I love reading about the inerface of computer technology and the brain, and CNN this week had a great story about new memory devices being developed. Various computer engineers are attempting to develop systems to completely document one’s life. Right now, this is essentially only develpoing programs to organize every possible photograph, paper record, and other material a person has in a cohesive searchable computer database that a consumer can run. It would be like an external computer supported history of one’s life. However, several people are working on systems that could record every conversation a person has an send it in text form to a computer database for use as a memory aid.

“His project’s focus was a wireless device that sat on his hip, much like a BlackBerry. The device recorded audio from conversations and other happenings in his life, and once recorded, sent the audio files to a computer that translated them into text. These text files were searchable by key words, and through contextual information such as weather or location, also recorded when the file was created.”

Obviously there are a host of privacy and moral issues to consider with these developments, but the idea that at some point, every piece of one’s life could be stored externally is both freightening and exciting. The utility for people with memory problems is clear, but also having this sort of documentation could do things like help people pass down family stories and help scientists collect data to better study the complexities of social interaction. The bottom line is that as computer technology continues to advance, these types of innovations will become more commonplace and could eventually change the way we live our lives in a very direct way.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 20 Oct 2006
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.