Complex Numbers

Remember, Remember

Apparently, today's premiere virtual travel blog challenge is about camping in Antarctica. Clearly, this month's challenge is SO not for me.

Instead, why don't we talk about memory?

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/585887/mandela-effect-examples

10 Examples of the Mandela Effect

Would you believe us if we told you the most famous line of 1980’s Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, was never uttered? Darth Vader doesn’t reveal his paternity to Luke Skywalker by saying, “Luke, I am your father.” He actually says, “No, I am your father.” The line is but one instance of what blogger Fiona Broome dubbed the “Mandela Effect” a decade ago, after she learned that a number of people shared her erroneous belief that human rights activist Nelson Mandela had perished in prison in the 1980s.

Also, McCoy never once said, "He's dead, Jim" in the original Star Trek.

The Mandela Effect is basically just false memory writ large. It happens to all of us -- perhaps some more than others. But these particular accounts are more than just one person's false memory; they're shared by many people.

This is not the same as lying. This is something that people actually remember, but they remember it incorrectly.

With apologies to conspiracy theorists, the idea of a shared false memory isn’t proof of alternate realities.

Yeah, I wanted to quote that here because it really isn't proof of alternate realities. We have no proof of alternate realities.

1. The Monopoly Man’s Monocle

For decades, Rich Uncle Pennybags (or Mr. Monopoly) has been the de facto mascot for Monopoly, the Parker Brothers (now Hasbro) game that somehow made real estate exciting.

And also somehow ended numerous relationships.

2. Jiffy Peanut Butter

If you looked forward to your school lunch break because your parent or guardian packed a Jiffy peanut butter sandwich, your childhood may be a lie.

I don't think I ever thought there was a "Jiffy." I distinctly remember the very effective line from the Jif commercial when I was a kid: "Choosy mothers choose Jif." Of course, that memory could have been falsified also. I could probably find one of those old commercials on YouTube to check it, but I can't be arsed.

I'mma skip a few here, but I think you get the idea. Or you could, you know, click on the link and read the article.

9. Risky Business

Remember Tom Cruise dancing in his underwear, a dress shirt, and Ray-Bans while home alone in 1983’s Risky Business? Your brain got most of it right.

I never really gave that much thought. I mean, sure, it's a memorable scene, but... shades or no shades? Never even thought about it until I saw this article.

I spent most of last week rewatching all of the Mission:Impossible movies. If you'd told me after Risky Business that I'd be a fan of a rebooted M:I with Tom Cruise in it, I'd have laughed.

Should these processes that lead to false memories be considered flaws? Not exactly. Current theories in psychology are exploring the idea that our ability to cull details from past experiences to create theoretical concepts is actually part of a survival mechanism.

Let's just say I'm skeptical. Not everything has an evolutionary explanation. Some things are just kind of hangers-on, neither beneficial nor detrimental. It's clear that memory itself has survival value, but obviously it's got its flaws. It is often better to remember something poorly than to not remember it at all -- but when it comes to something as useless as movie quotes or whether or not a game mascot has a monocle, I'd expect it to be irrelevant to the course of evolution, which after all is only a process by which species either continue or not.

Still, we know that memories are suspect. This has important consequences. A few decades ago, there was a massive moral panic about Satanic abuse at day care centers. It was all over the nascent internet, as I recall (which may not mean much). Turned out to be false memories; no evidence of ritual abuse was ever uncovered apart from the faulty reminiscences of supposed victims, which were induced by some shrink or something. And yet, during this panic, several people lost jobs and reputation, at the very least, and may even have gone to prison over it. I don't remember.

And yet, if someone tells you a story that turns out to not be true, maybe don't immediately jump to the conclusion that they're lying. Memory isn't a video tape; it's more of a cobbled-together hologram of chaos. (Hologram of Chaos can be the name of my Journey cover band.) So it's likely that it is the truth as they remember it; they just have no idea they're remembering it wrong.

And at the same time, none of us can fully trust our own memories.

This can be a scary thought, I know, but I've learned to come to terms with it. At least I think I have.

The only instance of false memory that I can think of offhand is that sometimes I'll remember a quote from a book or movie, and the next time I read the book or see the movie, it'll turn out I was wrong about it. But I'm pretty damn sure a lot of my memories are wrong, conflated with other memories, or otherwise suspect.

How about you? Have you experienced the Mandela Effect or discovered any false memories?