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Old 11th September 2014, 07:18 AM   #1
Cainkane1
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Anybody here have a memory that needs to be erased?

http://news.msn.com/science-technolo...on-be-possible

I sure do. Now that I'm retired I have a lot of time on my hands and as I reflect on my life many of my memories are anything but good. I go to a psychiatrist but the memories linger.

Anyone here have the same problem?
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Old 11th September 2014, 10:28 AM   #2
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Yes, I have some memories I'd rather not have.

Even better, I would like these memories to be "at one remote" -- to know that certain events happened, but not to actually remember them.
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Old 11th September 2014, 10:38 AM   #3
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Tough choice- bad memories, or becoming a drooling idiot?
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Old 11th September 2014, 10:40 AM   #4
Cainkane1
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Originally Posted by Mark6 View Post
Yes, I have some memories I'd rather not have.

Even better, I would like these memories to be "at one remote" -- to know that certain events happened, but not to actually remember them.
I understand what your saying. I remember things to avoid because they happened to me personally but I also avoid things that have happened to other people. The things I avoid that happened to others are not painful memories but the bad things that happen to us persoally really hurt and just keep on being painful.

A few things that have happened to me seem like they happened yeaterday when they actually happened decades ago.
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Old 11th September 2014, 12:59 PM   #5
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No. I have one that needs boosted.
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Old 11th September 2014, 01:25 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Cainkane1 View Post
http://news.msn.com/science-technolo...on-be-possible

I sure do. Now that I'm retired I have a lot of time on my hands and as I reflect on my life many of my memories are anything but good. I go to a psychiatrist but the memories linger.

Anyone here have the same problem?
Same solution, but different problem. I want to forget all the stuff I've learned so I can enjoy relearning it, which is the best part. No one told me that with education, as with so many things, the getting is better than the having.
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Old 11th September 2014, 01:29 PM   #7
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Does this mean I can read the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time again? I wonder if I'd enjoy them as much on the second 'first' time around though....
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Old 11th September 2014, 01:56 PM   #8
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I reckon I can live with bad memories. But I have a vision of something that didn't happen - but nearly did - that torments me over the decades. Involved my young son running behind the car while I was reversing. I saw a movement and stopped, but the thought of what might have happened there ...
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Old 11th September 2014, 01:58 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by foophil View Post
Does this mean I can read the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time again? I wonder if I'd enjoy them as much on the second 'first' time around though....
This occurs to me a lot. I finish a great book or watch a great film or series and envy the people who are about to enjoy it the first time
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Old 11th September 2014, 02:32 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by Cainkane1 View Post
http://news.msn.com/science-technolo...on-be-possible

I sure do. Now that I'm retired I have a lot of time on my hands and as I reflect on my life many of my memories are anything but good. I go to a psychiatrist but the memories linger.

Anyone here have the same problem?

Yes, I do, and although I have hobbies to keep me occupied, I do regret not keeping in touch with all my friends from the past, I wonder where they are, and what they might be doing, as I am not in good health there is little hope I may ever be able to return to the UK and meet them again. It's all gone one might say, and although I can Google some of the places I once lived, it's not really the same. Perhaps these memories where best erased
I do miss a walk along an English country lane on a warm summer evening. by the village of Radwinter in Essex, sic transit glori mundi.
On the other hand Sweden is a great place if you like fishing, my best catch was an 80cm 5kg
sea trout caught outside the Grand Hotel right in the middle of town, no ********, LOL.

.

Last edited by Peter May; 11th September 2014 at 02:41 PM.
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Old 11th September 2014, 03:18 PM   #11
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As someone who actually suffers from post-traumatic stress, I've been following all sorts of memory-erasing technologies. They don't work. They never work.
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Old 11th September 2014, 06:52 PM   #12
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I have plenty of traumatic memories, but in the end I wouldn't want to lose them, because then I might end up in the same exact circumstances that led to them in the first place.
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Old 11th September 2014, 07:36 PM   #13
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I tried something. If I was having a series of bad memories, I tried picking one out, and turning it into an internal stand-up comedy routine. The first one was about my abusive, mentally ill mother, but it became a skit about growing up with her.

The best one had to do with my fleeing from her home when I was a teenager and moved to Hollywood. As soon as I moved out she got a Golden Retriever and named her - Julia. My name. The poor dog was a neurotic mess before she was a year old.

But it has worked a few times. Lately, when I find myself dwelling, I make an attempt to jump to a better memory. Some times are easier then others.
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Old 11th September 2014, 08:29 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by Cainkane1 View Post
Even if we dismiss potential (and intentional) misuse, another step towards blurring reality and fantasy? Oh goody. And no thx. I have my share of bad memories to put it mildly, but I'll pass on something that sounds like a sci fi flick that would be infinitely scarier in real life.
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Old 12th September 2014, 01:30 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by bigred View Post
Even if we dismiss potential (and intentional) misuse, another step towards blurring reality and fantasy? Oh goody. And no thx. I have my share of bad memories to put it mildly, but I'll pass on something that sounds like a sci fi flick that would be infinitely scarier in real life.

You don't have memories that send you to the emergency room for a full-on panic attack.
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Old 12th September 2014, 03:33 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by Loss Leader View Post
As someone who actually suffers from post-traumatic stress, I've been following all sorts of memory-erasing technologies. They don't work. They never work.
How would you know? Maybe it was much worse before.
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Old 12th September 2014, 07:11 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by Loss Leader View Post
You don't have memories that send you to the emergency room for a full-on panic attack.
But would you want to lose the memories completely? Or would you just want to be better able to cope with them? It sounds like the former would carry more than its share of risks.
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Old 12th September 2014, 08:35 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by wasapi View Post
I tried something. If I was having a series of bad memories, I tried picking one out, and turning it into an internal stand-up comedy routine. The first one was about my abusive, mentally ill mother, but it became a skit about growing up with her.

The best one had to do with my fleeing from her home when I was a teenager and moved to Hollywood. As soon as I moved out she got a Golden Retriever and named her - Julia. My name. The poor dog was a neurotic mess before she was a year old.

But it has worked a few times. Lately, when I find myself dwelling, I make an attempt to jump to a better memory. Some times are easier then others.
So... if you couldn't jump to a better memory, did you try fetching one? Okay, okay, okay... whatever works as long as you never roll over and play dead.
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Old 12th September 2014, 09:05 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by Frozenwolf150 View Post
But would you want to lose the memories completely? Or would you just want to be better able to cope with them? It sounds like the former would carry more than its share of risks.

I really don't care. I was in intensive care for a month in 2005 and two weeks in 2013. The last time, I was extubated and then reintubated three times. I was not allowed food or water until the last day. My defibrilator went off four times in two days.

Those couple weeks occupy about two-thirds of my memories. I remember that time twice as often as I remember all of the rest of my life.

Freedom from that would be ... it would be a gift.
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Old 12th September 2014, 09:42 PM   #20
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I don't know how much I can relate to that. There are memories of mine that I've wanted so desperately to be rid of that I have wished on multiple occasions I could travel back in time and alter the past. They've never put me in the hospital due to full blown panic attack though, so it's not the same.

I just can't help but see all the possible ways this could backfire, or have even worse consequences. What if the memory erasure wipes out everything from that point up to the present? What if it causes brain damage in some other areas that wipes out my mental faculties? I don't know if this procedure is precise and safe, or if it's more like firing a shotgun into the brain.
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Old 13th September 2014, 06:20 AM   #21
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I'll bet Peyton Manning would like to see this technology perfected.
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Old 13th September 2014, 07:40 AM   #22
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I am still trying to forget being pranked by a friend into seeing goatse-man. or two girls and a cup.

At the reflection rather than changing my memory i shoudl change my friends .
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Old 13th September 2014, 07:52 AM   #23
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Originally Posted by Aepervius View Post
I am still trying to forget being pranked by a friend into seeing goatse-man. or two girls and a cup.

At the reflection rather than changing my memory i shoudl change my friends .
I googled that first one. Now I have a memory I need scrubbed.
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Old 13th September 2014, 04:46 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by marplots View Post
I googled that first one. Now I have a memory I need scrubbed.
Next time, read wikipedia article first:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goatse.cx
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