THE WORLD MEMORY CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITION is going on now at Oxford University. The current champion is Ben Pridmore, 28, who can memorize a pack of cards in 32.13 seconds. I wonder if the people who actually have the best memories use their super power to do things like memorizing packs of cards. Shouldn't they want to fill their heads with things that will be beautiful or useful to think about – volumes of great literature or the complete tax code and regulations, perhaps? But no. Competition is intrinsically rewarding. My question is like asking the fastest runner why he competes in the Olympics instead of running around looking at the trees and flowers or traveling back and forth to work.I'll bet you think that people like Pridmore must be lacking in other mental qualities, like that fellow in "The Mind of a Mnemonist." Most relatively smart people want to be even smarter but are still not all that concerned about not having an extremely strong memory. Yet having a great memory would be awfully useful!
What would you memorize if you had a superpower for memorizing?
Would you perform memorizing stunts for the public's entertainment? Would you enter some line of business (or form of gambling) where memorizing something would give you a great edge? Would you pursue memorizing as matter of pure pleasure or enlightenment?
If you could choose a great mental power – not a supernatural power, but just get into the top 0.0001% of human abillity – would you chose memory? If not, what power would you prefer and would you be worried that extreme memory powers would degrade some other aspect of life?
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For some reason I cannot remember the cell phone numbers of my wife, son or daughter and I'm unable to decern the difference between the names Josh and Jake.
Memory I think could be quite useful in the right situations, but right now I would far prefer to have the ability to intuitively understand how other people feel, especially about me.
Big Hal gave my answer to your first question. My grandmother and her siblings would quote poetry at length and I remember sitting at their feet entranced.
This is probably not intellectual talent, but, like Solomon, I would want wisdom - more than memory (data) or knowledge (more data). I suffered through corporate hell when they decided to pursue "knowledge management." Working in a creative department, I could track the process through the fact gathering stage, then there was magic, and the process proceeded through production. It drove the KM guys crazy because they could not reproduce the magic part of the process.
Jim: I should have put in more zeroes! Yes, a talent for storytelling, for creating new things, would be much better than the ability to remember things that already exist (and that ordinary people can just write down). It would be fun and financially and socially rewarding.
Memory. Definitely memory. Then you could really see what open-source intelligence could accomplish!
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