This week’s Flora’s Films was an episode of Black Mirror titled The Entire History of You. The basic premise is that the story takes place in an alternate universe where almost every person is implanted with a chip that allows them to preserve everything they hear and see as permanent memories. Like a computer, memories are stored where they can be re-played over and over and shown to others.

At first, I was ambivalent about the idea. I’m quite a sentimental person so I like to try and preserve meaningful memories through writing or photographs. Being able to relive memories would be fascinating. At the same time, having this technology destroys some of the things that makes us humans. When we remember something, we are actually remembering the last time that we thought about that thing. In that way, the brain distorts our memories until it is less rooted in fact and more focused on our thoughts and feelings surrounding an event. The technology proposed in the Black Mirror episode would remove that very human element of our memories.

The other obvious problem about the ability to remember everything is how it can be abused. In my opinion, the anti-technology trope in works of fiction is a bit tiresome, but I like that this episode made its point without being too didactic. I think the technology to implant a chip into our brains for similar purposes could be available in our lifetime. For example, Elon Musk is supporting a company called Neurolink which is focused on designing devices than can be implanted in brains. While this could potentially help ameliorate neurological diseases, it could have terrible effects if a company (or a government) gained the power to literally control your brain. It’s fascinating and frightening at the same time, but one should definitely consider the consequences of having such technology, especially since it could be plausible in the near future.

Some cool articles about memory and brain chip implants:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201307/your-memory-isnt-what-you-think-it-is

https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/27/15077864/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-computer-interface-ai-cyborgs