Forgetting Is Good

Do you consider yourself to be a person who remembers a lot of stuff?


Last night, I came downstairs to find my father watching a special on 60 Minutes about people who remember everything. I walked in halfway through, and did not hear exactly what made these people remember everything, but some sort of condition in their brain allowed for just that. For the sake of this post, I'll just call them "the people," because I don't know the condition, their names, or anything else about them. Rest assured, they did in fact remember everything. Questions were asked of them regarding the 1960s, football games from when they were 7 years old, and as many other obscure topics that you can think of. They continued to rattle off every last detail about those specific years, those specific football games, and other events that we dismiss every day as nothing. Rest assured, these people rattled off more details of these past events than I can give in a description of what I did this morning.


These people were human video cameras. Everything that they have seen and heard has been archived in their super-storage heads. They are outliers in a sample of normal human brains. But a problem lies dormant at the bottom of their incredible gift - they can't forget anything. It's not that they don't want to forget and try to retain every lick of information, they simply can't forget. Forgetting is a basic facet of human function, but they can't do it. Not to say that they aren't human. Humans can lack arms and legs and still be human, just as mega brain-power doesn't rule you out either.


I don't remember much from kindergarten. Or first grade. Or even a lot from my freshman year of high school. I can tell you a few key moments of those years that stick out in my mind as unique, but that's about it. I can recall a few little this-and-that things as well, but not very many. People forget a lot of stuff throughout their lives, regardless of the importance of those memories, the magnitude of those memories, and when those memories first happened. Everyone's personality is shaped based on forgotten events. Decisions are made based on how you have made similar decisions in the past, regardless of your recollection of the outcome.


In the 60 Minutes special, a point was brought up about how people familiarize themselves with a recurring event, and establish a "typical" sense of that event in their minds. Think of a walk that you might take often, or a road that you frequently drive on. You can explain a typical walk or drive - you might look at the trees, you might say that you like the scenery in that area, or you might just go that way because it's quicker than the other options. These people can't form typical memories. They notice every nuance of every event, regardless of how often they experience it. They might say that they saw a squirrel behind the 11th tree at 3:47 PM when they took their walk yesterday, but today they saw it (they'd say it was the same exact squirrel if they got a close enough look at it to be sure) behind a different tree at 3:30. Every single experience becomes 100% unique, and can't be related to other ones. Personalities are formed based on completely independent events, all of which are very hard to connect to each other.


None of the people in the special were unhappy, in fact they all seemed very pleased with their ability. I'm not trying to argue that they should be unhappy with what they can remember, but I am saying I like being able to forget. I don't know if I would want to never be able to forget a negative thing that someone might have done to me. I don't know if I would want to remember every gross image my eyes have ever come across. I don't even have much control of remembering those things, unless I commit them to memory on purpose - which, if the memories are unpleasant, I won't do.


I've had to go over this post several times because I forgot a lot of what I had already written, and didn't want to repeat myself. But I guess that's okay, I forget a majority of the information I take in. Or maybe I forget a minority... I don't know, I forget how much I have learned in the first place.