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Speaking as someone with a ridiculous memory for specifics and details, no. I don't think anyone could function with eidetic memory and even having a really goo

Speaking as someone with a ridiculous memory for specifics and details, no. I don't think anyone could function with eidetic memory and even having a really good memory is difficult. The ability to forget should not be underestimated.

alganet 1y ago
I guess you answered the question (you don't believe in it), but I find "ability to remember" a poor description for what such skill might actually be. For example, the ability to recognize that something is not remembered and how to deal with the discrepancies might be underestimated in how humans interact with their own memories. We all have this, right? If I tell you that there are 11 digits in the decimal system, you know there's something wrong. There's a whole system in your head that expects the decimal system to have 10 digits. At some point, it was memory, but then it became something more. Of course, the number system is something simple. My question extends this kind of thinking to possible different areas.
- ofalkaed 1y ago
  The decimal system I can reason out through my knowledge of language and context, it does not require having learned about it. How would you feel about being friends with someone who remembers everything? Long ago I learned to not show off my memory because few want to be in a relationship with someone who is going to remember every failing and slight even if those failings and slights are not held against them. Most people seem very good at forgetting and very good at identifying what they should forget and when they can use forgetting as an excuse, etc, that all falls apart if you are friends with someone who remembers it all or even most of it. I half think most people actually remember just as well as I do, I just failed to develop the skill of forgetting. I just don't think you could function in society with a perfect memory, it is bad enough with a good memory.
  - alganet 1y ago
    You have knowledge about the decimal system without ever had to learned it? Makes no sense. Seems like you're trying to make an implied distinction about things we learn naturally and things we read and rehearse. Ultimately, you're skipping the question and jumping to consequences. You don't care about whether it exists or not, you're trying to think what it means if it does. However, since you're skipping what it actually means, that whole set of consequences is constrained to your worldview (or some worldview you decided should be presented in this discussion). In my conception of the idea, there is no perceptible side-effect of eidetic memory on normal relationships. It would require some apparatus to detect such things. I will accept your reversion of things, now that I restated the problem back to the original question. I would gladly be friends with someone who remembers everything and I think it would be a productive friendship.
    - ofalkaed 1y ago
      Digits, 11, decimal, and system; provides all the context required to reason out that the decimal system does not contain 11 digits. Unless you think not learning about the decimal system also means you never learned any words or roots used by the decimal system and magically became ignorant of the languages English is built on.
      - alganet 1y ago
        Why did you focused on a simple example and missed the point?
        ofalkaed 1y ago
        Because your "points" were all more of the same and my responses would have been the same, walking you though the logic of my reasoning and just reiterating what I said. I was making a point. My response would have been different had you shown some effort in wanting to understanding what I said, but instead you made assertions about things like what I care about and said that you don't think there would be any downsides with nothing to support it but your ideal, etc.
cindyllm 1y ago
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alganet 1y ago

I guess you answered the question (you don't believe in it), but I find "ability to remember" a poor description for what such skill might actually be. For example, the ability to recognize that something is not remembered and how to deal with the discrepancies might be underestimated in how humans interact with their own memories. We all have this, right? If I tell you that there are 11 digits in the decimal system, you know there's something wrong. There's a whole system in your head that expects the decimal system to have 10 digits. At some point, it was memory, but then it became something more. Of course, the number system is something simple. My question extends this kind of thinking to possible different areas.

ofalkaed 1y ago
The decimal system I can reason out through my knowledge of language and context, it does not require having learned about it. How would you feel about being friends with someone who remembers everything? Long ago I learned to not show off my memory because few want to be in a relationship with someone who is going to remember every failing and slight even if those failings and slights are not held against them. Most people seem very good at forgetting and very good at identifying what they should forget and when they can use forgetting as an excuse, etc, that all falls apart if you are friends with someone who remembers it all or even most of it. I half think most people actually remember just as well as I do, I just failed to develop the skill of forgetting. I just don't think you could function in society with a perfect memory, it is bad enough with a good memory.
- alganet 1y ago
  You have knowledge about the decimal system without ever had to learned it? Makes no sense. Seems like you're trying to make an implied distinction about things we learn naturally and things we read and rehearse. Ultimately, you're skipping the question and jumping to consequences. You don't care about whether it exists or not, you're trying to think what it means if it does. However, since you're skipping what it actually means, that whole set of consequences is constrained to your worldview (or some worldview you decided should be presented in this discussion). In my conception of the idea, there is no perceptible side-effect of eidetic memory on normal relationships. It would require some apparatus to detect such things. I will accept your reversion of things, now that I restated the problem back to the original question. I would gladly be friends with someone who remembers everything and I think it would be a productive friendship.
  - ofalkaed 1y ago
    Digits, 11, decimal, and system; provides all the context required to reason out that the decimal system does not contain 11 digits. Unless you think not learning about the decimal system also means you never learned any words or roots used by the decimal system and magically became ignorant of the languages English is built on.
    - alganet 1y ago
      Why did you focused on a simple example and missed the point?
      - ofalkaed 1y ago
        Because your "points" were all more of the same and my responses would have been the same, walking you though the logic of my reasoning and just reiterating what I said. I was making a point. My response would have been different had you shown some effort in wanting to understanding what I said, but instead you made assertions about things like what I care about and said that you don't think there would be any downsides with nothing to support it but your ideal, etc.

cindyllm 1y ago

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