A consequence of our information-rich world is that we forget a lot more than we used to, though that doesn’t mean our memories have grown worse. We likely also remember as much as ever–it’s just that the information we possess at any given time shifts more now. The Internet is a “brain” outside of our brain, and some people worry about that the way Socrates was concerned that the written word was an affront to oral tradition. He was right to think that writing would alter who we are, but that’s probably just a natural part of the evolution of the species. From Evan Selinger’s new Slate article about technology-enhanced memory:
“Ubiquitous information and communication technology is a major player in the memory enhancement game. I’m not alluding to products that target impairments, like the iPhone app for combating dementia. Rather, I mean commonplace software that people use to make recall less taxing, more extensive, or easier to visualize.
For instance, Wikipedia’s anti-SOPA protest made 162 million users, accustomed to turning to the site for those idle questions that crop up every day, feel absent-minded. Nobody messed with my hippocampus or your prefrontal cortex. Rather, Wikipedia’s actions were jarring because Internet use affects transactive memory, which is ‘the capacity to remember who knows what.’ If we know information is available online, we’re inclined to remember where it can be found, rather than struggle to retain the facts. This evolutionary tendency to off-load taxing aspects of cognition into the environment—natural or built—extends beyond using devices to recall information we’re already familiar with.
This is called ‘extended cognition,’ and it plays a crucial role in a controversial view called the ‘extended mind’ thesis. Advocates argue that data-management technologies, from low-tech pads to high-tech computers, don’t always function as mere memory-prompting tools. Sometimes, they deserve to be understood as parts of our mind. “
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“What would it mean to have no place in time?”:
Tags: Evan Selinger