The Relationship Between Memory and Information and Data

Memories and Their Influence

Memories can explicitly create fundamental and deep recognizable identities of a particular event, situation or person. People generally live to remember both horrible and delightful moments they once experienced in life. Memory is the propensity of the brain to ensure that any information or experience is encrypted, digested, stored and redeemed whenever it is needed. It is very important to one’s life since it is the potentiality of storing and keeping an information for a long time to influence any actions in the future. This essay focusses on how memory in various ways influence or resemble information and data. By analyzing the Black Mirror entitled “Be right back” in the Netflix TV series, an article by Stanley Klein and Shaun Nicholas titled Memory and the Sense of Personal Identity and also an episode of how black mirror became a creepy reality, this topic is hugely discussed. Therefore, this paper seeks to recognize and establish how past and future identities can be created and maintained by memory through the aforementioned books and articles.

Be Right Back, Netflix Series

In this episode in the black mirror, a series of Netflix entertainment movies, it can be depicted that a fictional memory has been put in place to showcase and predict what the future would hold. Here, there exists a sharp arm-twist in the high-tech near future between the world’s greatest innovations and darkest humanity instincts. For example, a woman learns about a service that can practically use a machine to bring her husband back to life after he dies (Jørgensen 28). She realizes that this is done essentially by use of videos, photos and social media posts to recreate his spirit and soul.

In the beginning, the two characters are seen chatting online to each other but later resolve to speak on phone. Lastly, a version of real life exists in the lady and helps her raise her daughter with much ease. There exist a correspondence of information and data here. Already the two forms of communication exist currently in the world, but a fictional memory predicts that there are credible steps taken by people, innovators particularly to make AI as smart as living people. This is evidenced by the Chatbots running artificial intelligence and services of personality detection such as Crystal seen to pull online data and send emails and messages bearing their personality.

Memory and Sense of Personal Identity

This is an article produced by Shaun Nicholas and Stanley Klein and it stipulates that memory of the episodes of past generation provide a sense of personal identity. It delves in a narrative of a patient whose accurate memories of past events lacks a clear sense of mineness. They argue in their book, that a sense of mineness is purely a contingent characteristic of memory which further raises two concerns. One, it is viewed to undermine the interest of memory-based accounts. Secondly, it shows that there is an inadequate conception of quasi-memory that warrants various memory-based accounts. Here, it can be argued that memory resembles information and data since the patient in his condition, can still reflect his past events rightfully though without a clear conscience of mineness. By gathering older thoughts, it approves that memory can hugely resemble the information and data an individual possesses. ”Semantic memory is assumed not to be accompanied by an awareness of re-experiencing one’s personal past.” (Klein and Nichols 680).

Black Mirror, Creepy Reality

Shut up and dance, an episode in the black mirror recounts hackers spying on a teenager’s webcam in order to have him blackmailed through a series of risky and fatal encounters. This fiction in the play showcases a reality in life since cybersecurity is a major contemporary issue in the technology industry now. Hackers look for rare opportunities to hack people’s systems and webcams so as obtain vital information which they later leak to the rest (Phillips, Jason, and Robert 9).

The fictional memory reflects the future by putting into account that an individual’s credit card data or private information can be hacked that can lead to an invasive damage to his reputation or property. GPS tracking and hacked webcams are already in this practical life. This shows that memory resembles data and information as depicted in the fiction of this episode of the Netflix series. People should take necessary precautions to avoid blackmails and hacking of their personal data.

Conclusion

In summary, as depicted clearly in the three discussed articles above, it is worth noting that memory resembles information and data. In one way the other, fictional memory has been used to highlight the future and past identities of life. Cybersecurity, blackmail as well as memory and sense of personal identity have been in different ways used to site a predictable future or past memory account. Precautions should be taken by people since their relevant data and information can be acquired by unauthorized people who can memorize their inner details and use the exact information and data to cause havoc to their lifestyle and personality.

Works Cited

Jørgensen, Tanja Valsted. ”Black Mirror: Technology, Technostruggles, and Anxieties.“ Denmark: Aalborg University (2016).

Klein, Stanley B. The two selves: Their metaphysical commitments and functional independence. Oxford University Press, 2014.

PHILLIPS, JASON, and DR ROBERT BROOKEY-INSTRUCTOR. ”Tv in a coma… i know it’s serious: black mirror and the struggle between traditional media and digital media.“ Unpublished master’s thesis). Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, USA. Retrieved from http://thejasonverse. Com/blackmirror. pdf (2017).