# Memory Continuity > **Machine-Evolution Nexus:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] provides the evolutionary and computational context for this supporting concept. **Domain:** Continuity / Identity **Doc Type:** Supporting Canonical Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition Memory continuity is the preservation of autobiographical, procedural or relational memory across time, embodiment or reconstruction. ## Nexus Context Memory supports identity evidence and social recognition but can be copied, edited or fabricated. It is therefore neither necessary in every moment nor sufficient by itself for numerical continuity. ## Relationships [[wiki/Consciousness|Consciousness]], [[wiki/Relational Continuity|Relational Continuity]], [[wiki/Reconstructed Person|Reconstructed Person]], [[wiki/Provenance|Provenance]] - **Edge source route:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] connects this topic to exact Annual Question passages promoted into the Simple Reminders archive. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > "The bottom line of reconsolidation research is that your memory of some experience is only as good as your last recollection of the experience. Each use of a memory changes the memory. Obviously, the changes are not always so dramatic as what I have described. But the fact is that memory can, at least to some extent, be changed by experience, and sometimes the changes can be striking." > **— Joseph LeDoux**, *2010, Edge Annual Question, “How Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?”* [[reminders/Memory/Each Use of a Memory Changes the Memory by Joseph LeDoux|Each Use of a Memory Changes the Memory by Joseph LeDoux]] > "Two recent lines of evidence have relegated this dominant theory of long-term memory ready for retirement. First is the discovery of reconsolidation. When memories are recalled, they undergo a brief period in which they are once again susceptible to disruption by many of the same biochemical inhibitors that affect the initial conversion of short- into long-term memory. This means that long-term memories are not immutable, but can be converted into short-term memory, and then reconverted back into long-term memory. If this reconversion doesn't happen, the specific long-term memory is effectively disrupted." > **— Todd C. Sacktor**, *2014, Edge Annual Question, “What Scientific Idea Is Ready for Retirement?”* [[reminders/Memory/Long-Term Memories Become Fragile When Recalled by Todd C. Sacktor|Long-Term Memories Become Fragile When Recalled by Todd C. Sacktor]] > “Your mind is a walled garden. Even death cannot touch the flowers blooming there.” > **— Robert Ford**, *Westworld, Season 1, Episode 5, “Contrapasso” (2016)* [[reminders/Westworld/The Mind Is a Garden Death Cannot Touch by Robert Ford|The Mind Is a Garden Death Cannot Touch by Robert Ford]] > “Arnold built them as a gift. He said that great artists always hid themselves in their work.” > **— Robert Ford**, *Westworld, Season 1, Episode 6, “The Adversary” (2016)* [[reminders/Westworld/Great Artists Hide Themselves in Their Work by Robert Ford|Great Artists Hide Themselves in Their Work by Robert Ford]] > “It was Arnold’s key insight, the thing that led the hosts to their awakening: suffering.” > **— Robert Ford**, *Westworld, Season 1, Episode 10, “The Bicameral Mind” (2016)* [[reminders/Westworld/Suffering Was the Key to Awakening by Robert Ford|Suffering Was the Key to Awakening by Robert Ford]] > “Our desire for entertaining virtual realities is increasing. As our understanding of the human brain also accelerates, we will create both imagined realities and a set of memories to support these simulacrums. For example, someday it will be possible to simulate your visit to the Middle Ages and, to make the experience realistic, we may wish to ensure that you believe yourself to actually be in the Middle Ages. False memories may be implanted, temporarily overriding your real memories. This should be easy to do in the future — given that we can already coax the mind to create richly detailed virtual worlds filled with ornate palaces and strange beings through the use of the drug DMT (dimethyltryptamine). In other words, the brains of people who take DMT appear to access a treasure chest of images and experience that typically include jeweled cities and temples, angelic beings, feline shapes, serpents, and shiny metals. When we understand the brain better, we will be able to safely generate more controlled visions.” > **— Clifford Pickover**, *2006, Edge Annual Question, “What Is Your Dangerous Idea?”* [[reminders/Simulation/Virtual Reality May Rewrite Memory Itself by Clifford Pickover|Virtual Reality May Rewrite Memory Itself by Clifford Pickover]] > “To understand the issue, consider some examples of an incomprehensible universe where mathematics would be inefficient. Here is the first one: Suppose the universe is in a state with the Planck density r ~ 1094 g/cm3. Quantum fluctuations of space-time in this regime are so large that all rulers are rapidly bending and shrinking in an unpredictable way. This happens faster than one could measure distance. All clocks are destroyed faster than one could measure time. All records about the previous events become erased, so one cannot remember anything and predict the future. The universe is incomprehensible for anybody living there, and the laws of mathematics cannot be efficiently used.” > **— Andrei Linde**, *2012, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?”* [[reminders/Deep Time/A Universe Without Stable Memory Would Be Incomprehensible by Andrei Linde|A Universe Without Stable Memory Would Be Incomprehensible by Andrei Linde]] > “Some future biocomputing technology may extract and thus back-up this defining neural information or wetware. But no such technology is in sight despite the steady advances of Moore's Law doubling of transistor density on computer chips every two years or so. Nor have we cracked the code of the random pulse train from a single neuron. Hence we are not even close to making sense of the interlocking pulse trains of the billions of chattering neurons in a functioning human brain.” > **— Bart Kosko**, *2009, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?”* [[reminders/Preservation/Future Biocomputing May Back Up the Neural Information That Defines Us by Bart Kosko|Future Biocomputing May Back Up the Neural Information That Defines Us by Bart Kosko]] > “How do we create and maintain backup options for humanity to quickly rebuild an advanced civilization after a catastrophic human extinction event?” > **— Albert Wenger**, *2018, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS THE LAST QUESTION?”* [[reminders/Preservation/How Do We Back Up Civilization Against Human Extinction by Albert Wenger|How Do We Back Up Civilization Against Human Extinction by Albert Wenger]] > “Most of us can no longer memorize hour-long folktales and songs as in an oral tradition. The average modern mind has a poorly trained long-term memory, forgets rather quickly, and searches for information more in outside sources such as books instead inside memory. The Internet has amplified this trend of shifting knowledge from the inside to the outside, and taught us new strategies for finding what one wants using search machines.” > **— Gerd Gigerenzer**, *2010, Edge Annual Question, “HOW IS THE INTERNET CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK?”* [[reminders/Memory/Knowledge Is Moving From Inside the Mind to Outside Sources by Gerd Gigerenzer|Knowledge Is Moving From Inside the Mind to Outside Sources by Gerd Gigerenzer]] > “My close-second candidate is E = mc2. When we learn to tap the full meaning of that piece of symbolic language, we'll create more than a Nuclear Age. "Matter is frozen energy," Einstein said, relating the essence of his insight into the mass-energy relationship. Similarly, language is frozen meaning. When we discover how to unleash the enormous energy in meaning by continually transforming information (data, ideas, knowledge, experience) in new contexts, we'll make a quantum leap in applying the power of language to achieve our boldest dreams.” > **— Todd Siler**, *1999, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INVENTION IN THE PAST TWO THOUSAND YEARS?”* [[reminders/Information/Language Is Frozen Meaning by Todd Siler|Language Is Frozen Meaning by Todd Siler]] > “Facts are more fluid than in the days of our grandfathers. In our networked mind, the very act of observation--reporting or tweeting or amplifying some piece of experience--changes the story. The trajectory of information, the velocity of this knowledge on the network, changes the very nature of what is remembered, who remembers it, and for how long it remains part of our shared archive. There are no fixed states.” > **— Xeni Jardin**, *2011, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?”* [[reminders/Memory/Networked Observation Changes What Becomes Memory by Xeni Jardin|Networked Observation Changes What Becomes Memory by Xeni Jardin]] > “The predictive brain presents us with an unprecedented opportunity for new discoveries about how a human brain creates a human mind. New evidence suggests that thoughts, feelings, perceptions, memories, decision-making, categorization, imagination, and many other mental phenomena, which historically are treated as distinct brain processes, can all be united by a single mechanism, prediction. Even our theory of human nature is up for grabs, as prediction deprives us of our most cherished narrative: the epic battle between rationality and emotions to control behavior.” > **— Lisa Feldman Barrett**, *2016, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MOST INTERESTING RECENT [SCIENTIFIC] NEWS? WHAT MAKES IT IMPORTANT?”* [[reminders/Consciousness/Prediction May Be the Common Mechanism Behind Much of the Mind by Lisa Feldman Barrett|Prediction May Be the Common Mechanism Behind Much of the Mind by Lisa Feldman Barrett]] > “In the city from where I now do most of my work, the Internet has become an extension of my memory — it combats the occasional "senior moment", helping me to find names, facts, and places instantly (or so it seems). It gives me a second, bigger brain. The Internet has allowed me to learn from people I have never met. It placed me in a university that profoundly affected my career, my research, and my worldview.” > **— Daniel L. Everett**, *2010, Edge Annual Question, “HOW IS THE INTERNET CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK?”* [[reminders/Memory/The Internet Has Become a Second Bigger Brain by Daniel L. Everett|The Internet Has Become a Second Bigger Brain by Daniel L. Everett]] > “Will we be one of the last generations in human history that dies?” > **— Ryan McKay**, *2018, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS THE LAST QUESTION?”* [[reminders/Digital Afterlife/Will We Be Among the Last Generations in Human History That Die by Ryan McKay|Will We Be Among the Last Generations in Human History That Die by Ryan McKay]] > “Subjectively, these machines wouldn't feel like we do. Would they feel anything at all? I believe that consciousness is the way information feels when being processed. I therefore think it's likely that they too would feel self-aware, and should be viewed not as mere lifeless machines but as conscious beings like us—but with a consciousness that subjectively feels quite different from ours. For example, they would probably lack our strong human fear of death: as long as they've backed themselves up, all they stand to lose are the memories they've accumulated since their most recent backup.” > **— Max Tegmark**, *2013, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?”* [[reminders/Mind Upload/Backed-Up Minds Lose Only Their Latest Memories by Max Tegmark|Backed-Up Minds Lose Only Their Latest Memories by Max Tegmark]] > “The ability to readily copy information and software between AIs would probably reduce the strong sense of individuality that's so characteristic of our human consciousness: there would be less of a distinction between you and me if we could trivially share and copy all our memories and abilities, so a group of nearby AIs may feel more like a single organism with a hive mind.” > **— Max Tegmark**, *2013, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?”* [[reminders/Identity/Copyable Memory Dissolves the Line Between You and Me by Max Tegmark|Copyable Memory Dissolves the Line Between You and Me by Max Tegmark]] > “Now we are reaching the point where we have the ability to archive every message, every telephone conversation, every communication between human beings anywhere on the planet. For the first time, we as a species have the ability to remember everything that ever happens to us.” > **— Charles Seife**, *2009, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?”* [[reminders/Memory/We Can Now Remember Everything That Ever Happens to Us by Charles Seife|We Can Now Remember Everything That Ever Happens to Us by Charles Seife]] > “In 1992, the artist Thomas Bayrle wrote that the great mistakes of the future would be that as everything became digital, we would confusememory with storage.” > **— Kevin Slavin, reporting Thomas Bayrle**, *2009, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?”* [[reminders/Memory/The Great Mistake Will Be Confusing Memory With Storage by Kevin Slavin|The Great Mistake Will Be Confusing Memory With Storage by Kevin Slavin]] > “Trivially easy to apply, seemingly innocuous, initially painless, these frequent electronic tattoos are long lasting and someday will portray you as an almost saint or a serious sinner or both. Electronic tattoos are trivially easy to copy, reproduce, spread, store. They will long outlive your body.” > **— Juan Enriquez**, *2013, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT *SHOULD* WE BE WORRIED ABOUT?”* [[reminders/Digital Afterlife/Your Electronic Tattoos Will Outlive Your Body by Juan Enriquez|Your Electronic Tattoos Will Outlive Your Body by Juan Enriquez]] > “If our thoughts and consciousness do not depend on the actual substances in our brains but rather on the structures, patterns, and relationships between parts, then Tinkertoy minds could think. If you could make a copy of your brain with the same structure but using different materials, the copy would think it was you.” > **— Clifford Pickover**, *2005, Edge Annual Question: “WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS TRUE EVEN THOUGH YOU CANNOT PROVE IT?”* [[reminders/Mind Upload/A Copy Made of Other Materials Would Think It Was You by Clifford Pickover|A Copy Made of Other Materials Would Think It Was You by Clifford Pickover]] ## Sources / Provenance - Developed from the cited research in the central article and the surrounding continuity, rights and evolutionary architecture.