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Asked by anon-188254 to Paul, Alex on 15 Nov 2018.
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Alex Reid answered on 15 Nov 2018:
Hi Oneeyedseal2006 this is a really good question. Yes memories are essential to us. Just from a biological perspective memories help us navigate around the environment and find things we need to survive. Without memory our ancestors would not have lasted very long at all! They also do more than this though. Your experiences of life and everyone you have ever met are how you form your personality. As such your memories will shape you in a very real way as a person. In some cases memory can get damaged through trauma or surgery. One person, a man called H.M. had a part of his brain removed (for medical reasons) which also included the bits responsible for his short term memory. He spent the rest of his life ‘stuck’ in a ten minute loop before forgetting things. This is just one type of memory (there are lots of others) so from this example alone you can see why it is important! For more information on H.M. have a little look at this article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/trouble-in-mind/201201/hm-the-man-no-memory
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Paul Matusz answered on 15 Nov 2018:
Hi Oneeyedseal2006,
Yes, memories are hugely important. Without knowledge – that happens by us turning “learning episodes” into “knowledge facts”, so to speak – we’d not be able to function in the world. That’s why we spend so much time at school – to learn all of the important things!
I guess you are mainly asking about memories about things that happened – it’s also important, because remembering the past events, like a friend of yours being mean to you, you can, again I will say it, create knowledge, if such events repeat – that she/him are a mean person towards you. This way you will be able to avoid them, and spare yourself emotional pain. So – memories are important to us, yes.
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