Similar to the way posterity review could help academic incentives, a simple way to reduce bias about how we see our own lives is to collect more data on our lives. From Marginal Revolution: MyLifeBits
Yan, I'm not at all proposing that people spend their last years reliving old memories, any more than corporate auditors spend years reliving old sales or purchases. It makes more sense to collect statistics and to have data to settle any particular dispute.
Aren't we supposed to enjoy the present while looking forward to the future with whatever memories we’ve got of the past? Let’s say I spent my last year reviewing recordings of myself in the pervious year, what should I do this year?
Robin: good point. There's also the fact that you might, in the future, change your mind several times regarding whether or not a given action was a reasonable or wise one. And in addition, note that even if a person does have the raw data describing a particular memory (whether recorded externally or remembered in wetware), this does not necessarily mean that the interpretation of that data will remain constant throughout time.
Anne, your comment raises the issue of whether we are overconfident regarding what sort of memories we would later approve or dissaprove. Such overconfidence might discourage us from trying enough different things.
It seems logical that if you seek to avoid bias in recalling your own memories, you will probably be more mindful of what you're doing. Even without such a recording device as noted in this article, an interesting exercise (one that I try to apply on a daily basis) is to imagine that you will be able to remember everything you do for as long as you live. If you don't think you'd like to look back on yourself doing A, then you are probably less likely to actually do A. And if you'd like to look back on yourself having done B, then you might be more motivated to do B.
But there are cases of people with great memories, and these are crippling to them, not benefits. If you recorded your life on a hard drive and tried to organize it, I think it would merely be disruptive, depressing, backward-oriented.
Yan, I'm not at all proposing that people spend their last years reliving old memories, any more than corporate auditors spend years reliving old sales or purchases. It makes more sense to collect statistics and to have data to settle any particular dispute.
Aren't we supposed to enjoy the present while looking forward to the future with whatever memories we’ve got of the past? Let’s say I spent my last year reviewing recordings of myself in the pervious year, what should I do this year?
Robin: good point. There's also the fact that you might, in the future, change your mind several times regarding whether or not a given action was a reasonable or wise one. And in addition, note that even if a person does have the raw data describing a particular memory (whether recorded externally or remembered in wetware), this does not necessarily mean that the interpretation of that data will remain constant throughout time.
Anne, your comment raises the issue of whether we are overconfident regarding what sort of memories we would later approve or dissaprove. Such overconfidence might discourage us from trying enough different things.
It seems logical that if you seek to avoid bias in recalling your own memories, you will probably be more mindful of what you're doing. Even without such a recording device as noted in this article, an interesting exercise (one that I try to apply on a daily basis) is to imagine that you will be able to remember everything you do for as long as you live. If you don't think you'd like to look back on yourself doing A, then you are probably less likely to actually do A. And if you'd like to look back on yourself having done B, then you might be more motivated to do B.
Eric, how much time you spent reviewing your memories would be a choice you would have later - no need to spend any more time than you got value from.
But there are cases of people with great memories, and these are crippling to them, not benefits. If you recorded your life on a hard drive and tried to organize it, I think it would merely be disruptive, depressing, backward-oriented.
see http://www.dreamhawk.com/me...