EDITORIAL – Memory database not a good idea

Being forgetful is no fun, but there are some things that people just don’t want to… Being forgetful is no fun, but there are some things that people just don’t want to remember.

A Microsoft computer engineer is working hard to make sure that you’ll never forget anything again — even that time you got really, really drunk and ended up dancing on the pole at the frat party.

Gordon Bell has been working on a project called MyLifeBits for the past five years, according to CNN.com. His project has been to collect, well, everything — letters, phone calls, photographs, faxes, e-mails and home movies — in an attempt to create a digital database that can be searched on software supported by all computers.

“The quest is to essentially build a surrogate memory. Something that’s as good as my own memory, that I can use it as a supplement, and will remember everything that I should have remembered, that came to my ears, eyes, whatever,” Bell said in the article.

Software supporting the program will enable users to record other media as well, like Web sites, TV and radio transcripts, and instant message conversations.

There are obvious concerns that accompany this kind of technology. First of all, will anyone care to use it? As much as it makes us sick to think about, there probably is a market for what has the potential to be a gross display of voyeurism.

But more importantly, what kind of safety measure will be in place to protect users? Suppose you are having an affair or you’ve committed a crime. Would this program record all of that information? What will keep other people and the government from hacking into it? Keeping a thorough record of all activities has the potential to incriminate in the process of building your life database.

And what about people with whom you interact who want to remain un-catalogued? It seems that they’ll be subjected to forced participation and your interaction with them will certainly be augmented, especially if they know that they are being recorded — which they most certainly should know so they can protect their privacy.

This program could change the way we think of memory all together. Memory will no longer be a fluid and mutable consciousness. Kindergarteners may be taught to search their memory databases like they search Google.

Microsoft may find a market in aging people who fear memory loss — it seems like a great way to preserve special moments that might be lost to Alzheimer’s. However, we have to wonder if it’s even going to be useful for people suffering from mental deterioration. Images, e-mails and movies are of little use when the people in them are as familiar as characters in a movie.

It’s also odd that a society so guarded and fearful of Big Brother would even consider keeping track of its entire life digitally. Who knows what role the government would play in such technology.

Computers cannot replace the human brain. Sure, they can act as a supplement, but we don’t think something like MyLifeBits is necessary for preserving our lives — with sites like MySpace and Facebook, enough of us is already accessible online. While we might not be able to record things with the accuracy of a computer, we are able to record things like feelings and emotions, things a computer, hopefully, will never be able to emulate.

In the end, we’d rather rely on people remembering the kinds of people we were instead of relying on a computer to give a testament of our lives.