rfg@hound.UUCP (R.GRANTGES) (06/12/84)
[] I don't really know if someone has estimated it or not. However, if they have, it must be an awfully large number. Consider: How many bits would it take to represent an average visual field? There is some evidence that we never really forget anything we have once observed. Neglecting other sensual input and reasoning (if any), just considering the brain as a storage device for visual observations over a lifetime is pretty large. Perhaps I exaggerate, but if I assume a visual field as 10**3 bits high by 10**4 bits wide by 10 bits for color and shading of each element, we have 10**8 bits per visual field. Suppose a life time of 72 years and 16 hours a day of observing (neglecting "visual dreams" which may also be remembered), with a new observation every 10 seconds. I multiply it all out to about 1.5 x 10**16 bits. (187,500 billion bytes?) Adding audio, tactile, olfactory, taste to that ought to easily run the total over 200 gigabytes. That's just for remembering observations (eidetically, which is a faculty some do have). Who wants to run this up for the results of mental data processing - logic, rationalization, and all that? hound!rfg
ward@hao.UUCP (Mike Ward) (06/13/84)
[]
While there may be some evidence that we remember everything we experience,
there is also some evidence that we do not remember *any* sensual data.
Rather, we "tokenize" it and recreate the scene when we perform the act
of remembering.
This can, and often does, lead to faulty memories, as the correspondence
of token to reality is constantly being revised. This is one of the
reasons eyewitness reports are being proven so unreliable.
--
Michael Ward, NCAR/SCD
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