Category Archives: Films

Final Manifesto

The Memory Manifesto: How Memory in SF Explores the Concept of Personal Identity

One of the most debated philosophical questions is what makes up your personal identity or your understanding of the self. While your morals and ethics– as well as culture, hobbies, and interests– are all valid components of your identity, I would argue that your memories are at the core of your identity. This is because identity is essentially the accumulation of all your past experiences, which we can recall as memories. In this manifesto we will discuss how the exploration of memory in SF has helped shape the understanding of the self and personal identity. 

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The Unreliable Nature of Memory (Reaction to Phillip K. Dick)

Credit: Tatiana Shepeleva/Shutterstock.com

I remember from past psychology classes I’ve taken how memory by nature is unreliable; it’s not a direct recall of an event, but the recall of the last time you recalled the event! Thus, if you recalled an event many times, but misremembered a small detail each time you recalled it, your whole memory could change over time into something completely different from the actual event! Thus, the unreliable nature of memory lends it self quite easily to manipulation and the implementation of false memories.The fact there are agencies dedicated to fabricating false memories for customers in Phillip K. Dick’s “We Can Remember if For You Wholesale” makes me question how much people in that society can trust in their memory and the facts that hold to be true (Dick, 1966).

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