henry copeland: Potential downside to life-logging: losing the ability to forget. pllqt.it/qUsEkj
No matter how organized these tools may become, though, there’s something I just can’t get past: sometimes forgetting is even more helpful than remembering. Anind Dey, an associate professor of human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, has been studying how self-monitoring or life logging can serve as a memory aid for Alzheimer’s patients or a tool to learn more about what’s going on in the lives of people with autism. Beyond that, he says, “I still think this is a niche market.” One big reason is that retaining everything we experience “doesn’t really match the way we think,” Dey says. “I think of bad incidents in my life, and in my head I’ve made them better, or I’d be really unhappy.”
- www.technologyreview.com