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Imagine being able to remember every single moment of your life with precise
accuracy. Every triumph, every heart break and every painful memory capable of being
recalled back at any moment in vivid detail. So raw and fresh that even the sensory
information and emotions come back along with the intense memory. Although it sounds
like something out of a comic book, in the future with scientific enhancement it might
become possible to give children such seemingly superhuman capabilities through
genetically engineering them to have exceptional memories. Although pop culture and the
media would lead society to believe that possessing an exceptional memory is a desirable
trait closely correlated to superior intellectual functioning and cognitive processing, this is
a misconception and parents should not ethically be allowed to chose this trait for their
children because of the ramifications. Genetically engineered memory modifications
would result in painful physical and psychological trauma, deficits in cognitive and social
skills, and limited mental capacities as a result of negating the brains evolutionarily
developed ability to forget unnecessary information. These detriments would severely
limit a childs intellectual capabilities throughout their life, as well as possibly subject them
to physical, mental, and emotional harm, and therefore are ethically impermissible.
An exceptional memory is any that deviates widely from the normal physical and
mental limitations of human memory. In contrast to people who use mnemonics or
rehearsal strategies, people with exceptional memories rely on natural memories, which
are involuntarily encoded and do not require the use of memory techniques.
or sexual assault. However, even something like being bullied on the playground can scar
a person for life, and therefore it would not be ethically permissible to force a child to
have to lucidly remember every moment of their life.
Society in general wrongly relates exceptional memories to superior cognitive
functioning. This misconception is the result of pop culture and the medias portrayal of
fictional characters with exceptional memories; inaccurate and sensationalized depiction
of young people with amazing abilities and exceptional memories leads parent to think
that having one is best for their children. For example, Klaus Baudelaire, a teenage genius
from Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events, uses his eidetic memory to learn
multiple languages, remember virtually everything he reads from books and help rescue
his orphan siblings from dangerous situations. Another example is Nickelodeons The
Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius television series, which featured 11 year old
Jimmy Neutron with a stunning IQ and natural talent for science, who wielded his
extraordinary memory to repeatedly save his home town of Retroville. Similarly, Cartoon
Networks Dexters Laboratory showcased a ten year old boy-genius, Dexter, who in
addition to conducting experiments and creating inventions in his secret laboratory,
possessed an exceptional memory. From a parents perspective it would seem logically
ethical to enhance their own childs memory in order to enable them to perfectly recall
knowledge and facts to excel academically, have a higher IQ, and the greatest possibility of
success in life.
However, in reality the possession of an innate exceptional memory is not equated
to being a genius, and in most cases is the symptom of a mental or genetic disorder. For
instance, Kim Peek, also known as megasavant, who allegedly memorized at least 12,000
books suffered from a mental disorder called Savant Syndrome. Although he was capable
of speeding through a book in an hour and memorizing vast amounts of information in
subjects ranging from history to literature to music and dates, he had difficulty
performing ordinary motor movements and scored below average on IQ tests. Like most
savants, despite exhibiting extraordinary abilities in highly specialized areas, his mental
disability caused both cognitive and social abnormalities which indicates that there is no
correlation between exceptional memory and superior cognitive functions.
In the same way, the extraordinary mnemonist Solomon Shereshevsky, who
memorized complex mathematical formulas and even poems in foreign languages in a
matter of minutes, was hindered by his exceptional memory. Shereshevsky suffered form
a severe case of fivefold synaesthesia in which any stimulation produced a response in
every sense, which enhanced his ability to store and access memories. Unfortunately, it
also produced unnecessary images and feelings that resulted in him having trouble
reading because written words often evoked distracting sensations. Similarly, the unusual
interest in dates associated with HSAM might be a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
in which instead of hoarding stamps, shoes or postcards, people hoard memories, dates
and events. Which illustrates the fact that although it is widely believed that memory
enhancement leads to superior intelligence, this is a misconception proliferated by the
media and pop culture. Ethically, unless parents, the scientific community, and society as a
whole are properly educated and aware of the ramifications of engineering this trait into
children, they are not fit to make a moral decision that ensures the best outcome in terms
to enhance a childs memory, although seemingly beneficial, would destroy the minds
ability to perform specific functions and restrict an individuals capacity.
In general, society is terribly uninformed about the implications of exceptional
memories due to the inaccurate portrayal of superior memories by the media and pop
culture. Although in most cases of exceptional memories individuals gain almost
superhuman capabilities, the very trait that makes them so extraordinary also serves as a
detriment, often crippling their intellectual and social skills. Genetically modifying the
memory capacities of children is wrong from an ethical perspective and does not stand up
to moral evaluation because its detriments would severely limit a childs capabilities in life.
The study of exceptional memories is still relatively new, and so before peoples genes
are altered to enhance their memories, more research must be done to ensure that
artificial, or genetic memory enhancements do not produce the same negative physical or
psychological effects observed in naturally occurring exceptional memories.