Process update

Statement 2.0

Memory is intersection between mind and matter – Henri Bergson.

The definition of memory is always limited to that which has already happened, The soonest that memory can ever able to explain is perhaps that which is current, and never what might be. There have been various philosophical and psychological attempts to explore what memory is, in relation to the cognitive system to social context, but none of the attempt was satisfactory. For example, at the end of the discussion of remembering, Bertrand Russell lamented that “this analysis of memory is probably extremely faulty, but I do not know how to improve it.” At the same time, the universality of memory makes it possible to share the consensus and its importance not only in factual way, but also in experiential and perceptual way.

Although memory exist as one concept, it is hard to grasp memory as one thing. Memory in fact, is composed of different layers of mind, perception, physical and mental ability and filtering process through out time. Memory itself is not solid and can be mutated or erased from our mind.

Yet, with the development of storing tools, memory can be stored in different format for unlimited amount of time, as long as the tool doesn’t fail. However, the unlimited capacity of storing diminishes the quality of memory. Also, the storing and retrieval process of memory from the given tool also eliminated the value of memory itself. For example, to store more, the format of memory is changed into simpler version like text or images, which mutates memory into mere data. When mutated memory as data is retrieved, the quality of memory is gone already, because it is often sacrificed for the efficiency.

This thesis proposes sets of processes that engage the idea that memory is not permanent existence, but rather evolves through forgetting and mutation. Memory itself is limited in spatial and personal experience, and throughout the process, obtained and recorded memory changes its form either intentionally or unintentionally. Knowing that memory itself can’t easily defined, but also understood in unconscious, this thesis tries to tie that idea while criticizing the current way of treating memory as sets of data. By arguing that we are still human, the goal of this thesis is to find a way to trace the mutation of memory and share that process to register that as another memory.