WNYC Radiolab

Diana, Ji, and I went on a Radiolab binge today. We listened to Emergence, Zoos, and Memory and Forgetting.

The Emergence episode has the most dazzling description of fireflies in Tibet blinking in unison for miles along a river bank. It also describes how groups will form into a meta-consciouness that, while each member of a group may be stupid, behaves in a very smart and calculated manner.

Memory and Forgetting gets into how memories are actually made: they are proteins. Scientists have figured out a way to erase memories, just like in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have written about this episode before, but I really like how it describes remembering as a creative act. After hearing this episode memory has taken on a new life in my imagination.

I talked through the Zoos episode, but I did hear an anecdote about a man being followed by a jaguar or panther in the jungle and a staring contest that ensued when he discovered the big cat.

Radiolab is the best show on the radio.

Here is the Radiolab Feed. (You can listen to the shows on the feed.)

Memory

I was listening to the WNYC radiolab podcast on iTunes, and they have one episode about Memory. I started listening to the Memory episode and it became really interesting when they said at some point, I forget exactly, that memory, what was I saying?

Oh yeah, they said that when you remember something it is a creative act, and that you are not recalling an exact, precise moment but instead tracing connections created in your brain during the time you are trying to remember.

This makes perfect sense to me.

I normally start telling a story, and then the story at some point doesn't seem right to me, and I retrace and say something more true to make the story more accurate. I have always wondered why I didn't remember the story more perfectly and why my own mind would deceive me and cause me to misspeak, but if I consider it as a creative act then it just seems like I can feel less guilty for my misremembering.