Morning everyone,
I've always wanted a tool to help you reminisce when you need to.
To relive lost memories, the tool will coalesce your memories together into a collection of:
- Photos, music, shows, and videos you've seen.
- Passages from books you've read, documents you've toiled so hard for at work.
- Tests you've failed, receipts for makeup you've washed down the drain later that night.
- Your search histories and goals when you were 15. Trails left by your digital footprint will be accessible for reminiscing.
Undeniably, reminiscing affects how we think.
More sinister is the idea that if this tool is trusted, one could yield more power than those who control our Reddit feeds. After all, the tool can craft narratives to influence people with their own memories, not from biased news segments.
More dangerously, these memories would be cherrypicked by those who won auctions, similar to how Google sells ad real estate today. Perspectives in this future would change faster than a religion making it up the silk road.
This tool, alongside the psychological research from the past century and the refinement of computer algorithms in the last decade, can do more than win your vote. It can worsen racism and wealth inequality by changing our values.
You don't even need to influence that many people, just a board of directors, or the president's five closest friends.
What if the tool's primary policy is to serve you the best emotions with each "reminiscing session." If altering memories better accomplishes this goal, what would happen if the people changing memories have ulterior motives?
Researchers can already implant fake childhood memories into people. What would happen if the tool implants new Google Searches or show memories out of order? Since this tool makes some memories more accessible, they should be more susceptible to alterations. No jury will ever convict the rich.
The technology to build and abuse this tool exists today. Let's hope a good person controls it first, whatever good means to you.
- Curtis
P.S. Sorry for the dark tone of this newsletter. I consumed all of Attack on Titan this week, and all I have are gloomy plot predictions. I guess the influence of that series strengthens my conclusion.
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