you can still search the signals of the brain, it would just be less comprehensible. Say you're trying to quit smoking, you could pattern match the brain signals that are present when you have a craving by checking historical data, and pipe that feedback into a controlled release nicotine patch designed to slowly taper you down over a few months. Edit: While that particular use case doesn't sound exciting (why not just use a regular patch?), I don't think it's because the possibilities aren't exciting but more so I'm just not the best at imagining what the use cases would be specifically.