Skip to main content

Why We Can’t Remember

I'm living a wonderful life with her

This article is dedicated to my sweetheart.
I and my girlfriend often get indulged in extreme dual fights on several topics. I won’t lie, I have started loving it.

Photo by Julia Larson on Pexels.com
Today, we argued over an interesting issue. My girlfriend has been recently watching a Web series named ‘Money Heist‘ claiming that she has never heard the name before from my mouth.


I differed.


I’ve completed watching this series a few years back.

Most importantly, I remember telling her about the tv series before.

But unfortunately, she doesn’t remember a dime.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
However, we indeed have a pretty strong relationship. Before judging her too quickly, we have to understand the science of remembering things.

How Does Memory Work?

Human memory works on some core principles. Brain consciously and continuously decides what information we have to capture for future usage and what we need to forget.

The brain is wired from ancient times to focus on the most important things around us. From the ancient cave-days of our ancestors, the human race has avoided extinction by optimizing the limited available resources. Imagine a cave couple in African Savana, who is preparing for the upcoming winter. Obviously, they have to focus on winter clothing, food reserve, sufficient fat for several months, arrangements for fire, and so forth. Keeping everything organized in such challenging situations is quite overwhelming. Hence, evolution has forced the human brain to form a priority checklist so that we can decide which information we absorb and which one gets erased.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Pexels.com
But wait a minute, why can’t the brain remember and store every bit of information?

Because the brain consumes a significant amount of energy (or ATP) to process/ remember any information, and energy is limited of course. Animal brains consist of millions of neurons that require oxygen and glucose for transferring information. We don’t have a renewable energy reservoir fit on the brain.

Let me give you an easy analogy for comparison. Suppose you have a thousand dollars to spend on your utility bills, food, house rental, entertainment, traveling, and children’s tuition. Obviously, you will allocate wisely where to spend your hard-earned money, and even sacrifice two/ three items if the money falls short. Perhaps this month’s Maldives trip can wait for the next month, but your children’s tuition fees can’t.

Photo by Keira Burton on Pexels.com
Usually, we remember the things most that interest our curiosities. If I interpolate my concept to my girlfriend’s case, she simply didn’t resonate with my Money Heist mania two years back. But now since she has started using Netflix, watching this web series is making sense to her.

I suggest everybody not to blame others for forgetting any information. Forgetting is natural, and the human race has made so far by choosing the necessary data to remember. Paying attention is the most essential mental resource for every living organism. Millions of neurons need to get involved in the process of attentive mindfulness. If someone chooses to use that mental resource wisely, I would rather congratulate her for being rational.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels.com

But I admit, forgetting everything sucks. We should try to pick up important information and store those with neural monitoring. Memory boosting practice may help people with incessant memory loss. But that’s a topic of another discussion.

Labels:
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Know How Fake Everything Is

We had an AC installation project today at Manikgonj. Our technician team went to the site, saw a 30'' thick wall that has to be pierced for copper piping. And they backed off. I was communicating over the phone with my PSL, with a heavy voice, pretending everything is under control.  Those are miniature life hick-ups that an entrepreneur has to face, regularly, and for me - intentionally. Only a few have the guts to continue after all these. I want to be one of them of course. January 2022 Update: Another year has gone by without any fruitful progress. Still, we don't see any tangible source of revenue. We are kinda parasite of Muspana. This burns me like hell, I wanted to live an independent life. That's why I chose to be an entrepreneur Now is the real challenge. What value am I providing to my users? What is the one big vision that can change the lives of billions? Can I acquire a big investment ever? Why am I so self-centered? Am I all after money? Today a kid 10 y
2 comments
Read more

A Trader with an Investment Mindset

Invest in good stock... Being a finance student, I have always been told that investors make much more profit compared to traders in the long run.  In a sense, that statement is apparently true. If you take the historical gain reference of traders vs. investors, the latter will come triumphant without any confusion. But remember, few traders make much more profit compared to investors.  For the traders, the profit curve is seemingly positively skewed, only a few can truly make a profit, but most of them lose money and cancel out the average profit. For the investors, the profit curve follows a normal distribution and returns an average profit to the clients in the long haul. And most importantly, it is always the small ticket-sized shares that give you the best return. For instance, a stock priced at BDT 10 has the potential to go up to 20 or 30 TK, giving you a return from 100% to 200%. But imagine a good stock that is already priced at BDT 600, how much can it go up? I always calcula
4 comments
Read more

Network = Net Worth

Need to boost up my networking skill So far I have been a socially awkward person. I don't like public gatherings, I avoid phone calls, even I don't have any active social media account. For me, deciding to do business was an internal soul call, which I hardly could relate to my shortcomings. Almost three years back when I was an employee of LankaBangla Finance, my SME head told me, ''Why don't you laugh man? There is a Chinese Proverb you know - if you can't laugh, don't open a shop.'' I thought a smiling face is a mere redundant verbal expression. Unnecessary, showy, sycophantic.  At this moment, after almost a year in the business world, I am to words changing my mind. In fact, a smiling face can win million hearts, and those million hearts are money in business. Am I sounding too commercial? Probably am, but smiling is also prophylactic. If you love yourself, you should smile. Another reason behind smiling is - human nature is precoded to accept
2 comments
Read more