Re: [DIYbio] Fwd: [tt] Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years

I disagree. Memory without context is pretty empty. When was the last
time a stock photograph moved you? Because without context or connection
to the broader context of your human experience, a force-memorised old
memory would feel like a stock photograph, if you ask me.

Memories are remarkable because they can be triggered by tangential
things, and because when they are remembered they activate feelings,
associations and thoughts that bear some neural link to them.

Outside the realm of fuzzy feelings, the disconnection of memories from
their context would have serious ramifications for continued ability to
create. Inspiration is hard to pin down, but at least a little bit of
inspiration and creativity comes from the recall of loosely related
memories in response to a present challenge or stimulus.

Without context, older memories would probably be inaccessible to this
process of "wildcard recall"; what would this mean for Methuselahs of
the future? Would they succumb to the stereotypical stasis of ancient
fictional characters like the vampires in Anne Rice's novels?

On 29/01/13 18:18, Nathan McCorkle wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 8:35 AM, Cathal Garvey
> <cathalgarvey@cathalgarvey.me> wrote:
>> One could probably learn memory-redundancy techniques to reinforce the
>> memories that one wishes to last 800 years, but that's not really how
>> memory works. Over time, the associative links that make memory
>> remarkable would wear out as connecting neurons die, leaving isolated
>> memory-islands retained by practice and meditation, without any triggers
>> or contexts to make them relevant or even 'authentic'.
>>
>> So, without exogenous technology to account for this (brain:computer
>> interfaces to provide a long-term memory bulwark), I'm not convinced
>> genetics or drugs can provide a genuine immortal, merely a regenerative
>> shell whose identity and sense of self resets every century or so.
>
> That doesn't really sound bad, as long as it wasn't like amnesia.
>
> Maybe the neuron could regenerate when the associated memory was
> 'forgotten'... how to shift memories from one location to another
> without is a good question though.
>

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