Heinlein’s “fair witness” – more sci-fi related to Your Life, Uploaded

In Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, we find characters with photographic memories, who play the role of observers. The description at Wikipedia:

Fair Witness is a fictional profession invented for the novel. A Fair Witness is an individual trained to observe events and report exactly what he or she sees and hears, making no extrapolations or assumptions. An eidetic memory is a prerequisite for the job, …

As a bonus, Heinlein also coins the word “grok” :)

The Diary Exhibit at the Morgan Library and Museum

Please check out the wonderful exhibit that it now on view at the Morgan Library and Museum at 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street in New York. 

The Diary: Three Centuries of Private Lives displays many intimate journals of famous people throughout the last three centuries. Charlotte Bronte, Sir Walter Scott, Steinbeck, Einstein, Anasis Nin, Thoreau to name just a few!

Get exhibit information here. There is also an excellent NY Times review of the exhibition.

Cyberspace When You're Dead

Cyberspace When You're Dead by Rob Walker

Rob’s article pointed out the concern about the stuff that ends up in Cyberspace after death.

Our work, MyLifeBits, see Bell and Gemmell, “Your Life Uploaded: The Digital Way to Better Memory, Health, and Productivity” describes the value of  “storing everything” now!

Remembering what I have read with Kindle Daily Review

Amazon has a feature for Kindle book readers called Daily Review (or Daily Refresh, or Flashcards) which brings up passages I have highlighted in my books to help me retain my memories of the book. They say:

Daily Review is a tool to help you review and remember the most significant ideas from your books. It shows you flashcards with either your highlights and notes or the Popular Highlights from one of your books.

...

The periodic review of ideas makes it easier to remember them. This works better if you space the reviews over increasing time intervals, a "Spacing Effect" that was first identified by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. Depending on how many books you have marked as "read", you will see a particular book again in the Daily Review in roughly 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and thereafter annually. ...

The only problem: I need a reminder to use this memory aid! As far as I can tell, I have to sign into my kindle account to get it. Putting in in a daily email would suit me much better.

Yet another movie recommendation after a Your Life, Uploaded talk

After a Your Life, Uploaded talk, I had someone recommend the movie Defending Your Life to me. Albert Brooks stars as a newly deceased man who must defend the way he has lived to a court in "Judgement City." Lawyers can play video clips from any part of his life on a screen in the courtroom. There's no connection to reality, much less the technical reality of Your Life, Uploaded, but it does make one think about being faced with recorded evidence rather than just human memories.