Ten years of remembering every day that passes (2022)(lembransation.blogspot.com)
lembransation.blogspot.com
Ten years of remembering every day that passes (2022)
http://lembransation.blogspot.com/2022/01/ten-years-of-remembering-every-day-that.html
107 comments
Perhaps given the author's familial experiences with the tragedy of Alzheimers, it's a sort of therapy.
I'm not saying it's effective, but perhaps doing such an exercise and having it lead to the circular "remembering nothing but remembering", it might help folks empathise with the fallibility of the mind when others suffer a disease like Alzheimers.
Or maybe the author is just a curious sort. Either way, not my place to judge.
I'm not saying it's effective, but perhaps doing such an exercise and having it lead to the circular "remembering nothing but remembering", it might help folks empathise with the fallibility of the mind when others suffer a disease like Alzheimers.
Or maybe the author is just a curious sort. Either way, not my place to judge.
In fact the research on memorization shows that only a constant amount of time is needed to retain a given fact indefinitely, because the interval between reinforcements can rise exponential. So you can commit a fixed amount of time per day to this practice and retain everything, it does not necessary need to fill up your entire day. Though you are right it seems the author is using a different approach and is struggling with the accretion to some degree.
Reminds me of a Borges story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funes_the_Memorious, https://vigeland.caltech.edu/ist4/lectures/funes%20borges.pd...) and the article also led me to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthymesia — “Price has stated that she, like Funes, views her memory as a curse”.
I came here for this, and I'm glad you beat me to it. I never knew about hyperthymesia though, and it seems shocking that there have been persons affected by it, and it sounds like Borges was in fact prescient.
Reminds me of the ending of 'The Masochistic Playpen' (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/338429.The_Masochistic_P...), in which the protagonist is forced to re-watch every single day of his life from conception, realizing that at some point if he lives long enough he will get to the point where has to re-watch himself re-watching his entire life, a sort of "squaring" of the tedium.
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> With approaching 4000 images, I need to get through 3 months per day. That rarely happens as my discipline has waned and I've let things slide when I've struggled to remember tags.
Spaced repetition might be able to help here.
Spaced repetition promises to help us remember an ever-increasing number of things even while spending an essentially fixed amount of time each day reviewing those things. The amount of time spent reviewing is said to depend almost entirely on the learning rate, not on the number of things remembered.
https://supermemo.guru/wiki/History_of_spaced_repetition_(pr... :
> In a long-term process, for the forgetting index equal to 10%, and for a fixed daily working time, the average time spent on memorizing new items is only 5% of the total time spent on repetitions. This value is almost independent of the size of the learning material.
Spaced repetition might be able to help here.
Spaced repetition promises to help us remember an ever-increasing number of things even while spending an essentially fixed amount of time each day reviewing those things. The amount of time spent reviewing is said to depend almost entirely on the learning rate, not on the number of things remembered.
https://supermemo.guru/wiki/History_of_spaced_repetition_(pr... :
> In a long-term process, for the forgetting index equal to 10%, and for a fixed daily working time, the average time spent on memorizing new items is only 5% of the total time spent on repetitions. This value is almost independent of the size of the learning material.
I actually found this article when searching for things related to spaced repetition. But I am wondering how well it would work due to the sequential nature of the stuff being remembered. I think it's probably easier to navigate from one day to the next with the method of loci or similar, than it is to recall a single day just from its date.
Yes, you wouldn't use a date. A more likely structure would be:
- the front of a flashcard shows a photo from 20 June and the back shows a photo from 21 June
- the front of another flashcard shows that same 21 June photo and the back shows a photo from 22 June
- and so on!
If you have multiple photos per day... maybe you could create a mosaic for each day? Bonus if the mosaic randomizes the order of items on every showing, but not necessary.
This seems definitely automatable!
- the front of a flashcard shows a photo from 20 June and the back shows a photo from 21 June
- the front of another flashcard shows that same 21 June photo and the back shows a photo from 22 June
- and so on!
If you have multiple photos per day... maybe you could create a mosaic for each day? Bonus if the mosaic randomizes the order of items on every showing, but not necessary.
This seems definitely automatable!
Nice idea, though I guess then in order to actually recall a specific day you'd have to traverse through the entire series? Kind of like a linked list vs an array. Maybe some hybrid approach could work with some "anchor" days that you can get to directly and then traverse from there.
You'd think so, but that shouldn't be necessary with spaced repetition. It's the same how you'd memorize a verse such as the following:
> Roll forth, my song, like the rushing river,
> That sweeps along to the mighty sea;
> God will inspire me while I deliver
> My soul of thee!
> Tell thou the world, when my bones lie whitening
> Amid the last homes of youth and eld,
> That once there was one whose veins ran lightning
> No eye beheld.
There are 8 lines in this verse, so you make 7 flashcards. One flashcard just teaches you how to remember the second line, having heard the first line. Another flashcard just teaches you how to remember the third line, having heard the second line. Et cetera.
Then someone comes along and quotes the first line to you, and you can immediately reproduce the rest.
> Roll forth, my song, like the rushing river,
> That sweeps along to the mighty sea;
> God will inspire me while I deliver
> My soul of thee!
> Tell thou the world, when my bones lie whitening
> Amid the last homes of youth and eld,
> That once there was one whose veins ran lightning
> No eye beheld.
There are 8 lines in this verse, so you make 7 flashcards. One flashcard just teaches you how to remember the second line, having heard the first line. Another flashcard just teaches you how to remember the third line, having heard the second line. Et cetera.
Then someone comes along and quotes the first line to you, and you can immediately reproduce the rest.
Yea so for a poem this is working as intended of course, but when remembering your life would you not prefer to be able to recall arbitrary days without having to recite your life from day one?
OK, you want to be able to respond to a query like "when did I have that new cool hamburger?" Something like that? I'd think you usually could since you do have other memories aside from what the flashcards gave you (I hope). Like this:
- you know that you had a fight with your partner sometime in June
- you know (thanks to flashcards) that you had that new cool hamburger some days after you had a fight with your partner
- therefore, you had that new cool hamburger in June
Presto! And if you have some other fact to tie a June memory to an exact date, and you can probably "walk" to the exact date for the hamburger too.
- you know that you had a fight with your partner sometime in June
- you know (thanks to flashcards) that you had that new cool hamburger some days after you had a fight with your partner
- therefore, you had that new cool hamburger in June
Presto! And if you have some other fact to tie a June memory to an exact date, and you can probably "walk" to the exact date for the hamburger too.
The Nameless One by James Clarence Mangan
I just moved to a new country for the first time, and I've been doing a micro journal every day. Basically, I write 3-5 sentences capturing the most meaningful moments of the day. I've been doing this for two months now, and I've already found some benefits--both in gaining equilibrium and dialing up key details in sequence when necessary (i.e., when exactly did I start that home renovation project?). I'm lucky to be young enough that my cognition is still sound, but I can see benefits in this practice as I age.
My wife and I have been keeping a daily journal since our first child was born in 2014 - about 100 - 200 words a day. (And before that i’d been doing it just for myself since 2006.) Besides just having it to go back to and read, something I’m really excited about is llm context windows getting large enough that I can feed the whole thing in (it’s about 1.5 million words) and ask questions. grep only goes so far.
The best part will be the LLM hallucinations of things that never happened, and then it gaslighting you. ;)
I think you will like this short story by Ted Chaing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_of_Fact,_the_Truth_o...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_of_Fact,_the_Truth_o...
With RAG (so when you give it source text), hallucinations are greatly reduced (not completely, but greatly).
I've been keeping a food diary since Nov 2014. It started off as a reminder to myself to eat better and fewer calories. I don't want to break the chain I even recorded my meals during over a week of no power after hurricane Fiona.
Here's my supper on day 1 if anyone is curious lol (note format is: day, month, year)
Saturday 01/11/2014 Beans, Baked, molasses and pork
Saturday 01/11/2014 Rice, Basmati, 1 cup
Saturday 01/11/2014 Pop, Orange cream, 355ml
Also my exercise inadvertently became a memory tool for me as well. Since being diagnosed with hypothyroid I noticed that my short-memory was not great. So this is a way to force myself to remember things I did today. Stuff I'd normally dismiss as unneeded info and clear it from my mind.
Here's my supper on day 1 if anyone is curious lol (note format is: day, month, year)
Saturday 01/11/2014 Beans, Baked, molasses and pork
Saturday 01/11/2014 Rice, Basmati, 1 cup
Saturday 01/11/2014 Pop, Orange cream, 355ml
Also my exercise inadvertently became a memory tool for me as well. Since being diagnosed with hypothyroid I noticed that my short-memory was not great. So this is a way to force myself to remember things I did today. Stuff I'd normally dismiss as unneeded info and clear it from my mind.
I did this for a few years. I started off listing component volumes and mass etc. Towards the end I was just noting “good” or “bad” (like how I thought I went) on a calendar, then not even consistently.
I learned that this is how much of my approach to life works: Zeal followed by a gradual decline into indifference.
I learned that this is how much of my approach to life works: Zeal followed by a gradual decline into indifference.
Do you retain after effects on behavior from the zeal phase?
You can already do that now. Run a sliding window over it, collecting anything relevant to your question. Then, summarize the summaries. (Or run vector search. But everybody does that, so it’s boring. :))
I've been doing this since 2016 and I'm frustrated on the regular that I never did it before. It's incredibly useful to know when things happened.
Yes, I do something similar for when I travel, work around my house and garden, natural events (e.g. first sightings of bats in the spring, first blossoms appear, a specific tree all bare of leaves in the autumn).
It gives a good sense of what is changing over the years and what stays the same.
It gives a good sense of what is changing over the years and what stays the same.
when i got my first portable laptop (a sony picturebook) i started a travel diary in a similar manner. initially only when i was away from home, but when i moved countries being away from home became a permanent state, so i kept writing almost every day. until it became a habit. i don't review past entries, but like you i sometimes use the diary to research certain facts.
interestingly, when i write i always have some kind of audience in mind, my wife, other family members. some friends (the later being inspired by a friend who actually started a semi-public journal he shares with close friends, a circle that i feel privileged to have been invited to. however, i have not actually shared my own diary with anyone yet)
interestingly, when i write i always have some kind of audience in mind, my wife, other family members. some friends (the later being inspired by a friend who actually started a semi-public journal he shares with close friends, a circle that i feel privileged to have been invited to. however, i have not actually shared my own diary with anyone yet)
Other than it helping you as a source when you need to recall facts, have you noticed this habit changing you or how you experience going through your day?
that is a very good question, my initial response was going to be no, but while trying to explain that answer i realized it's not quite true.
it does not directly change my habits, but it does give me a better understanding of myself. for example one thing i learned is that it bothers me if i didn't accomplish at least something each day, to the point that i can't go to sleep. the reflection helps me notice smaller accomplishments, so i can sleep easier.
part of the benefit is a form of general reflection on the day, even on things that i don't write down. it does help me with is noticing when i get stuck in a rut, where one day after another is the same. like if for the fifth day in a row i wrote: get kids ready for school. work. make dinner. watch tv. it helps me notice these kind of pattern, and also, see how long this was going on. then i can refocus and look what else interesting is happening that i may not have noticed before. so either it changes how i feel about each day or it helps me add activities that break the routine.
it also helps me track things that i do want to change. say i set a goal of going for a walk for one hour each day, then this detail, which i ignore most of the time, now gets added to the diary. the diary doesn't so much cause me to change my habits, but rather is available as a tool that i can use to support an intended change of habits. but i don't do this systematically. it's more like an afterthought when other ways to reach the goal fail and i am bothered enough to do something about it.
it also helps me realize when i get behind on work. when you are at home busy with kids, sometimes a week can pass by without me realizing it. the daily reflection can act as an intervention. and the diary helps me understand that i didn't waste the week doing nothing.
it does not directly change my habits, but it does give me a better understanding of myself. for example one thing i learned is that it bothers me if i didn't accomplish at least something each day, to the point that i can't go to sleep. the reflection helps me notice smaller accomplishments, so i can sleep easier.
part of the benefit is a form of general reflection on the day, even on things that i don't write down. it does help me with is noticing when i get stuck in a rut, where one day after another is the same. like if for the fifth day in a row i wrote: get kids ready for school. work. make dinner. watch tv. it helps me notice these kind of pattern, and also, see how long this was going on. then i can refocus and look what else interesting is happening that i may not have noticed before. so either it changes how i feel about each day or it helps me add activities that break the routine.
it also helps me track things that i do want to change. say i set a goal of going for a walk for one hour each day, then this detail, which i ignore most of the time, now gets added to the diary. the diary doesn't so much cause me to change my habits, but rather is available as a tool that i can use to support an intended change of habits. but i don't do this systematically. it's more like an afterthought when other ways to reach the goal fail and i am bothered enough to do something about it.
it also helps me realize when i get behind on work. when you are at home busy with kids, sometimes a week can pass by without me realizing it. the daily reflection can act as an intervention. and the diary helps me understand that i didn't waste the week doing nothing.
I'm not sure. Maybe it's because I have a poor memory to begin with, but I just don't see the reason for this. It reminds me of older people (mind, I'm over 60 myself) who spend all their time reminiscing.
Isn't it better to look forward rather than back? Approaching retirement, my pressing question is: what do I want to do next?
Isn't it better to look forward rather than back? Approaching retirement, my pressing question is: what do I want to do next?
I also am over 60 and my philosophy regarding this topic is similar. Life is a series of moments that happen and are over never to be revisted again (unless you make this effort - and good for those who do and get value in their lives for having done so). My memory of the past is also limited - I remember random people and events going back to early childhood for reasons I don't fully understand, but mostly I have forgotten all the eras of my life and I don't really dwell on it. I have no concept of time and it has always been that way and age has had zero impact here. I get it "The unexamined life..." etc. So I invest energy in introspection and self discovery in service of continuous improvment. Whether I am satisfied with the life I have lived or not makes no difference - I cannot go back and change it. However, no longer do I have the luxury of time. By comparison to the journey I have already completed, I have very few moments remaining. And one day.... So I gratfully focus on this moment and all the precious few moments I am graced with.
> Isn't it better to look forward rather than back?
After looking into some basic Zen philosophy, I think it also makes sense to consider focusing on spending more time in the present. The past and the future being ideas compared to the reality of the present - it's like watching a movie compared to real life. If the plight of the old is to reminisce, perhaps the plight of the young is to daydream. Both are important parts of life, but taking time to appreciate the present is easy to leave out.
After looking into some basic Zen philosophy, I think it also makes sense to consider focusing on spending more time in the present. The past and the future being ideas compared to the reality of the present - it's like watching a movie compared to real life. If the plight of the old is to reminisce, perhaps the plight of the young is to daydream. Both are important parts of life, but taking time to appreciate the present is easy to leave out.
I'm also 60 and probably retired - maybe I'll find some work again when the tech job market recovers - and I'm spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to do next.
The author of the piece says: "The great benefit of this process, even as I struggle with it, is it gives me a rounded view of my life."
While I can understand that spending some time reviewing the past can have value, what this person is doing seems excessive and I'm not sure I'd call it 'rounded'. I think in my case thinking about the past can reveal how things have or haven't changed in fundamental ways. For example, I was reminded yesterday of a local startup in my area that was working on a neural network accelerator chip in the early 90s and reflected on how many companies are now trying to do the same. There's nothing new under the sun as a wise man once said - what has been will be again. This kind of reminiscing gives perspective.
The author of the piece says: "The great benefit of this process, even as I struggle with it, is it gives me a rounded view of my life."
While I can understand that spending some time reviewing the past can have value, what this person is doing seems excessive and I'm not sure I'd call it 'rounded'. I think in my case thinking about the past can reveal how things have or haven't changed in fundamental ways. For example, I was reminded yesterday of a local startup in my area that was working on a neural network accelerator chip in the early 90s and reflected on how many companies are now trying to do the same. There's nothing new under the sun as a wise man once said - what has been will be again. This kind of reminiscing gives perspective.
I'm on the younger side, but my parents are in their 70s, and I recall them saying something along the lines of "what is life, if not a collection of memories", and it kinda stuck with me. Most likely it's just some quote they've read in the past, and were just reiterating it, but still.
I generally agree with you. There might not be a good reason to look back into the past constantly, but the author ends the post with a personal note about how their mom is going through Alzheimer's. And I can somewhat relate to that, as my grandma used to live with us in the last 10 years of her life, and it was devastating to watch how feeble her memories were getting every day. At some point, when you're just sitting at a dinner table on a Thursday night with people whom you've known for ages, recollecting some memories from the past is just... nice. There really isn't a good reason, or benefit for the future and what not; it just feels good. Thus I can see why someone would want to cherish those times, trying their best to not forget them.
I generally agree with you. There might not be a good reason to look back into the past constantly, but the author ends the post with a personal note about how their mom is going through Alzheimer's. And I can somewhat relate to that, as my grandma used to live with us in the last 10 years of her life, and it was devastating to watch how feeble her memories were getting every day. At some point, when you're just sitting at a dinner table on a Thursday night with people whom you've known for ages, recollecting some memories from the past is just... nice. There really isn't a good reason, or benefit for the future and what not; it just feels good. Thus I can see why someone would want to cherish those times, trying their best to not forget them.
This is basically my dad. He almost routinely asks me about things that happened 10 or 15 years ago.
It’s so hard to keep this going, but I’m keeping my paper calendars, which I use for important meetings, weekly to do lists and my training plans.
Whenever I think of trashing the old ones I open them up and am so immediately fascinated by that glimpse into my past life.
It’s not useful in a self-improvement sense but highly entertaining, for lack of a better word.
I guess in general it might make me more self reflective, but then that never had been a weak point for me.
Whenever I think of trashing the old ones I open them up and am so immediately fascinated by that glimpse into my past life.
It’s not useful in a self-improvement sense but highly entertaining, for lack of a better word.
I guess in general it might make me more self reflective, but then that never had been a weak point for me.
yeah, i can never bear to throw away these things either. i don't use calendars often, but when i do, i want to keep the notes. however moving around makes it very hard to carry this stuff along. so when i get a chance, i leave stuff at my mothers place. and i make photos of noteworthy pages. same when i used whiteboards to track my work (before i learned about kanban)
In 2016 I created a telegram bot to make it super easy for me to keep daily diary, and I still use it now:
https://t.me/DaytobaseBot
Similar to other folks in the thread, I sometimes go back to old entries and reflect on how my life has changed. I find that my memory constantly simplifies and idealizes the past, and getting to see how it really felt day to day is very helpful.
https://t.me/DaytobaseBot
Similar to other folks in the thread, I sometimes go back to old entries and reflect on how my life has changed. I find that my memory constantly simplifies and idealizes the past, and getting to see how it really felt day to day is very helpful.
In October 2019 I made a bit that emails me every day and stores the replies in an SQLite database.
I narrate each day the following morning, and aslo store random pieces of information (story of a debugging session, opinions on books I read or movies I watch, etc.)
I have missed almost zero days since the beginning. One of the most useful feature of this system is to store things people that I meet rarely, tell me. When I meet them again, years later, I can pick up the conversation where it was. Other than that, I rarely go back to read old entries.
I sometimes wonder what use AI could make of this.
I narrate each day the following morning, and aslo store random pieces of information (story of a debugging session, opinions on books I read or movies I watch, etc.)
I have missed almost zero days since the beginning. One of the most useful feature of this system is to store things people that I meet rarely, tell me. When I meet them again, years later, I can pick up the conversation where it was. Other than that, I rarely go back to read old entries.
I sometimes wonder what use AI could make of this.
Wow, very similar to what I have been doing but sounds like you had way more consistency. My bot does not remind me to write, it's a neat idea.
I was wondering about adding a trivial Langchain+LLaMa thing to it to chat to my old memories, would be cool to explore this indeed
I was wondering about adding a trivial Langchain+LLaMa thing to it to chat to my old memories, would be cool to explore this indeed
Do you happen to have the source code publicly available?
Yes ofc: https://github.com/martinthenext/daytobase
It is extremely old but probably trivial to upgrade to recent Python. There is also a serverless version [1] and a recently attempted Rust version. I will most likely spend a few hours some weekend writing a Node version soon -- please let me know if you beat me to it :)
[1]: https://github.com/2mol/daytobase
It is extremely old but probably trivial to upgrade to recent Python. There is also a serverless version [1] and a recently attempted Rust version. I will most likely spend a few hours some weekend writing a Node version soon -- please let me know if you beat me to it :)
[1]: https://github.com/2mol/daytobase
Alzheimer's has to be one of the worst. I do find euthanasia to be a slippery slope[0], but I'll make an exception for Alzheimer's.
0: picture an understaffed and underfunded hospital, with a single nurse walking around calmingly asking anyone if they want it to end
0: picture an understaffed and underfunded hospital, with a single nurse walking around calmingly asking anyone if they want it to end
Making an exception for X is the same slippery slope. And easy talk for people who haven't had a family member die in agony or something like that in a place where they don't allow control over your own life. My life, my terms; if I want out, it needs to be an option.
Which is exactly the problem with Alzheimer; cancer is much easier; you are usually lucid but not very happy the last few weeks/months, so let's end it. Alzheimer's they cannot even ask you, as you cannot decide for yourself for probably a long time already.
Which is exactly the problem with Alzheimer; cancer is much easier; you are usually lucid but not very happy the last few weeks/months, so let's end it. Alzheimer's they cannot even ask you, as you cannot decide for yourself for probably a long time already.
We afford old people in their last days less compassion than a dog. I look forward to the day when we look back at this as a moral outrage.
Our family have recently been in the situation where my partners 85 year old grandfather, who sometimes struggles to remember who we are, had to have his leg amputated due to some metalwork he had implanted in his knee 10 years ago having worn through his skin due to him losing muscle and being very thin from being bed bound. He has approximately zero chance of adapting to having his leg amputated and, in all honesty, most of the family hoped he would die on the operating table as he has no meaningful quality of life.
Our family have recently been in the situation where my partners 85 year old grandfather, who sometimes struggles to remember who we are, had to have his leg amputated due to some metalwork he had implanted in his knee 10 years ago having worn through his skin due to him losing muscle and being very thin from being bed bound. He has approximately zero chance of adapting to having his leg amputated and, in all honesty, most of the family hoped he would die on the operating table as he has no meaningful quality of life.
> We afford old people in their last days less compassion than a dog. I look forward to the day when we look back at this as a moral outrage.
Maybe religious groups/political parties/lobbies etc; if they are against abortion, they will definitely be against ending grandma (who doesn't know who you or your grandpa are, but let's not mention that); religious people see it as suicide and murder, so off to hell with 2+ people for every euthanasia.
Maybe religious groups/political parties/lobbies etc; if they are against abortion, they will definitely be against ending grandma (who doesn't know who you or your grandpa are, but let's not mention that); religious people see it as suicide and murder, so off to hell with 2+ people for every euthanasia.
If only they would leave the responsibility for hell and punishments to their omnipotent god. Especially if they didn't even read the Bible. But no, a supposed eternity of punishment isn't long and early enough for them.
Ironically, there's a large overlap between those people and people who support capital punishment.
I don't see it as ironic at all. One way anthropologists studying a society can gauge what that society values is to look at the punishments applied for various transgressions. There are severe consequences for transgressions against things that a society values highly. Thus if a society values each human life as the most precious component of their society, then it is not unreasonable if that society places the most severe penalty on anyone who ends such a life. For that "most severe penalty" to be the ending of the life of the perpetrator, if such judgement is determined with grave concern for all parties involved including the perpetrator, is not ironic. It signals to the members of that society that their very life is the most precious aspect of the society of which they are a member.
And yet we know that people get wrongfully convicted and executed somewhat regularly. If you truly value life highly, you must prefer life in prison over the death penalty. The risk of wrongful execution is unacceptable.
I find that to be rational - if you believe in eternal damnation, you would want the bad people to get there fast, but keep the good people out. And if you feel this is really in *your* hands, you would push very vocally for it.
When the destination is eternal, there is no rational reason to hurry there. What is a human lifetime compared to eternity? Even a trillion years is inconceivably short compared to eternity. If an afterlife exists the time where the inhabitants can still remember their life before death must be insignificant.
that depends on the dimension of time in the afterlife. some believe that there is no time at all in the afterlife, such that all souls in the afterlife appear to have been there since the beginning, yet also seem to all just have entered just now.
also, in as much as life on earth is a preparation for the afterlife, you will always be reminded of what you failed to do in your human life, just like you may get a frequent reminder of how not graduating from university, or worse being born into a certain demographic has limited your job/life options.
also, in as much as life on earth is a preparation for the afterlife, you will always be reminded of what you failed to do in your human life, just like you may get a frequent reminder of how not graduating from university, or worse being born into a certain demographic has limited your job/life options.
Is there? I'm genuinely curious where this stat comes from.
The Venn diagram of states that criminalize abortion and states that carry out the death penalty is nearly a circle... As are the sets of politicians, and the platforms that evangelical organizations tend to endorse.
Catholics are an exception, but they are a relatively politically inactive minority in the US.
https://reproductiverights.org/maps/abortion-laws-by-state/ [1]
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-landing
[1] Florida's only yellow because it's still being fought in the courts.
Catholics are an exception, but they are a relatively politically inactive minority in the US.
https://reproductiverights.org/maps/abortion-laws-by-state/ [1]
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-landing
[1] Florida's only yellow because it's still being fought in the courts.
> My life, my terms; if I want out, it needs to be an option.
It’s always an option, it’s just kind of weird that it’s illegal for trained medical professionals to help you do it certainly and painlessly.
It’s always an option, it’s just kind of weird that it’s illegal for trained medical professionals to help you do it certainly and painlessly.
It's not that weird. Doctors and the state have perverse incentives. We also discourage suicide for good reasons.
States with the death penalty are finding it hard to find doctors and suppliers to carry out the punishment. I don't, frankly, think there's a lot of perverse incentive.
For the medical field, the incentive is for longevity. Nursing homes make money on occupancy, they aren't going to want to kill off their primary source of income. The state might care, but they have an uphill battle if they tried pulling off soylent green.
For the medical field, the incentive is for longevity. Nursing homes make money on occupancy, they aren't going to want to kill off their primary source of income. The state might care, but they have an uphill battle if they tried pulling off soylent green.
Killing people to take their organs would be one perverse incentive. Reducing costs to the state would be another.
Canada has been taking the lead with euthanasia. They propose it as a solution for such things as depression and poverty, or anything else that would make life unbearable for you (regardless of whether it's reasonable). See:
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/another-case-of-a-sick-...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/11/canada-cases-r...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/christine-...
https://nypost.com/2023/02/24/canada-considers-expanding-eut...
On the other hand, the medical establishment currently has incentives to keep people alive. That can certainly lead to perverse incentives too.
Canada has been taking the lead with euthanasia. They propose it as a solution for such things as depression and poverty, or anything else that would make life unbearable for you (regardless of whether it's reasonable). See:
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/another-case-of-a-sick-...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/11/canada-cases-r...
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/christine-...
https://nypost.com/2023/02/24/canada-considers-expanding-eut...
On the other hand, the medical establishment currently has incentives to keep people alive. That can certainly lead to perverse incentives too.
your premise that killing people to take their organs is a perverse incentive doesn't make sense to me.. The person who could have a perverse incentive would be the person receiving organs, when there are far easier, cheaper, and effective ways for a physician to increase profit. Additionally, people who are sick enough to qualify are the least likely candidates for organ donation/transplantation.
Also did you even read the articles posted? It no where states or alludes to the idea that the state is providing euthanasia to solve either depression or poverty. I really don't get how you came to that conclusion. All it says is that people with severe medical disabilities who are too impoverished to get adequate care the state isn't providing would rather die. It's free to change medical regulation allowing physician assisted suicide. On the other hand, we don't even know how to solve poverty, even if the political willpower and money suddenly appeared.
Also did you even read the articles posted? It no where states or alludes to the idea that the state is providing euthanasia to solve either depression or poverty. I really don't get how you came to that conclusion. All it says is that people with severe medical disabilities who are too impoverished to get adequate care the state isn't providing would rather die. It's free to change medical regulation allowing physician assisted suicide. On the other hand, we don't even know how to solve poverty, even if the political willpower and money suddenly appeared.
I’ve had multiple family members die with Alzheimer’s; can I sign up when young and lucid to die early if I get diagnosed?
The sheer horror of forgetting your children and grandchildren sickens me — and I have to say, those relatives were gone long before they were gone.
The sheer horror of forgetting your children and grandchildren sickens me — and I have to say, those relatives were gone long before they were gone.
> I’ve had multiple family members die with Alzheimer’s; can I sign up when young and lucid to die early if I get diagnosed?
In the Netherlands (and I guess other countries), you have to arrange this very early (if you know your family has Alzheimers, like mine). Once you have symptoms or even are diagnosed, you cannot decide anymore. And you'll end up in a home, knowing nothing and no-one and often drugged up, until you die of natural causes (although the last part you don't notice anyway; your family does).
In the Netherlands (and I guess other countries), you have to arrange this very early (if you know your family has Alzheimers, like mine). Once you have symptoms or even are diagnosed, you cannot decide anymore. And you'll end up in a home, knowing nothing and no-one and often drugged up, until you die of natural causes (although the last part you don't notice anyway; your family does).
Being diagnosed should not prevent you from making an advance directive as long as you are in full possession of your mental faculties. That’s how it works in Spain at least. In certain cases this may involve a medical evaluation.
We had some issues in the family with this, but yes, it might be because the diagnoses was already (perceived to be) too late. I would recommend doing it young if it's a familiar/genetic issue. If not, of course you cannot do that, so you try what you can.
In Spain this is possible. It is called “testamento vital” or “documento de voluntades anticipadas”, and the goal is just that: to declare, in a legally binding way, your wish to receive or not receive certain kinds of medical treatments in the future, in case you can no longer decide when the time comes. This includes euthanasia in cases where it is legally allowed. Alzheimer is one of such cases.
I don't have a lot of experience with Alzheimer's, but in the couple of cases I've observed, though not from very close, the patient didn't seem to be suffering or unhappy at the end. There was a brief intermediate period of paranoia, in which they obviously were unhappy, but then they settled down into a state of complete doolallitude in which they were an expensive burden for professional carers but seemed quite cheerful. That makes the euthanasia question a bit harder.
Just one problem with the is that it becomes in practice a go to option in healthcare for difficult cases as it introduces a moral hazard[1]. Like pure horror of maid abuse in Canada.
[1] Kill this patient or let them be bad mark on the hospital’s / care fac’s report sheet?
[1] Kill this patient or let them be bad mark on the hospital’s / care fac’s report sheet?
movie "The Father" [0] really drived home the point of how much memory is part of our identity. I highly recommend this movie.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TZb7YfK-JI
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TZb7YfK-JI
Actually a real case in a US state that has death with dignity laws. One requirement of the law is that you can make the decision only when in a very bad state (high pain, etc as certified by a doctor). And only the person can make the decision. Not a loved one.
A woman diagnosed with Alzheimer's couldn't make use of this because it'll only get bad when she loses much of her mental faculty. But by that point she is not mentally fit to make that decision.
She filed a lawsuit and eventually moved to Europe to get her death with dignity there.
A woman diagnosed with Alzheimer's couldn't make use of this because it'll only get bad when she loses much of her mental faculty. But by that point she is not mentally fit to make that decision.
She filed a lawsuit and eventually moved to Europe to get her death with dignity there.
Making an exception for X might just indicate an ignorance of Y and Z and others.
Or it might indicate an ignorance of X and a better understanding of Y and Z.
Really late to the party on this, but I don't see the purpose of remembering every day without fail. For my part, I have been journaling for a while now, and every day I make a note of something that happened. However, I don't get so caught up with particular moments.
If you have enough data, to put it this way, then you notice that most things you do, feel or think are somewhat circular. You come back to certain emotions, you come back to certain perceptions. Remembering by itself, in the absence of reflection, makes little sense. Plus, whenever I do glean something from my previous writings, it is usually due to understanding the general "feel" of a time in my life, not so much memorizing a particular day.
>The moments captured in my images are fresh, but my perspective on them changes.
I like that the author acknowledges that here. Again, though, I do think it matters more to interpret one's experience as opposed to having a perfect recollection of the facts. And, to be fair, what he does, and what I do, sounds more like a way to handle far more existential concerns. I suppose we want to hold on to life, to give it meaning in some way by always being a witness to what has been. Maybe we would all be better served by acknowledging the underlying philosophical conundrum here, haha.
If you have enough data, to put it this way, then you notice that most things you do, feel or think are somewhat circular. You come back to certain emotions, you come back to certain perceptions. Remembering by itself, in the absence of reflection, makes little sense. Plus, whenever I do glean something from my previous writings, it is usually due to understanding the general "feel" of a time in my life, not so much memorizing a particular day.
>The moments captured in my images are fresh, but my perspective on them changes.
I like that the author acknowledges that here. Again, though, I do think it matters more to interpret one's experience as opposed to having a perfect recollection of the facts. And, to be fair, what he does, and what I do, sounds more like a way to handle far more existential concerns. I suppose we want to hold on to life, to give it meaning in some way by always being a witness to what has been. Maybe we would all be better served by acknowledging the underlying philosophical conundrum here, haha.
Memory is a funny thing. I do not remember anything that I do not actively use, except when I have to.
Like the case where I was on the Mexico-US border and I was asked by the kind border police to give the dates of all my travel to the US in the last 5 years. I was travelling from France to the US like every month or two. Well, the perspective to stay in Mexico brought back the travel dates pronto.
Or the case I was in a taxi with a Spanish speaking driver who had no idea which hotel to drive me to, in the middle of nowhere. My years of Spanish in high school bloomed up pronto as well. I was able to say "my hotel is mauve with a garden in front and back, there is a view on a white church surrounded by a cemetery" My teacher would have been so proud! (I was incompetent to put it nicely)
Like the case where I was on the Mexico-US border and I was asked by the kind border police to give the dates of all my travel to the US in the last 5 years. I was travelling from France to the US like every month or two. Well, the perspective to stay in Mexico brought back the travel dates pronto.
Or the case I was in a taxi with a Spanish speaking driver who had no idea which hotel to drive me to, in the middle of nowhere. My years of Spanish in high school bloomed up pronto as well. I was able to say "my hotel is mauve with a garden in front and back, there is a view on a white church surrounded by a cemetery" My teacher would have been so proud! (I was incompetent to put it nicely)
I take snapshots on film for fun and sometimes don't develop the film for a few months. When I finally see the photos I've taken, I might have forgotten most of the detail from that time. I see the photo and it jogs my memory. But I'm never sure if my memory is a hallucination extrapolated from the photo or if I'm using the photo to recall something that I just needed help to remember. It's like that experiment that showed people a faked picture of themselves in a hot air balloon. Many of the people shown this false photo would respond by creating false memories. My photos are really me but I wonder how accurate is any recollection beyond the photo.
It’s not clear to me how such a thing can be achieved. They talk about a “memory calendar” and “tags”.
Is it like, every day, stop for a minute and “commit” a single word to that day? Then revise the previous ones hoping that they stuck in memory?
Is it like, every day, stop for a minute and “commit” a single word to that day? Then revise the previous ones hoping that they stuck in memory?
I was curious too and found http://lembransation.blogspot.com/2016/02/starting-out.html, the tags appear to be a couple of short sentences.
He uses a few sentences to describe them but he says that he sees them as pictures on a calendar which he navigates as though he is standing on it, which is a key aspect because he is making use of the method of loci[0]. He then uses those images to start remembering the event pictured in them along with all the other sensations.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci
I use an app called Daylio to do something like that. It's a mood and habit tracker with journaling.
I set up a reminder everyday to record my mood, select the activities I'm tracking and write a few words. It takes less than a minute.
It gives me weekly, monthly and yearly reports that are fun to see and sometimes insightful as it shows correlations between activities and mood levels.
It also randomly shows me journal entries from 6 months, one year and 2 years ago. It's a reminder to reflect on where I was in my life and what I've achieve, or not achieved in that time.
https://www.daylio.net/
I set up a reminder everyday to record my mood, select the activities I'm tracking and write a few words. It takes less than a minute.
It gives me weekly, monthly and yearly reports that are fun to see and sometimes insightful as it shows correlations between activities and mood levels.
It also randomly shows me journal entries from 6 months, one year and 2 years ago. It's a reminder to reflect on where I was in my life and what I've achieve, or not achieved in that time.
https://www.daylio.net/
The moments captured in my images are fresh, but my perspective on them changes.
I am doing an experiment in memory and trying to memorize the name of every U.S. county, with the aid of a map. Several months in I can say that the brain inexorably will tie names together (wether by geographical proximity or etymology, e.g. Imperial-Riverside-San Diego or Redwood-Greenwood), and the addition of new names affects the perception of the ones before, or the perception of words which happen to be county names. I could write an entire essay on the limits of memory, but it would hardly be better than Jorge Luis Borges's story Funes, the memorius.
For anyone curious I can name 80% of U.S. counties with the aid of a blank map, and my geographic intuition has improved greatly. Every county (and county name) has a history attached to it, and sometimes when someone tells me where they grew up, I can guess their ancestry more or less, especially if they come from rural areas. It surprises them, sometimes even more when they know I'm not american.
I am doing an experiment in memory and trying to memorize the name of every U.S. county, with the aid of a map. Several months in I can say that the brain inexorably will tie names together (wether by geographical proximity or etymology, e.g. Imperial-Riverside-San Diego or Redwood-Greenwood), and the addition of new names affects the perception of the ones before, or the perception of words which happen to be county names. I could write an entire essay on the limits of memory, but it would hardly be better than Jorge Luis Borges's story Funes, the memorius.
For anyone curious I can name 80% of U.S. counties with the aid of a blank map, and my geographic intuition has improved greatly. Every county (and county name) has a history attached to it, and sometimes when someone tells me where they grew up, I can guess their ancestry more or less, especially if they come from rural areas. It surprises them, sometimes even more when they know I'm not american.
Memory seems to be cemented when theres some type of value assigned to it, like a useful memory peg I find.
A major battle, a geomarker, usually there is SOMETHING noteworthy historical. I may not have put the labor into the volume of counties as you, but I've lived in so many places, and I index local histories of everywhere I live, and it cements so much.
Love the effort you put into testing your cognitive faculties!
A major battle, a geomarker, usually there is SOMETHING noteworthy historical. I may not have put the labor into the volume of counties as you, but I've lived in so many places, and I index local histories of everywhere I live, and it cements so much.
Love the effort you put into testing your cognitive faculties!
This is fascinating. I’m working on a memory project and would really like to get in touch and hear your insights on limits and especially counters to interference with memorization. I’ll put my email in my profile; pure gratitude if you can spare some time to share your wisdom with me.
Years ago I had a really bad breakup. We lived together for about 6 months and she slowly got more and more hostile towards me. She moved out and severed all contact with me. She forgot a couple of her daily journals in a drawer. Well, I had to look because I was so confused as to what happened.
Reading through it, I was blown away at how skewed her perception of reality was. The way she recalled events were absolute fantasy. She took all these mundane interactions (a lot of which were genuinely positive) between us and twisted them into somehow being wronged by me.
I had always thought of writing in a journal but after reading that decided I never would. It has the potential to crystalize misremembered, or misinterpreted things into reality. She had created a self propelling feedback loop of negativity.
Reading through it, I was blown away at how skewed her perception of reality was. The way she recalled events were absolute fantasy. She took all these mundane interactions (a lot of which were genuinely positive) between us and twisted them into somehow being wronged by me.
I had always thought of writing in a journal but after reading that decided I never would. It has the potential to crystalize misremembered, or misinterpreted things into reality. She had created a self propelling feedback loop of negativity.
i can feel for you (i think) but my conclusion would be different. for one, you don't have to write about feelings. second, the problem here is not the feelings themselves but the attribution for the cause.
this is something that i learned and confirmed over time, and that this diary seems to demonstrate. namely that as humans we have a tendency to attribute reasons to actions of others that are based on our own feelings and have nothing to do with reality.
for example, a few months ago someone yelled at me for bumping into him, claiming to have done that intentionally, when on my side i didn't even feel any contact. so how could this person jump to that conclusion? they clearly didn't stop to think and consider if there could be another explanation.
what i learned from this over the years is that whenever something negative happens to me, i stop to think if there could be a good explanation that does not imply some negative intent by anyone else.
i have met other people who attribute netative intentions to any thing bad that happens to them, often telling me stories of what they think was someones intention, when there could be a perfectly benign explanation. like one where someones macbook charger got lost, and the person was 100% sure that her colleague took it intentionally in order to be mean, when the begning explanation is that because those chargers look all alike, she probably took it, thinking it was hers, or, maybe it even was hers, and the first persons charger was lost elsewhere.
this is a general problem in human interaction. only if we stop attributing negative intention to everything that we don't agree with, will we be able to improve cooperation to work for a better world.
this is something that i learned and confirmed over time, and that this diary seems to demonstrate. namely that as humans we have a tendency to attribute reasons to actions of others that are based on our own feelings and have nothing to do with reality.
for example, a few months ago someone yelled at me for bumping into him, claiming to have done that intentionally, when on my side i didn't even feel any contact. so how could this person jump to that conclusion? they clearly didn't stop to think and consider if there could be another explanation.
what i learned from this over the years is that whenever something negative happens to me, i stop to think if there could be a good explanation that does not imply some negative intent by anyone else.
i have met other people who attribute netative intentions to any thing bad that happens to them, often telling me stories of what they think was someones intention, when there could be a perfectly benign explanation. like one where someones macbook charger got lost, and the person was 100% sure that her colleague took it intentionally in order to be mean, when the begning explanation is that because those chargers look all alike, she probably took it, thinking it was hers, or, maybe it even was hers, and the first persons charger was lost elsewhere.
this is a general problem in human interaction. only if we stop attributing negative intention to everything that we don't agree with, will we be able to improve cooperation to work for a better world.
Her actions have more to do with her psychology and less to do with her keeping a journal. A lot of people keep journals and it probably has the opposite effect. She sounds emotionally immature.
I've been doing the same for the past 5 years. Here's how I do it and what I've learned: https://untested.sonnet.io/Stream+of+Consciousness+Morning+N...
> Yet, I can see no advantage. The great benefit of this process, even as I struggle with it, is it gives me a rounded view of my life.
Absolutely, 10000%. Spotting patterns (on a micro and macro scale, "outside" and "inside") is one of the most useful skills I'm getting out of this. I have 1-2 years of journals from the time I was 9-11 years old buried somewhere in a basement 3000km from where I live at the moment. I'm curious to see what I can learn from them after not having seen them for almost 25 years.
> Yet, I can see no advantage. The great benefit of this process, even as I struggle with it, is it gives me a rounded view of my life.
Absolutely, 10000%. Spotting patterns (on a micro and macro scale, "outside" and "inside") is one of the most useful skills I'm getting out of this. I have 1-2 years of journals from the time I was 9-11 years old buried somewhere in a basement 3000km from where I live at the moment. I'm curious to see what I can learn from them after not having seen them for almost 25 years.
I have been using the 1 second a day app from 2016. Today will be the 8th year of my journey, and it feels very nice to look back at the compiled videos. I don’t remember life in 214/15 because of much stress, but 16 onwards is a colorful memory.
Shout out to the 1se app! Its been great.
Shout out to the 1se app! Its been great.
I couldn't honestly do that, the nostalgia would be too much for me, even for only 10 years ago, even 5.
And then how do you process past relationships and marriages? Or the death of loved ones? Or other such traumatic experiences?
And then how do you process past relationships and marriages? Or the death of loved ones? Or other such traumatic experiences?
That's real. There are whole years of my email archives I have troubles looking into.
There are certain philosophical approaches to this problem. Quite a few of them start with: Why do you think that revisiting such things would distress you?
How do you process them when you remember them occasionally without specific prompting?
How do you process them when you remember them occasionally without specific prompting?
"I don't want to remember nothing, nothing, you understand?!" [1]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLv6ycYcpGI
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLv6ycYcpGI
Yeah. I remember vacations the most. And that is enough for me.
Live your life one day at a time.
Live your life one day at a time.
i note them with a simple entry. or i describe the details of the wedding or funeral, and other relevant facts, but i don't write about my feelings.
for one, i consider the diary as something others may read some day, i don't necessarily want share my feelings. but also, at least from my experience so far, reading about the facts of a traumatic experience helps me remember the feelings i had at the time. so rereading entries and recalling events is how i process these.
for one, i consider the diary as something others may read some day, i don't necessarily want share my feelings. but also, at least from my experience so far, reading about the facts of a traumatic experience helps me remember the feelings i had at the time. so rereading entries and recalling events is how i process these.
Honest props to you for managing to do that, you're a much stronger person than I am.
thanks. but i am not sure if it counts, as i rarely go back to actually reread stuff. i am just writing what i have to deal with anyways, as it happens. i mean to say that if i do have the strength to deal with such events, being able to write about it in my diary is not necessarily an indication of that.
it rather manifests in other ways.
if i may say so, i sense a certain "i wish i had the strength to do that" in your comment. i am afraid that what comes across as strength is rather a weakness, a sort of inability to be affected by these events. it took me decades to understand where that comes from, and still has me wonder, why.
it rather manifests in other ways.
if i may say so, i sense a certain "i wish i had the strength to do that" in your comment. i am afraid that what comes across as strength is rather a weakness, a sort of inability to be affected by these events. it took me decades to understand where that comes from, and still has me wonder, why.
Time heals (i.e. dampens) not just extreme sadness but also irrational exuberance.
> My New Year's Resolution in 2019 was to learn the piano. Key to success is building mental representations of music and the keyboard. Increasingly, I do this by playing pieces on my mental piano
As a correct pianist (lots of classical study, and sometimes I am paid to play in bars), this seems very weird to me. I don't see how doing this could be any useful for learning, it seems like a waste of effort.
As a correct pianist (lots of classical study, and sometimes I am paid to play in bars), this seems very weird to me. I don't see how doing this could be any useful for learning, it seems like a waste of effort.
I would say 90% of the struggle of my learning to play piano was developing the correct muscle memory for the right motions for the right measures of the right song.
The academic "Can I read and understand this sheet music?" is maybe 10%.
It's possible if you put in the decades required to build up all the muscle memory needed for any song you might need to play (or you are a virtuoso), in which case reading and understanding the sheet music may be 90+% of your "practice time"... but the most accomplished pianists I know of still have to practice (with their hands) consistently.
The academic "Can I read and understand this sheet music?" is maybe 10%.
It's possible if you put in the decades required to build up all the muscle memory needed for any song you might need to play (or you are a virtuoso), in which case reading and understanding the sheet music may be 90+% of your "practice time"... but the most accomplished pianists I know of still have to practice (with their hands) consistently.
I think mental practice (e.g. visualizing yourself playing in the place you will perform next day, going through the sheet music consciously noting your intent and possible difficulties, or memorizing complex passages without the keyboard etc.) is a great complement to actual physical practice. It's no substitute, but at least it can be done basically anywhere.
I highly doubt that this is a good thing to do.
Forgetting things seems to be a protective mechanism, otherwise, life becomes too stressful. Humans and other animals focus on negative things and if you do not forget them, your stress level will skyrocket.
Recorded cases of people who can't forget and experiments with rats shows us these phenomena.
Forgetting things seems to be a protective mechanism, otherwise, life becomes too stressful. Humans and other animals focus on negative things and if you do not forget them, your stress level will skyrocket.
Recorded cases of people who can't forget and experiments with rats shows us these phenomena.
There are some people, most notably the actress Marilou Henner, who remember and can instantly recall everything they did every day of their life, by date. It’s astounding. More info here: https://youtu.be/hpTCZ-hO6iI
The Narrative Clip was created partially for this (giving people a photographic memory of sorts), and it was used by a lot of people with alzheimers as it turned out you can remember stuff better if you review every day's memories in the evening, or something like that.
So like keeping a Dougie Howzer-style journal on the computer?
Very interesting. Might help very much with "where did the time go?". I'll try to give it a shot, remembering every week.
ooh wow I just let my days pass
If you spend each day remembering all previous days, eventually you'll just be remembering days you spent remembering other days. (Which is what the author is doing: Remembering remembering).
Seems rather maddening. Why not learn a language or something?