Philosophy Wire: Forgetting. To remember…

The brain is the ultimate computing machine, so it's no wonder researchers are keen to try and emulate it. Now, new research has taken an intriguing step in that direction - a device that's able to 'forget' memories, just like our brains do. It's called a second-order memristor (a mix of "memory" and "resistor"). The clever design mimics a human brain synapse in the way it remembers information, then gradually loses that information if it's not accessed for an extended period of time. While the memristor doesn't have much practical use just now, it could eventually help scientists develop a new kind of neurocomputer – the foundation of artificial intelligence systems – that fulfils some of the same functions a brain does. [1] We had the ability to create robots which remember everything. And yet we will make them faulty. Just like us. Because we like our faults. Because we unconsciously know that they are not faults. Music is not made up of notes. But out of silence. Life is not made up of life. But out of death. What we know is not what we know. But all those things we choose to forget…

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Philosophy Wire: Memories… Cells… Death… Life!

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

Neuroengineers have found the first evidence that individual neurons in the human brain target specific memories during recall. They studied recordings in neurosurgical patients who had electrodes implanted in their brains and examined how the patients' brain signals corresponded to their behavior while performing a virtual-reality object-location memory task. The researchers identified 'memory-trace cells' whose activity was spatially tuned to the location where subjects remembered encountering specific objects. [1] A single cell remembering. A single person living. A single child laughing. The most important moments in life, lived by tiny small particles. Wandering in the thin air. Drifting in the ocean’s currents. The universe will fade away. The ocean will dry out. And the last drop of water, while dying, will carry with it all the suffering, all the laughter, all the moments of silence man has ever lived. And while turned into vapor, it will exhale proudly to the universe: I did live! Watch me die!

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Philosophy Wire: Memories… Broken cosmos… Blurry image…

Scientists trying to find out how memories form and fade away. [1]

But why should we care?
Why does a fading memory matter anyway?
How can a memory which starts to exist make any sense?
We never used to care about such things.
We used to remember anything.
At a time when there was nothing to remember.
At a time when there was nothing to forget…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: A zap to remember…

A small electrical zap to the brain could help you retrieve a forgotten memory. [1]

Trying to find a way to remember.
While everything in the world makes us forget.

The brain as a disease.
Shedding a veil in front of the cosmos.
A disease the cosmos wants to cure us from.
Let go. Accept its wisdom.

You only forget because you are meant to.
For what you forgot, you never knew.

And what you needed to know. You have never truly forgotten it…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Forgetting...

Choosing to forget something might take more mental effort than trying to remember it, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin discovered through neuroimaging. These findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that in order to forget an unwanted experience, more attention should be focused on it. This surprising result extends prior research on intentional forgetting, which focused on reducing attention to the unwanted information through redirecting attention away from unwanted experiences or suppressing the memory's retrieval. [1] 

We always try to remember things. 
Without realizing that by doing that we forget what we knew. 
There is no point to try to remember anything. 

Just let go and you will feel it. 
What you know is part of you already. 
The cosmos is here and now. 

Try to remember where you came from. 
And you will immediately forget that you are already there…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Learning the future? There is no need. It has already happened.

Researchers have developed a robotic learning technology that enables robots to imagine the future of their actions, so they can figure out how to manipulate objects they have never encountered before. In the future, this technology could help self-driving cars anticipate future events on the road and produce more intelligent robotic assistants in homes, but the initial prototype focuses on learning simple manual skills entirely from autonomous play. [1] We try to anticipate the future in order to control it. But the future is just the result of our current actions. What will come in the next minute is linked to what has already came at the previous minute. Every time we try to predict we actually remember. What we did yesterday. That rainy day of graduation. During that sunny day in the funeral. At that nursing house. Eating your first chocolate. It is your future. Try to remember. You are alive. And you have already seen yourself die…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Physically active. Mentally healthy? A modern civilization illusion amplified…

More mental health providers may want to take a closer look at including exercise in their patients' treatment plans, a study suggested. Researchers asked 295 patients receiving treatment at a mental health clinic whether they wanted to be more physically active and if exercise helped improve their mood and anxiety. They also asked if patients wanted their therapist to help them become more active. Eighty-five percent said they wanted to exercise more and over 80 percent believed exercise helped improve their moods and anxiety much of the time. [1] Do more with your body. So that your soul forgets. But does it forget? Or do you simply mask your mental issues with a good yoga exercise or a jogging break? Take a breath. Relax. Yes, all of your problems will emerge to consume you. But it is through fire that steel is made…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…