The ‘Mandela Effect’ describes the false memories many of us share. But why can’t scientists explain it?
- “It’s well known that telling and retelling one’s past leads to changes, smoothings, enhancements, shifts away from the facts ( ‘reconsolidation’ ) ... isn’t just a charged psychological foible. It turns out to be an inevitable neurophysiological consequence of the process of laying down memories that every studied conscious recall of past events b
Things That Bother Me by Galen Strawson (Book Summary) | Sloww
As time passed, the details of what they remembered morphed. And not just a little bit. Hirst found on average “a 60% decline in memory consistency. Meaning 60% of the answers changed over time.”
Jon Acuff • Soundtracks
The explosion of alternative histories hasn’t just eroded the influence of 20th century media institutions, it’s also damaged our ability to build collective futures
Aaron Z. Lewis • The garden of forking memes: how digital media distorts our sense of time
But there are two problems. First, the brain is imperfect. We mistake things we see and hear. We forget things or misinterpret events quite easily. Second, once we create meaning for ourselves, our brains are designed to hold on to that meaning. We are biased toward the meaning our mind has made, and we don’t want to let go of it. Even if we see ev
... See moreMark Manson • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
such innocently “invented” recollection of events is commonplace and is one of the reasons so little trust can be placed in even the most diligently reported memories.