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Who You Are... Without Your Memory

Updated: Mar 10



Who You Are... Without Your Memory

"About this video essay: A spoiler-free analysis of the show Severance, and several other pieces of media, that explores how our memory really works, how it relates to our identity and sense of self, and who we would be without it. Chapters: 0:00 Prologue 1:10 Identity without Memory? 4:44 Episodic Memory 6:14 Semantic Memory 7:41 Interrelations 9:09 Explicit and Implicit Memory 9:18 Procedural Memory 10:21 Priming 13:16 Complicating factors 14:15 Identity beyond Memory 15:53 Nature Versus Nurture 18:23 Relating Ourselves to Ourselves 20:30 Cosmic Memories." from video introduction.


Rudolph Tanzi - How Does Memory Work?

Video from Closer to Truth

"We all wish for better memories. But how are memories stored? For all our neuroscience, we still do not know even the level in the brain where memories are stored—from inside neurons to long brain circuits. We do know that the synapses between neurons in the brain are critical, but how those chemical changes mean a specific memory remains a mystery." from video introduction.


God Gave You Your Memories: Finding Meaning in the Past

"Memory binds us to places that forget us, and to moments that no one else values.

Such thoughts recently haunted me when I perused my alma mater’s magazine. A glimpse of the familiar cherry blossoms along the Hudson River unleashed memories that washed over me like surf. Again I could see the shadows from streetlamps cutting across the footpaths in Riverside Park. I could feel hopes for the future swell in my chest, as they had when I would marvel about the hundreds of people whose steps had preceded my own on those same footpaths, their stories alighting on the pavement before vanishing into tomorrow.

“Our memories of God’s deeds offer hope, a welcome raft in turbulent seas.”

I now count my own story among the forgotten. The park remains, and those trees still bloom. That river still slides in rippling steel past the stacked concrete of the city horizon. But my footfalls no longer echo there. I can describe each blossom and avenue unaided, but if I return, I’ll be another tourist mom with kids fidgeting at her wrists, her memories, heady and vibrant, invisible to those who pass.." from the article: God Gave You Your Memories Finding Meaning in the Past


Augustine on Memory

Video from Daniel Bonevac


Saint Augustine and His Understanding of Memory

In the Confessions of St. Augustine, memory is a multidimensional, multilevel human faculty that is capable of performing several functions due to its features, which, in turn, are enabled by its nature and the character of its inner workings. Following the doctrine of recollection, Augustine believes that his mind has always known God, and the Saint describes the structure and mechanisms of memory in an attempt to search for Him. In the process, another function of memory becomes apparent: upon attempting to transcend himself, Augustine learns his own nature.

In this paper, the memory, as presented by Augustine, is going to be defined and described; its features will be linked to its functions or destinations, and a conclusion will be made about the way Augustine treats and uses this faculty.

Saint Augustine on Memory

Confessions. The tenth book of Confessions stands out as opposed to the previous ones. It contains the fundamentals of Augustine’s understanding of memory while the previous books told the story of Augustine’s past.

In other words, the book X marks a change in Augustine’s narration: from then on, he begins to disclose what he is, not what he used to be. It can also be noted that during the previous books, the author was exercising his memory, and the tenth book is used to explain this process that has been left uncommented in the previous parts of Confessions (Hochschild 139).." from the article: Saint Augustine and His Understanding of Memory



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