brain, memory, soul, spirit
So me and my roommate have been having this debate all semester about the nature of memory and of consciousness, and whether or not they are products of mere electrons firing or whether they are sustained by something unknown, such as the spirit or the soul.
Many times I wonder how memory works, and how my brain is able to retrieve information, much like a computer, instantly for us to recall; or in some instances, how it doesn't allow us to remember. Those moments when you know that person's name, but you just can't remember, are really weird and annoying. Its like the memory is hovering somewhere, but as soon as you start thinking about it, you remember it.
The one thing that's for sure, is that our brain or memory banks are organized somehow; by some internal organizing sequence that connects certain sense data information and links them together. For example, when I see an apple, my brain instantly goes and sifts through all of my memory, or at least as much as possible, and makes connections; such that I am instantly given a recall of my forays through orchards in sutton and vermont; and as well, I am immediately given a flashback of the taste of apples, which immediately makes my taste-buds start to salivate. So what i'm getting at, is that, although I have no idea where specific memories are stored in my brain, there has to be an organization of my memories; there has to be some internal organizational network which my unconsciousness is aware of, so that it can immediately hand me my memories when I encounter familiar things, or things that relate to certain things in some particular way. Its not as though I pluck these memories or search for them in a specific spot in my brain; they are just invisibly stored, and magically appear behind my eyes when I which to recall something.
Is my memory storage bank a vast labyrinth with images, scents, emotions, etc, all stored neatly in logical manner much like a filing cabinet, or is more like a system of roots or veins, where each memory is connected to several memories, and so on an so forth? Are they a tangled, interlaced, woven together like a rug? Yes, they must be.
As well, if my memories a mere neurons firing electrical signals, does that mean that every memory, or set of interconnected memories, when they are not being thought of, are dormant somehow, as though they could be imprinted in cells like an image upon a negative; or are they in a constant state of vibration; a constant state of electrical existence?
It's a funny and amazing thought to think that all our memories are somehow hovering and being played about, over and over again, in the labyrinth of our heads somewhere; waiting to be remembered, waiting to be brought forth into our consciousness and awareness.
That some of these forgotten former thoughts and past images of events, which have presumably been transformed into memory and which been stored somehow, are possibly in the process of being repeatedly played out, like some lonely holograph flickering on in off, is a bizarre, yet amazing thought.
n.s
Many times I wonder how memory works, and how my brain is able to retrieve information, much like a computer, instantly for us to recall; or in some instances, how it doesn't allow us to remember. Those moments when you know that person's name, but you just can't remember, are really weird and annoying. Its like the memory is hovering somewhere, but as soon as you start thinking about it, you remember it.
The one thing that's for sure, is that our brain or memory banks are organized somehow; by some internal organizing sequence that connects certain sense data information and links them together. For example, when I see an apple, my brain instantly goes and sifts through all of my memory, or at least as much as possible, and makes connections; such that I am instantly given a recall of my forays through orchards in sutton and vermont; and as well, I am immediately given a flashback of the taste of apples, which immediately makes my taste-buds start to salivate. So what i'm getting at, is that, although I have no idea where specific memories are stored in my brain, there has to be an organization of my memories; there has to be some internal organizational network which my unconsciousness is aware of, so that it can immediately hand me my memories when I encounter familiar things, or things that relate to certain things in some particular way. Its not as though I pluck these memories or search for them in a specific spot in my brain; they are just invisibly stored, and magically appear behind my eyes when I which to recall something.
Is my memory storage bank a vast labyrinth with images, scents, emotions, etc, all stored neatly in logical manner much like a filing cabinet, or is more like a system of roots or veins, where each memory is connected to several memories, and so on an so forth? Are they a tangled, interlaced, woven together like a rug? Yes, they must be.
As well, if my memories a mere neurons firing electrical signals, does that mean that every memory, or set of interconnected memories, when they are not being thought of, are dormant somehow, as though they could be imprinted in cells like an image upon a negative; or are they in a constant state of vibration; a constant state of electrical existence?
It's a funny and amazing thought to think that all our memories are somehow hovering and being played about, over and over again, in the labyrinth of our heads somewhere; waiting to be remembered, waiting to be brought forth into our consciousness and awareness.
That some of these forgotten former thoughts and past images of events, which have presumably been transformed into memory and which been stored somehow, are possibly in the process of being repeatedly played out, like some lonely holograph flickering on in off, is a bizarre, yet amazing thought.
n.s
posted by realisation26 | 11:52 PM
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