Chapter 9: What is the Memory?

Overview

˜What help is a memory to me when I don t know my own name , when I wouldn t recognise my own signature, even if you put it right under my nose. I have forgotten it all!

˜That s the whole point! In order to give you a new fantastic future we first had to wipe away your past. We must release your cortex from all memories if you are to acquire new skills.

This quotation is taken from the book A Living Soul, by the Swedish writer P C Jersild, and we shall use it as a starting-point to a short discussion on the nature of memory.

The main character in Jersild s book is a brain, which has been put in an aquarium, left with its ears to paddle with and its eyes. Scientists are using it for experiments. Now and then it is given electric shocks in order to extinguish all traces of past memories. However much they try, there are still bits and pieces left.

Then where is the memory located and how does it function? Answer: No one knows ! The memory seems to be everywhere and nowhere.