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So then the brain must have some kind of weighting algorithm to decide what memory of equal value to jettison. Surely learning a few new URLs poses no risk to r

So then the brain must have some kind of weighting algorithm to decide what memory of equal value to jettison. Surely learning a few new URLs poses no risk to remembering which kind of car you drive? And on the subject of memories, are all memories information? If you learn something new in mathematics, do you risk losing the memory of the cake at your fourth birthday party, or only something technical you learned about archery? Also, if what you are saying is true, you are vulnerable to a DoS attack on your brain. I could flood you with new information right now and, if you read it, you might not remember your mother's name by the end of it.

drdeca 11y ago
Your mention of the idea of DoSing someone's brain reminds me of Ewen Cameron's experiments attempting to "depattern" people. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#cite_ref-whiteout-206-209_128-0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation... ) Rather horrifying.
- danieltillett 11y ago
  Cameron's "experiments" (torture) seemed to revolve more around sensory depravation and electric shock therapy (one of the major side effects of electro-shock is serious memory loss). This does bring up an idea I had from years ago where instead of making prisons as boring as possible we make them amazingly interesting places where the prisoners have to use their brains constantly all day. The idea being that all this information will slowly push out the ideas and thoughts of the old person to be replaced with a new ideas and memories that make the person less likely to commit crime once released. The person should come out of prison a better person than they went in.
tsunamifury 11y ago
I've found that my weighting is a function of recall. The more often I recall a memory, the more likely I am to continue to remember it, conversely unrecalled memories tend to fade more and in a sense become compressed or move to cold storage which requires more concentration to recall. I've always assumed this was an evolutionary result of weighting memories based on their usefulness, wherein the most useful memories are correlated with their recall frequency. I.e. they are the most useful for surviving my day to day life since I seem to need them a great number of times.
Practicality 11y ago
I am pretty sure that passing-out and altered states of consciousness are the brain's anti-DoS measures. You would have to counteract all those measures to successfully DoS a brain, and that would probably take a lot of drugs.

drdeca 11y ago

Your mention of the idea of DoSing someone's brain reminds me of Ewen Cameron's experiments attempting to "depattern" people. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#cite_ref-whiteout-206-209_128-0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation... ) Rather horrifying.

danieltillett 11y ago
Cameron's "experiments" (torture) seemed to revolve more around sensory depravation and electric shock therapy (one of the major side effects of electro-shock is serious memory loss). This does bring up an idea I had from years ago where instead of making prisons as boring as possible we make them amazingly interesting places where the prisoners have to use their brains constantly all day. The idea being that all this information will slowly push out the ideas and thoughts of the old person to be replaced with a new ideas and memories that make the person less likely to commit crime once released. The person should come out of prison a better person than they went in.

tsunamifury 11y ago

I've found that my weighting is a function of recall. The more often I recall a memory, the more likely I am to continue to remember it, conversely unrecalled memories tend to fade more and in a sense become compressed or move to cold storage which requires more concentration to recall. I've always assumed this was an evolutionary result of weighting memories based on their usefulness, wherein the most useful memories are correlated with their recall frequency. I.e. they are the most useful for surviving my day to day life since I seem to need them a great number of times.

Practicality 11y ago

I am pretty sure that passing-out and altered states of consciousness are the brain's anti-DoS measures. You would have to counteract all those measures to successfully DoS a brain, and that would probably take a lot of drugs.