Loundon County Library: 153.12 MAL 2012

Author: Michaels S. Malone (ABCNews.com’s Silicon Insier columnist, editor of Forbes ASAP magazine, Santa Clara University)

Abstract

Memory makes us human. No other animal carries in its brain so many memories of suh complexity nor so regularly revisits those memories for happiness, safety, and the accomplishment of complex tasks. Human civilization continues because we are able to pass along memories from one person to another, from one generation to the next. This book takes us on a 10,000-year-old journey replete with incredible ideas, inventions, and transformations.

Review from Amazon

“Health care costs continue to escalate, and every day the news brings us new or conflicting research about cancer treatments, if salt is actually good for you, how much fat is healthy, what role do your genes play in your health. Readers are looking for ways to take control of their health. They are turning increasingly to mindfulness and food as medicine. In the area of nutrition and diet as ways of managing health, for example, Tana Amen (The Omni Diet) writes extensively on how to reverse illness and influence gene expression with the food you eat.” ―Marc Andreessen, Web pioneer and venture capitalist

“Ingenious, richly complex account of how humans exchange, record, preserve and manipulate information . . . An original, fascinating scientific history of how human memory and a series of inventions have driven the advance of civilization.” ―Kirkus, starred review

“Premier technology writer Malone transforms our understanding of memory, human and artificial. After a vivid account of the evolution of the brain, he charts the developments that enabled our ancestors to acquire language, the first step in sharing memories and knowledge. With informed pleasure in the ingenuity involved, Malone deepens our appreciation for the development of increasingly sophisticated forms of memory preservation, organization, and communication while delving into the personalities and lives of both celebrated and forgotten technical visionaries.” ―Booklist, starred review

“In this sweeping and ambitious story . . . Malone celebrates the power of memory and the freedom it provides us while at the same time cautioning us to guard our memories and protect the record of our time in the world.” ―Publisher’s Weekly

“In his evocative book, technology writer Michael Malone traces that history from the brain’s evolution and the development of speech and writing to advances in recording, the rise of technology and the shifts in ownership of memory from the tribal elect to the masses … the book is packed with gems.” ―Nature

Chapters

  • Finding a voice – Memory as word
  • The cave of Illumination – Memory as Symbol
  • Clay, Reeds, and Skin – Memory as Medium
  • The bloody Statue – Memory as a Metaphor
  • Long-leggedy Beasties – Memory as classification
  • Theaters of Memory – Memory as reference
  • Patterns in the Carpet – Memory as Instruction
    • Notes: Digesting Duck, “What was needed now was a way to make machine production scale up without dragging their poor skilled operators along with them”. this quote seems specific important to deal with how we treat AI today. In 1641 - Rene Descartes in detaching mind from the body in the bath one day - the Meditations on Philosopy, the transitional moment between ancient and modern philosophy. 1) How does the mind work? 2) What constitues “life”?.
  • Tick, Talk – Memory as Recording
    • Notes: In 1880, Hollerith tabulator was used for US Census 1890, US population then was 62,947,714. Watson knew what his customers wanted: permanent memory output. In this case, in the form of paper tape printer. He established IBM in 1924. Edison’s phonograph - “Mary has a little lamb” transatlantic success. Tube stake - audio memory
  • Diamonds and Rust – Memory as Free
    • Notes: ROM, RAM, Disks, Tapes all invented, DRAMs, INTEL chips, EEPROM, Flashes
  • The Persistence of Memory – Memory as Existence
    • Notes: Gray matters (brain study), The geography of memory, 1956 George Miller (cognitive scientist) published the most cited paper in psychology – “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus two”. As exciting or terrifying as the idea of Memory implants, life recording, and the Singularity may be, none of them will every take place if this forth scenario – forgetting –arives first. And if it does, we may get a closer look at the eighth century than we’d like.

    The book ends with the following resounding ask — “We may never want the kind of immortaility that requires becoming one with our computers. But for the first time in history, we have the chance to have the memories of all of our lives live on indefinitely after us, to leave wakes in time as great as those once made only by kings. But it will only happen if we don’t forget to remember, to protect the record of our time in this world, and most of all, to find new, more enduring ways to preserve our memories. Memory is the guardian of all things. But in the end, we are the guardians of memory”.

Keywords

brain, memory, media, exitence, dark age, renaissance, duck, guardian

References