Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Smarter Than You Think -- Chapter 2

[Smarter Than You Think]

In Chapter 2 "We, the Memorious" of Smarter Than You Think, Clive Thompson discusses the concept of memory. He writes about how memories are formed, how we extract what we remember, and how technology relates to this process.

Thompson writes “The way machines will become integrated into our remembering is likely to be in smaller, less intrusive bursts. In fact, when it comes to finding meaning in our digital memories, less may be more” (37).

What did you gain from Thompson’s discussion of memory in this chapter? What made that idea particularly useful?

18 comments:

Jacqueline C. said...

In the chapter on memory, I can see how memory is very crucial. It is a key part of our identity and being able to recall memories brings different emotions. At the same time, remembering everything may not be good because not all memories are pleasant. The fact that lifeloggers document every part of their lives seems so tedious and inhibits you from enjoying life fully because they are focused on every detail. So I found the chapter interesting.

Jacquelene G said...

From this chapter, I gained the fact that that it is good to have the power to forget because as humans we tend to focus and remember things that are really important to us and that is what helps develop who we are. I also gained that our minds are great at connecting the dots between associations. This useful because this is the one thing machines can’t do.

Jacquelene G.

Unknown said...

In this chapter I was able to see the positive and negative effects of having memories. I see that sometimes it is good to let go of certain things and release them from your thoughts in order to move forward. I also see how not remembering can also hinder you and allow you to miss pieces. I also found it intriguing how some people can get hung up on the details and allow that the dictate their lives.
Ashya F.

Sandra N said...

Memory is a very important thing. I feel like it's becoming easier to good and bad memories. That quote is true. Little by little technology is allowing people to document every tiny aspect of their lives thinking everyone wants to know about it. By documenting so much of our lives, it makes remembering things less important because you could go back to any type of social media to remind you. This is a superficial memory. The way you feel and remember is something apps and machines cannot do.

Candace P said...

From Chapter 2 within Thompson's "Smarter Than You Think", I gained clarity on individuals' tendency to rewrite accounts of their lives. Within todays's culture, however, technology enables us to record artifical memories. When I further considered the fact that technology allows us to store memories, I began to take into account that we choose which memories to keep on file by deleting pictures, messages, etc.

Jenee B. said...

From this chapter, I gained that memory tends to be what you make it. For example, you may unintentionally revise old memories to fit your personality or beliefs in the present. Also, to begin with your brain is much more likely to hold on to memories that mean a lot or are interesting to you. However, information you do not particularly care for or more passive events are easily forgotten.

Kiara Gay said...

In the chapter about memory, I thought it was very interesting to realize that we take events in our lives, and change details that can either make the event more positive or negative, pretty much making it what we want it to be. But also, thinking about the fact that technology can store memory more accurately and give us the exact recall of what happened it also something exciting and scary to think about. It makes me wonder, if I am able to make the past what I want it to be, do i really want technology ruining that experience for me and recalling exactly what happens in each case of my life. In the case of an accident that wasn't your fault, maybe having a recording of it isn't so bad, but when it comes to your first date that didn't go so well but you think it did, do you really want to recall the negative aspect of it?

Unknown said...

I found the conclusion drawn through the authors observation of his child most interesting. I have heard of studies done at the grade school and high school levels about the relationship between learning, recall and location. Teachers often tell students that assigned seats are helpful and that test scores tend to be higher when a student is forced to demonstrate proficiency in a particular subject area under the same conditions in which the information of skill was learned. Seeing that this relationship between physical location and learning exists at such a young age is fascinating

C. S. said...

The lifeloggers reminded me of an assignment I once had in an Anthropology course.
We were required to record every piece of trash that we threw out.
I was tedious at first, but upon looking at the data and everything I threw out, I realized how much of an impact I make, or waste in this case.
Those are all things I don't commit to memory. But I think logging things like that are important.

Chante S.

Anonymous said...

The power to forget is far more important than I realized. This chapter opened my eyes to the fact that, like everything there are positive and negative things that come with memory. The ability to forget allows bad memories to vanish, making it able to move on and create better ones.

Olivia Slater said...

The ability to forget is positive. Before this chapter I had a different perspective. Like anything else, memory can be negative. The ability to forget allows bad memories to be blocked, creating space in the mind to store pleasant thoughts.

Jade G said...

In the chapter about memory, the most interesting thing to me was how memory can enhance your life. Memories tend to be good and bad depending on one's life. Memories can have a positive effect on one's life. For example, remembering good and bad situations can determine how someone resolves a new situation by learning from the past. Remembering as well as forgetting situations can help one move along in a positive lifestyle.

Ashley Bass said...

What I gained from Thompson's discussion of memory in this chapter is that some memories should should be forgotten. It is impossible to try and learn new things or move on from a bad experience if you do not forget some memories. This relates to what I learned in psychology. Our brain can only store a certain amount of information, so it is constantly removing information that we do not use. An example of this with me is for cursive handwriting. When I was younger I used to write in cursive all the time, because it was required for certain assignments. Now that I'm older I rarely ever use cursive and realized that I have no idea how to write certain letters in cursive anymore.

Kiana S said...

The biggest impact of Thompson's discussion of memory was the greatness of forgetting. If you remember everything you'll remember all of the gruesome details you would prefer to forget. Our brain remembers the big picture of people and things that happen in our lives and I believe its for the better.

Sable Brown said...

I learned how efficient the organic search patterns of the brain are as opposed to mechanical searches for information. Of course survival is linked to the grasping of the big picture instead of details, but the self-relization aspect of humanity intertwined with memory was a startling revelation. I found the quote from Gordon Bell very fascinating, he said "I feel cleaner, lighter" in regards to having all of his experiences captured on his mobile memory recorder.

Kayleigh E. said...

In this chapter about memory, I realized how little we, as a society, rely on our memories since technology has grown. In every event we are taking pictures and recording video. We want to capture the memories on technology to remember forever. We don't trust our minds that we will remember it. On page 25, it is even proven that our minds don't quite remember learned things for the long haul.

Jessica LW said...

Reading about memory in chapter two was interesting. I never realized how being able to forget can be beneficial. I agree with the book when it says being able to forget is a gift and a curse. If we remembered everything that was harmful to us we would suffer from an excessive amount of distress. I always considered memory to be a passive act so it is interesting to read how Mr. Thompson considers it an active process. From this chapter I gained that memory is basically what you make of it and as Mr. Thompson explained it is an active process.

Unknown said...

There is a saying in Spanish about memory that goes "ser es preservar". To be is to preserve. This saying is powerful in that is acknowledges how important maintaining awareness and remembrances of the past is to a persons identitty