Memories
Something that worries and frustrates me is the incongruity of memories. Earlier this week, while I talking to a friend, I mentioned a time years ago that I had helped him pull up the carpeting in his living room. Now for me, this memory is complete truth, as if to say 'water is comprised of hydrogen and oxygen'. I know I was there, yet he has no memory of my presence. This leads to a deep question; why would two people remember the same event differently.
One major barrier is language. If one person says "There was a kitty," the second may not understand that kitty equates to cat. In fact, 'kitty' may not be an unknown term for our second person; he may associate it with something else entirely. I run into this regularly when comparing information with other people, however it's obviously not the cause of our original example.
Suppose one of us is wrong, what does this mean? If my friend likewise knows without a doubt the accuracy of his memory, then one of us seemingly faces an ominous future; all of our memories are called into question. I hope that his memory is not this strong, but it is a possibility.
I was either there, or not. Physics does not allow for it to be otherwise, but memories are not made of the same substance as reality. Take one person from an accident and ask them what they saw, you will get a depiction of the accident. Take one hundred people from an accident and ask them what they saw, you will get one hundred different depictions of an accident. Each depiction will be a true memory from that person, assuming they are honest. Humans are not cameras; we do not take in and record 100% of what we see. The importance different stimuli in life vary from person to person. One person might remember colors distinctly but would have difficulty recalling names. Perhaps it is more important to focus on the fact that all of these people did experience the accident, and not on the variations in their experience. If we took all one hundred of their depictions and merged them together we would have the best depiction possible. Memories then can be seen as a communal human experience, separate from but derived out of reality.
This is enough to explain why two people could have different perceptions of an event, though it doesn't really help us determine the truth between two opposed perceptions. It may be that truth is intangible by human standards, at any rate it is a thought for another time.
One major barrier is language. If one person says "There was a kitty," the second may not understand that kitty equates to cat. In fact, 'kitty' may not be an unknown term for our second person; he may associate it with something else entirely. I run into this regularly when comparing information with other people, however it's obviously not the cause of our original example.
Suppose one of us is wrong, what does this mean? If my friend likewise knows without a doubt the accuracy of his memory, then one of us seemingly faces an ominous future; all of our memories are called into question. I hope that his memory is not this strong, but it is a possibility.
I was either there, or not. Physics does not allow for it to be otherwise, but memories are not made of the same substance as reality. Take one person from an accident and ask them what they saw, you will get a depiction of the accident. Take one hundred people from an accident and ask them what they saw, you will get one hundred different depictions of an accident. Each depiction will be a true memory from that person, assuming they are honest. Humans are not cameras; we do not take in and record 100% of what we see. The importance different stimuli in life vary from person to person. One person might remember colors distinctly but would have difficulty recalling names. Perhaps it is more important to focus on the fact that all of these people did experience the accident, and not on the variations in their experience. If we took all one hundred of their depictions and merged them together we would have the best depiction possible. Memories then can be seen as a communal human experience, separate from but derived out of reality.
This is enough to explain why two people could have different perceptions of an event, though it doesn't really help us determine the truth between two opposed perceptions. It may be that truth is intangible by human standards, at any rate it is a thought for another time.