Memory is reconstruction. We capture an image in our mind’s eye and recreate it with the code in our brain when it needs recalling.
The complexity today is that most of what we see is on screen. Our mind encodes both reality and irreality as one simultaneous existence. When humans want wings, the non-fungible tokens deliver.
As Kevin Horsley writes in Unlimited Memory, “The greatest secret of a powerful memory is to bring information to life with your endless imagination.”
The symbiosis between physical and digital bytes fuse a mirage of mind-movies. In the search for meaning, we rely on reproducing imaginary blocks in our heads.
We can always fetch for what’s in our brains, even if it’s not actually there. We can even grab thoughts out of thin air and let them permeate time and culture.
Memory is not storage. The process of recall is like a 3D model with missing pieces. We fill in the gaps with the most august imagination.
Intangible, elastic, ignored, and discarded, we barely feel memories, yet they are all we are. Our physical bodies are little more than an amalgam of flesh and blood, and our digital bodies are an array of ones and zeros.
But both are really just a patchwork of bits. The memories we hold are the most real thing about us. They are the foundation of our self-awareness.