Memories

3 Pages 703 Words

Memories
Every known living person has memories. Some are memories of time full of happiness, and some are filled with death, destruction, and pain. But, are our memories ours? Do we own what we think, or are they manufactured by our brains in a twisted chain of neurological events? If we can create memories, all forms of argument based on memory will become null and void. This is beginning to show more and more in society, causing uproar nationwide.
A Harvard University study of post-traumatic stress disorder in claimed alien “abductees” tested each person by recounting their individual experience. A strong reaction was confirmed in each test subject, a reaction similarly seen in war veterans. The idea that these memories could actually be manufactured, and false, brings to the surface the plausible thought that we as humans can, for lack of better terminology, create ourselves.
Many would say that everyone creates themselves, that we attain an identity by the creation of our personality. This is true, but, with this ideal of false memories, a weakness can be found. Our actual identity could, in theory, be completely different from the identity we perceive to be ours; we hold ourselves to a name, a home, a childhood that may have never existed.
The implications of these false perceptions of our identities are monumental. As humans, we define ourselves by the memories we have. These memories are the building blocks of our individuality. We base the decisions we make daily on the memories of past situations. For example, if one receives punishment for a crime, or a simple rule being broken in a professional or educational environment, one immediately knows not to commit said offense again. A link between our feelings, thoughts, and memories is created to make us realize what to do, and what not to do.
As with the post-traumatic stress disorder study, scientists have also begun looking into the aspects of the legal w...