Perhaps “replay” memories has the wrong connotations—the image it evokes for me is that of a partly transparent overlay over my own memories, like a movie overlaid on top of another. That is too exact.
What I mean by keeping such memories is more like being able, if people ask me to tell them stories about what it was like back in 2010, to answer somewhat the same as I would now—updating to conform to the times and the audience.
This is an active process, not a passive one. Next year I’ll say things like “last year when we were discussing memory on LW”. In ten years I might say “back in 2010 there was this site called LessWrong, and I remember arguing this and that way about memory, but of course I’ve learned a few things since so I’d now say this other”. In a thousand years perhaps I’d say “back in those times our conversations took place in plain text over Web browsers, and as we only approximately understood the mind, I had these strange ideas about ‘memory’ - to use a then-current word”.
Keeping a memory is a lot like passing on a story you like. It changes in the retelling, though it remains recognizable.
Perhaps “replay” memories has the wrong connotations—the image it evokes for me is that of a partly transparent overlay over my own memories, like a movie overlaid on top of another. That is too exact.
What I mean by keeping such memories is more like being able, if people ask me to tell them stories about what it was like back in 2010, to answer somewhat the same as I would now—updating to conform to the times and the audience.
This is an active process, not a passive one. Next year I’ll say things like “last year when we were discussing memory on LW”. In ten years I might say “back in 2010 there was this site called LessWrong, and I remember arguing this and that way about memory, but of course I’ve learned a few things since so I’d now say this other”. In a thousand years perhaps I’d say “back in those times our conversations took place in plain text over Web browsers, and as we only approximately understood the mind, I had these strange ideas about ‘memory’ - to use a then-current word”.
Keeping a memory is a lot like passing on a story you like. It changes in the retelling, though it remains recognizable.