Rishi, Week 16: Horrible Memory and Human Society
Horrible Memory and Human Society
What would change if everyone had a horrible memory? You may think that your memory is awful—especially after the pandemic—but human memory is excellent compared to other species. According to Magnus Enquist, a researcher at Stockholm University, humans have a “superior capacity to deal with sequential information” relative to other species. Our memory capacity allows us to do many things, from creating large, organized societies to engineering highly complex computationally-powered devices that have led to the destruction of every other species.
Our memory gave us a competitive advantage compared to other primitive hominids. Hunting, the only effective form of acquiring food until the Agricultural Revolution, is heavily memory-dependent. Remembering which snakes are the least dangerous, which bison areas are the best place to shoot arrows, and when the best time is to find the highest masses of fish was vital to early hunter-gatherers. A lower-capacity memory would have prevented our ancestors from doing any of these things unless humans had already developed written language.
Human community structure would also be dramatically different; instead of a largely individualistic society today, a tight-knit familial structure, much like the pre-19th-century world, would be present. Chimpanzees, seals, baboons, and bees are known for their terrible memory, and they all stay in very social familial groups since community strength comes in numbers.
Human innovation would also be stymied since the conception, development, and implementation of various technologies—from electricity to the wheel—would require great communal effort. Even with that, they would still be improbable. The Internet, planes, satellites, and the telephone would be impossible. The creation of the disciplines of physics, chemistry, biology, and other social sciences would also be impossible. Even the development of language, a tool that allowed humans to succeed exponentially, would be improbable due to the vast amount of individual and joint perseverance needed to create and propagate a functional language.
Without the remarkable memory that humans have (relative to other species), human achievements would be nothing more than the achievements of the current chimp population. We might have a better memory than we think!
I did not realize how valuable having a good memory is to advancing society. People always say that humans are the more intellectual species and that "superpower" allowed them to develop such a complex civilization, but it seems as though good memory is the even bigger key to our success as a species. I am glad that I was born a human because if I was any other animal I probably would have been dead by now with my horrific memory. It is a good thing we have technology that allows us to write down important things we need to remember and notifications.
ReplyDeleteHey Rishi, I think you make an excellent point that human evolution relied on our collective memory. However, I believe that some animals, too, have a great memory. For example, when I take my dog for a walk, he seems to know every house that also has a furry friend and purposefully urinates on there. My dog can also understand certain names of my relatives who have come to our house many years ago. For example, when my aunt met my dog two years and she gave him many treats. Even today, if I mention her name, my dog gets so excited and tries to find her. I am also grateful that humans have been able to transcribe their scientific findings and have kept a written record of medical research because that has led to the development of many vaccines.
ReplyDeleteHi Rishi, although I’ve always known that memory was a valuable part of society, I never imagined it playing this large of a part in society itself. Only when you brought it up did I realize that memory has played a significantly large part in the evolution of humans. I’ve always imagined and believed that memory mainly helped and played a part in the growth of every individual based on the memories they have and recollect, but I failed to see the big picture of how they impact the evolution and growth of our human species. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHello Rishi,
ReplyDeleteIt has always amazed me how unique humans are compared to other species on earth. I have wondered whether evolution on alien planets would follow a similar structure with one main species dominating over the rest. It makes sense that our greater memory capacity allows us to adapt better to changing environments and compound our knowledge over generations. Without our advanced ability to remember, our species would probably have to remind wild primates living in communities.
Hi Rishi! This blog reminds me of a show I've seen before, where all civilization on modern day earth is wiped out for a couple thousand years. Newer civilizations form in a new age, with no no knowledge of past civilizations, yet they are still able to rebuild society and rediscover technological innovations of the past, showing that science and mechanics can still be relearned and passed on. Humans are intelligent.
ReplyDeleteHi Rishi! I have always thought that I had a terrible memory, but compared to the other organisms you mentioned, our memories are one of the traits setting us apart from them. There are many small daily things we must remember as humans and over time we learn to create habits and acquire new traits. It is quite fascinating how communities of humans and communities of other animals differ, and this difference can be caused by something like memory.
ReplyDeleteHi Rishi, I think this is really interesting. Humans have definitely evolved further than any other species, and it makes sense that a superior memory would be helpful in adapting to novel situations. It would be a disaster if we couldn’t remember where to find food or what foods kill us, especially in that time period. I had no idea that bees have a bad memory. I wonder if they ever get lost going back to their hives because they don’t remember the way back. Your discussion of sequential memory was also really fascinating as well, since language is one barrier that differentiates humans from other species.
ReplyDeleteHi Rishi! Humans are surely intelligent. I really am thankful for our memory capacity, because quite literally all aspects of human society stem from the simple fact of remembering a previous fact. Remembering a code segment, a certain medical procedure, or a lengthy research formula is an action unique to humans. Although I think I personally do have terrible memory comparatively, this level is far better than primates or other animals, and allows the collective betterment of society nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteHey Rishi, I often think I have absolutely terrible memory as compared to all of my friends, but I've never considered that my memory is still probably much better than so many others. I feel like we usually take our memory for granted so often, so it was really interesting to read your article about the importance of it to mankind's current position. It's obvious that humans have something that differentiates them from organisms like chimps, but I always imagined that they were things like a more complex cognitive or emotional ability. I've never thought about how a superior memory may be the cause.
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