memory loss | ScifiBook Review

Science that seems like science fiction

Recently, scientists have succeeded in implanting false memories…

Into mice.

Wow! http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jul/25/false-memory-implanted-mouse-brain

But how far away are we from doing this to humans?

I swear this phenomena has already happened between my mother and me. We both can be at the same moment in time and both carry away totally different memories of what happened or what was said.

“You remember, you said…”

“I never said that!”

“Oh yes, you said…”

Insert discussion here that is totally different from how you remembered it.

Human memory at best is faulty and subject to personal viewpoint interpretation.

But deliberately implanting totally false memories?

That’s scary.

The Bourne Identity movies may not be too far off in the future. And the opportunity for implanting false memories to use as a coverup to hide government programs is frightening.

Or what about implanting memories that could be used in the entertainment industry a la Total Recall. The lines of reality and fantasy might become blurred as we experience totally false memories that we can purchase from, ah say, Amazon Online.

Hmmm…I have a few in mind already.

Now there’s a science fiction story for you.

Still with a horde of baby boomers getting older and older, the hovering threat of memory loss, Alzheimer’s and Dementia has pushed exploration of how memory functions to the forefront of science. We are trying to find out what memory is, and how we can protect our ability to remember.

A Dr. Blaylock is doing a lot of research on memory loss and is discovering surprising facts about the role diet plays in accelerating or preventing it. According to his research, absorbing certain metals plays a role in memory loss. Cast iron skillets, lead, aluminum cookware, eating certain fish and getting flu shots all contribute to a build up of various metals in the body, and may contribute to memory malfunction. Other villains are MSG, soy, and aspartame often found in prepared foods.

Health science is focusing on how we can prevent disease rather than having to find cures, or rely on medications so heavily.

Thank you, Dr. Oz. No wonder your program is popular.

Extending memory through computers and cloud storage for all the events and people we want to remember is exploding. We’re no longer keeping photos on dusty bookshelves, but are storing our pictures in the computer or in the cloud.

More than memory loss, what about a total loss of identity?

This week I read The Disappeared by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The story is not only about people who erase their memory, but who completely erase their identity and assume new ones. They need to disappear for one reason or another.

This is the first book in her popular Retrieval Series and touches on how the law has to provide a framework for various alien cultures to get along together. Unfortunately, these laws are not always just or fair to humans.

The story’s main character is recently promoted cop Miles Flint who is glad to leave the spaceport beat and move into covering the Dome. However, because of his spaceport experience, he has the bad luck to be called in for a crime on a space cruiser containing ritually disemboweled bodies that reflect a Disty vengeance killing. Next a ship of two human children abducted by Wygnin leaving moon orbit for their home planet is detained. Finally, a civilian calling herself Greta Palmer sends out a MayDay from a space yacht, reporting that she is being hunted by the Rev. To make things interesting, he is paired with an abrasive female detective whose record at headquarters describes someone with behavior problems.

Miles Flint has his hands full figuring out what is going on, and things are only going to get worse when he realizes that the largest service, Disappearance Inc., that helps humans hide and find new identities to escape alien forms of justice has just sold out its extensive list of clients.

Cases years old are resurfacing and humans are being sold, abducted or killed in the process.

I found this a fascinating exploration of alien jurisprudence wrapped in an absorbing, emotional story of three varying tales of desperate human groups, trying to deal with the horror their lives have become because they unintentionally broke or violated an alien law.