Super Human Memory, People Who Can Remember Every Day of Their Life In Detail

in #life7 years ago

A few years back, 60 minutes did one of the most interesting stories they have ever done before about people who can seemingly remember every day of their life in vivid detail. It was a story on what is called Hyperthymesia, is described as “the condition of possessing an extremely detailed autobiographical memory. People with hyperthymesia remember an abnormally vast number of their life ... Individuals with hyperthymesia can recall almost every day of their lives in near perfect detail, as well as public events that hold some personal importance”.

There are only a handful of people that are actually verified to have this, what I would call, superpower. In the videos I have posted of part one and part two of the interviews below, you can see to what extent these amazing people can remember. For some reason the first thing that comes to mind when I think about them is Hannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs” talking about not being trapped in his cell because he has his memories.

To an extent these people could close their eyes and remember every moment of a vacation or lying on the hot sand by the ocean, in vivid detail. They could go on a vacation in their minds multiple times a day without ever leaving their room. This is truly a power many of us wish we could have. Their experience and what they pull out of life, potentially has much more value than what most of us experience on a daily basis. Doing something small but enjoyable can be experienced over and over again. However, that being said, it could be a double edge sword.

Although they don’t go over it in the interview, what if one of these people had a tragic occurrence in their life, for example they lost a child. They essentially would be haunted by that memory everyday an unable to move past it like the majority of us can. Perhaps there is a reason why we shouldn’t remember everything that happens to us. Maybe we evolved in order to forget things because the majority of life is tough.

Would you want the ability to remember like these people, or do you think it would be too much of a burden? I personally think these people have superhuman abilities and would love to see what a study of them would reveal about their brains. Maybe in the future with some sort of computer assistance, we too would be able to attain such powers.

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Im torn between it being a good thing or not to remember everything. There are a lot of painful things that are just better to forget or supress into ones subconscious.. but on the other hand, remembering important things that most people can't is definitely a super power lol great post! Really makes ya think :P

you're using too much hard disk space of your brain if you remember everything.

Very strong memory .. !! Can be something people want but can also be a very hateful thing, but all back again personal respectively.? If something positive smells of course people will love to have a very strong memory, but if it tends to remember the dark time "like torture or other" then this can also have an impact on the psychological person itself and this can make the person crazy because The trauma he experienced in the recall of powerful memories that always haunt him.

Only some things I can remember, most I forget lol.

Wild - thanks for the amazing post!

my novel, A Familiar Rain, deals with reliving the past and features a character with autobiographical memory.

all of the sorrows and trauma we usually get over by forgetting, these folks still can recall. It could torment them. I’m not sure if this is a blessing or a curse.

I need to put in more work on my post

thank you for this post. It gave me a great idea for another brain related post that I thought of today. Wouldn't have put it on steemit without seeing this!

wish I had such memory..a good read. Brain power is amazing

Thank god my memory sucks. I have nothing worth remembering

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