Ask HN: What do you think of the idea that human memory is bugged?

1 pointssrikanthsrnvs6y ago12 comments

What if the fact that we cannot erase bad memories/traumatic experiences is actually a bug in the optimization process of our own neural network, which decided to converge at a local minimum instead of the global minimum?

Obviously the prerequisite for this would be that backpropogation of error actually occurs in the brain, but what do you think?

12 comments

gregjor6y ago

A person barely gets away from a predator or survives a near-drowning. How would erasing that traumatic event have an evolutionary advantage?

Your question uses the language of machine learning to speculate about human memory. That seems pretty thin.

srikanthsrnvsOP6y ago

Depends on the traumatic memory, hence the idea that we've probably optimized for remembering everything rather than the events that have evolutionary advantage.

I.e Why should I remember a bad ex girlfriend if there was nothing to learn from it?

jelliclesfarm6y ago

You remember the bad ex gf because you don’t want repeatability of the trauma.

Without retention of the memory of trauma, you won’t be forming new experiences.

Amygdala creates emotional responses and utilizes long term memories.

We know from ape studies and amphibian studies that amygdala evolved differently in humans than with other animals.

1 more reply

gregjor6y ago

If a bad ex-girlfriend qualifies as "traumatic" I don't know what to say. The concepts of girlfriends/boyfriends and romantic relationships are cultural artifacts, not products of evolution. Evolution optimizes for mating and reproduction, not individual feelings.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

Ask HN: What do you think of the idea that human memory is bugged?

1 pointssrikanthsrnvs6y ago12 comments

Obviously the prerequisite for this would be that backpropogation of error actually occurs in the brain, but what do you think?

12 comments

gregjor6y ago

A person barely gets away from a predator or survives a near-drowning. How would erasing that traumatic event have an evolutionary advantage?

Your question uses the language of machine learning to speculate about human memory. That seems pretty thin.

srikanthsrnvsOP6y ago

Depends on the traumatic memory, hence the idea that we've probably optimized for remembering everything rather than the events that have evolutionary advantage.

I.e Why should I remember a bad ex girlfriend if there was nothing to learn from it?

jelliclesfarm6y ago

You remember the bad ex gf because you don’t want repeatability of the trauma.

Without retention of the memory of trauma, you won’t be forming new experiences.

Amygdala creates emotional responses and utilizes long term memories.

We know from ape studies and amphibian studies that amygdala evolved differently in humans than with other animals.

1 more reply

gregjor6y ago

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse