# Hyperthymestia (overdeveloped memory)



## Dave (Mar 26, 2009)

Anyone know anything about hyperthymestia?

Hyperthymesia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ananova - The man who remembers everything


> _from Ananova_
> 
> *The man who remembers everything*
> 
> ...



I had a few thoughts:-


He'd never have to read a book again - what a loss never being able to pick up a book or watch a film that you absolutely _Know_ you will really enjoy, but have forgotten why. On the other hand, he'd still remember them completely in his head anyway.
It puts a spin on the _Bladerunner_ idea that we are the sum of our memories, and that those memories are what determine what it is to be human. Does that make him super-human?
Remembering 'everything' is also a cliché of a sci-fi robot i.e. Data from _Star Trek: TNG_.


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## BookStop (Mar 26, 2009)

I knew a guy who had an amazing memory, not every detail, but but his ability was pert' near super - he drank alot, dont' know if it was connected, but I could see it.

What I wonder is; are the memories constantly in play, or can he turn them off or hide them to keep them from interferring with day to day life? I am a worrier, a constant guilt sufferer, and I could not handle having all my memories readily available for  perusal anytime a stry thought crossed my mind. I'd go insane with the worry, _Did I do the right thing, does he like me, will she forgive me, what if someone had died..._


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## Stylus (Mar 26, 2009)

Does this mean that every embarrassing moment of his life is still playing vividly in his conscious? (and not happily locked away in the vaults like the rest of us)

I can think of quite a few films where memory loss/recall comes into play (Total Recall, Eternal Sunshine, Memento, Paycheck and ... oh, I forgot the other one), but only one story where the protagonist is actually hyperthymestic (Terry Pratchett's Small Gods, where it forms an important plot point). I suppose it is harder to write a POV character who has an encyclopaedic view of their own life.


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## Nik (Mar 26, 2009)

One of my in-laws (twice removed) had 'total recall' as a child. The family learned to watch their speech and be *strictly* honest...

Naturally, the education system didn't notice until 'mid-school', when a teacher accosted him for 'staring out the window' about half-way through a sleepy lesson.
"You ! What did I just say ?"

Laddy blinked slowly, rewound his log-tape, "Good Morning, Class ! Today, we are going to learn about..."
And on, and on, and on,  word for word, corrections, asides, interruptions, down to the final, 'You ! What did I just say ?'

The teacher had the grace to admit 'special circumstances'. Other kids thought it was a 'superb wheeze'...

Anyway, laddy fell off his mountain bike a year later, woke up with concussion, convinced he was a character in his favourite book. By the time that was settled, his 'magic memory' had become erratic. Instead of going to college to study Agronomy & Plant Biology etc, he unleashed his 'green fingers' upon a local garden centre...


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## The Judge (Mar 26, 2009)

My main female character will have this - it's a genetic development of her race - so I'm interested in it as a condition.  

The drawback for at least one person who currently suffers it is that she lives the memory - there's no cushioning, or blurring of the edges.  If something unpleasant happened to her in the past, she feels it all over again - and again, and again.  And each time she thinks about it, it feels as bad as the first time.  And as I understand it, the memories run constantly - she describes it as 'a running movie... of my life', like having a split screen in her head.

If anyone else is interested she's written a book about it - 'The Woman Who Can't Forget' - it's by Jill Price with Bart Davis (Simon & Schuster).

J


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## mosaix (Mar 28, 2009)

There was a case of an Australian a few decades ago who was the subject of a research group in the States. He could recall lists and lists of numbers after just reading them once. Years after the research was finished one of the researches (who still had the research info) looked him up to see if he could still remember the lists. The conversation went something along these lines:

"Okay, I'm going to ask you about a list of numbers that we used about twenty years ago, on the morning of the 19th October 1974 to be precise."

"That was the day you wore those weird green socks..."


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## Ursa major (Mar 28, 2009)

It's amazing enough that they can store all these memories, but the ability to retrieve them all on demand is even more so.


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## Nik (Mar 29, 2009)

Can't remember the author, but there was a Classic 'short' SF tale about a Prof who taught college classes in how to improve memory-- Literally, 'how to remember'.

In the aftermath of a nuclear exchange, the big problem was post-traumatic stress disorder-- Literally, most folk were paralysed by recurring recall (flashbacks) of their dire experiences.

What use was memory training ??

A quick-thinking disaster-relief worker suggested those mind-exercises might be turned about: So, the Prof. set to work teaching 'how to forget'...

FWIW, even the hope that dire memories may fade is hope, indeed.


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## Ursa major (Mar 29, 2009)

* Ursa wonders whether he ought to get a Certificate printed for his outstanding achievements in the field of ... er ... what was it ... er ... oh yes ... Forgetting. *


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## the smiling weirwood (Mar 30, 2009)

There was a woman I read about recently who had this condition. 

UCI studies woman who can't forget - News - OCRegister.com


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## Dave (Mar 30, 2009)

The woman named "AJ" in that link is the same person that 'The Judge' mentioned earlier - Jill Price - according to the link to Wikipedia I left. The Wiki link mentions two other people, Brad Williams and Rick Baron, and says there is a fourth person (who may well be Bob Petrella.) 

I'm surprised I'd never heard of this before.

And the Bear is just having a 'Senior Moment'! It comes to everyone eventually.


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