Comments on: A Drug That Could Give You Perfect Visual Memory

By: Verena

Verena — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:09:17 +0000

Humans with perfect or near-perfect visual memory have existed, but I don’t know of any case where the person in question didn’t suffer some corresponding limitation in processing. For example: (not a primary source) http://blog.granneman.com/2008/12/04/a-russian-man-with-perfect-memory/

By: Jayk

Jayk — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:42:00 +0000

cedley, you don’t know a thing about biology, do you? Unless a perfect memory were vital for our survival, it would not be selected for — just because it’s useful doesn’t mean it’s absolutely necessary.

And our body isn’t a zero-sum game — there’s no necessary negative for every positive.

That being said, it’s still possible that there’s negative side-effects — an inability to forget would sometimes be considered bad (inability to forget trauma, for instance) and the protein’s over-abundance could trigger other unwanted bodily functions (the likelihood of this is minimal, though).

By: zyga

zyga — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:00:05 +0000

wonder what the side effects would be?

By: thisismyname

thisismyname — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:49:55 +0000

Not necessarily. The human brain evolved to be most efficient for a lifestyle very different from modern day life. It may be that the only trade-off for having this enhanced memory is increased energy consumption (which our ancestors may not have been able to afford, but we today have plenty of extra cheap calories in our diets). That being said, there obviously needs to be much more research done to find out if there are any adverse effects. Also, this protein may only have the desired effects in mice, and not in humans.

By: cedley1969

cedley1969 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:14:56 +0000

I would imagine there has to be some form of trade off or we would already have the ability.
Take various forms of autism where perfect visual memory is present.
The sheer quantity of information would have to be offset by reduced brain function, also would you want to be able to pull up a perfect visual record of anything you had seen just because you were reminded of it? Imagine the effect on victims of violent crime or disaster. Not having any means of forgetting would be my idea of a personal hell.