The most spectacular machine you will ever see is your head. Perhaps this might not be true for animals, but in the case of humans, we do have a spectacular machine on our necks inside our heads called the brain. What segregates humans from the rest of the animals is our brains.

The brain is responsible for many actions, such as movements, memorization, skill development, and more. Nevertheless, our brain’s most crucial function is to make and retain memories; the brain does it almost all the time. 

Moreover, it is notable that animals, too, rely on memories for survival. Nevertheless, unlike animals, the memory of humans is capable of remembering the incidents of the past decades of animals, while we are not in the same league as dolphins or elephants.

Still, memory serves its purpose in our civilizational advancement. Whether it is a piece of information from the past generation, any daily utility memory, or any answer for the test, remembering things always comes in handy. 

However, have you ever wondered why we are learning this way? How are the various emotions stored in our brain, whether sweet or horrific? Why can’t we memorize beyond one level? Does technology help us to remember incidents and events in the future? If yes, what kind of technology will help us, how will they help us, how will they work, are they will be in control, or will we see a live adaptation of iRobot?

All the questions are ever logical and interesting; to answer every one of them, we need to look at the different aspects of the brain, and in that, we also have to check our evolutionary tract.

Memory in Past

Our brain functions because it has inherited the habit of doing it through centuries of evolution and the evolutionary tract. The concept of inherited memory revolves around the studies and explains the phenomena quite well. 

Inherited memory explains why the human eye can detect the shades of green better than any other colour shade because our ancestors needed to survive in the forest. Even the slightest anomaly in the shades of green might result in death.

Apart from it, our ancestors discovered the learning of writing much later than visualization, which is the primary reason, and words are more volatile to the brain than pictures. It is why kids have more photos in their textbooks rather than text.

Quora hosts various answers enfolding various beliefs and facts explaining our ancestral memory.

While many of us have memories worth gallons, few know how these memories are built, and nearly no one controls memory formation. The incident we don’t want to remember will surface in our memory, while the memory we don’t want to forget is just one night away from disappearing.

While memory-making has much to do with neural connections, our practice makes it equally important. Making memory seems effortless, but in reality, our brain works a lot for it.

Memory Storage

While advancing daily, this simple question remains an enigma for scientists worldwide. However, this doesn’t mean we don’t know about memory formation in the brain. 

Thanks to a patient known as H.M., doctors have made this riddle simplified. How, you may ask? The story of it would reveal everything.

In 1960, Henery Moleson suffered life-threatening fissures in his head; doctors decided to remove the root cause of the inflammation, i.e., the hippocampus. After the surgery, doctors realized its effect; Henry couldn’t form new long-term memory. However, he can still be able to recall his memories from his childhood, he is still able to identify the paths, and he can still learn the skills.

Taking the case into account, scientists have deduced that the brain doesn’t have any centralized storage house; instead, every neuron in the brain stores a fragment of the memory in the form of electrical signals. When coming to retention, all these small fragments thicken and form a solid memory, like the pieces of the puzzle form the puzzle.

Furthermore, the hippocampus is crucial for the formation of long-term memory. The article on kids frontier explains the scenario quite well.

Memory and Electrical Signals

Currently, our world is taking the help of computer algorithms to learn, remember and memorize. The funny fact is almost everything can be captured through it with correct algorithms; At the same time, human memory, no matter how it seems, is interfered with (we can make new memories), and the algorithms are far easier to validate than our real memories.

Currently, our computer storage devices use information with the help of electrons. A detailed explanation is mentioned in the given video. However, to be short, all of the media and information are stored in the VNAND gate in the form of different electrical signals, and they are displayed in the form of bits (0 and 1) because our computer understands only the language of the bits.

The storage system of the current systems works as the imitation of the see bits; the most simple demonstration of it would be the electrical signals; while the peak of the electrical signals can be assumed to be 1, the absence of it would be 0.

While it appears simple, converting nearly everything into mathematical numbers and altering it to bits is a complex method; however, humans have already dealt with the challenge.

Our smartphones and their storage of photos and songs are a clear-cut example of what can be done or what cant be. While currently, we are relying on bits for the storage of information, and it is restricted to our phones and electronic devices only. 

However, imagine if these algorithms and bits store the information within our brain not as data but as the memories of our brain. Our memories will be far more reliable and far more efficient with the help of computer chips.

While this may appear a tough pill to digest, the chances of its implementation are not a complete blank. The idea of storing every memory in an algorithm or bits seems very revolutionary, and honestly, it is a revolutionary idea. However, the revolution doesn’t happen in one day.

Similarly, it is not just one technology that is going to store all of our memories for us. Rather the revolution is the coagulation of a series of small but revolutionary changes in one direction. The systems of technology in a coordinated manner will lead the process.

Technology in Progress

While many advancements are yet to happen in this field of direction, many have already is in progress and some of them are in our daily utility. It might not be easy to believe that what we are using will be used as something so complex and different from their use, but the truth is what it is.

The major step would be the development of transistors; they are meant to amplify and switch electrical signals, a simple yet crucial part of computers and almost all digital devices today.

The human body is controlled through the electrical signals sent through the brain to others body parts of the brain. Moreover, our memories depend on these electrical signals in the fragments’ forms. Therefore, it is possible to store the memories or these electrical signals of the brain in the form of these transistors.

Photo by: Alexandre Debiève/UnsplashThe transistors can be used to store the device as these electrical signals are converted into bits and then stored in different VNAND gates. Taking that into account, it is not a very far-off possibility that shortly we will have carbon fibres in nano forms as the transistors in our brains. These carbon fibres will act as a computer in our brain that will store the information. More specifically, the memories. 

The advantages of it would be huge because, unlike the human memory, it can’t be manipulated, not affected by the Mandela effect or any flashbulb memory.

World With Computer Memory

Now let’s visualize a world where memories aren’t the only way to remember the occurred in the past. The world where people contain their memories along with the memories is made up of nanotechnologies.

In this world, amnesia is a rare occurrence. However, the malfunctions of the chips and hoarding are still major problems for various countries and governments worldwide.

The health problem related to the brain regarding computer chips became common, and the replacement of computer transistors is equally common. Companies are racing to make better chips with lasting memories, making them as small as possible.  

While all of it might be the imagination of today but it might be the memory of tomorrow stored in someone’s brain chip.

Conclusion

Isn’t it fascinating to think about the future of memory and all its implications? What do you think the future will bring?

Last Updated on August 25, 2023 by ayeshayusuf