From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon Apr 26 1999 - 11:02:12 MDT
"Scott Badger" <wbadger@psyberlink.net> writes:
> Questions for Anders and anyone else who feels qualified:
>
> (1) What do you believe the feasible limits of memory enhancement will be
> ultimately?
My guess is that chemical enhancements are limited, they only affect
the plasticity of memory and that means we can merely make it optimal,
not go much beyond current levels (let's say a few tens of percent) if
we want to keep both good generalization and clarity. Organizing
information has proven itself a great way of enhancing memory orders
of magnitude (mnemonics, ars memoriam, study techniques). External
support systems (paper, computers) also can hold arbitrary amounts of
information in perfect clarity, but are not as easily accessed.
My guess is that the ultimate limits of memory enhancement will be
input-output to the brain and processing rather than the brain
itself. The optimal memory enhancement without neurointerfaces would
be proper use of modulating drugs and memory techniques, but with
neurointerfaces the modulation could both be made much more specific
("Mark *this* memory") and external systems could give direct
support. Wearables with remembrance agents are a good start. Note that
this would make it possible to "cheat" the generalization-clarity
dilemma by storing generalized memories in the brain for processing,
and the clear data in external systems.
> (2) Would uploading likely remove all the blocked pathways and enable
> complete access?
No. Uploading would not change the neural net of the brain, and the
blocks are "software problems" (problems with retrieval dynamics, bad
indexing, mis-associations etc). But interfacing and modulating the
brain becomes much simpler, of course. I would expect a fast rate of
innovation once people start to upload themselves.
> (3) How useful would these recovered memories be if their clarity was
> compromised due to the constructive and confabulatory nature of memory?
Depends on the application - most of the time this causes few
problems, but when in the witness stand or trying to remember the
formula for sin(5x) it becomes troublesome. This is why I think having
several levels of storage is a good idea: from highly generalized
memories that when recalled are rather constructive, over to clear
recordings of experiences.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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