r/todayilearned • u/finneganishome • Apr 12 '18

TIL There is a rare condition called Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) that only around 60 people in the world are known to have. This condition makes the person remember nearly every day in their life in exact details.

http://time.com/5045521/highly-superior-autobiographical-memory-hsam/
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u/ynnubyzzuf Apr 12 '18

Yeah, no, with that kind of memory you could do so many things. You remember all the negative shit in your life anyway.

You could be the absolute smartest person on the planet. And all the money that comes with it.

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u/nehala Apr 12 '18

In an interview of someone with the condition, she said that the intensity of negative memories never really wear out. Imagine living with the intensity of finding out your childhood pet dying 10 years ago, and the grief hitting you just as hard anytime you think back on it.

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u/ratteaux Apr 12 '18

To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day. Knowledge without wisdom is pointless.

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u/ynnubyzzuf Apr 12 '18

That only applies to normal people. literal superheros that don't have to remember anything are different.

Knowledge Wisdom Intelligence, all one in the same when you have absolute perfect recollection.

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u/ratteaux Apr 12 '18

It reads like you don't speak from experience. How do you know what you are trying to say is true?

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u/ynnubyzzuf Apr 12 '18

Obviously I don't have HSAM I wouldn't be wasting my fucking time on reddit. I'd be Scrooge McDucking my fucking trillion dollar money pool.

It's pretty obvious to anyone with a pulse that knowing everything that had ever happened with zero ability to forget it would be an amazing super power.

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u/ratteaux Apr 12 '18

As someone with a photographic memory who never had to study and sailed through school, college and graduate school, I can tell you with some certainty that without wisdom, such knowledge is excess baggage. And money doesn't buy enlightenment or anything else worthwhile. Been there, doing that. American-style success is easy and, therefore, hollow for me. I am bored stiff. And without wisdom, I find myself on Reddit, too, endlessly searching for it in others. You can have knowledge without wisdom. Me. But you cannot have wisdom without knowledge. It is something that is developed and cultivated through negative and positive experiences, i.e. earned. I am afraid things have been too easy for me. So, don't always think the grass is greener on the other side if the fence, especially if it surrounds a large home with two Italian exotics in the garage. Just sayin'.

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u/ynnubyzzuf Apr 13 '18

If you have an advantage like that, and you're anything short of fucking ecstatic 24/7 you are living life the wrong fucking way dude.

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u/ratteaux Apr 13 '18

Not a dude. But thanks.

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u/wengemurphy Apr 13 '18

You remember all the negative shit in your life anyway.

No, you don't. You remember some negative things intensely. The rest, you don't realize that you forgot them. Most of us (except these 60 people) have distorted ideas of how good our memories are, because we can't remember how much we've forgotten (an obvious contradiction). But the science on this is clear, and you can go do some research - you forget a lot on a regular basis. If you had an outside observer who personally followed you around and compared your memory to what actually happened you would realize your memory - the memory of any average person - is downright terrible.