February 24, 2007
From the desk of Jane Galt:Robin Hanson points out some new technology:
Similar to the way posterity review could help academic incentives, a simple way to reduce bias about how we see our own lives is to collect more data on our lives. From Marginal Revolution:MyLifeBits has also provided Bell with a new suite of tools for capturing his interactions with other people and machines. The system records his telephone calls and the programs playing on radio and television. ... stores a copy of every Web page he visits and a transcript of every instant message he sends or receives. It also records the files he opens, the songs he plays and the searches he performs. ... MyLifeBits continually uploads his location from a portable Global Positioning System device, wirelessly transmitting the information to his archive. ... SenseCam, ... automatically takes pictures when its sensors indicate that the user might want a photograph.
How many of you would want this? I wouldn't. I prefer the memories I choose to keep, and the ones I make up, over the ones I really had.
Those who prefer unbiased memories should want this. With a full record of your life, you could settle disputes about who said what when, and how often you do what.
You don't have to wait to record your full life in sound. A $200 pocket voice recorder saves 150MB of high quality audio in a twelve hour battery charge, and a $200 hard disk will store three years of audio at that rate. Of course it will be a few years until we can organize such data well.
But then what will couples and siblings have to fight about? Can America's relationships survive actually knowing what he said at cousin Emily's wedding?
Posted by Jane Galt at February 24, 2007 10:01 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links"); ?>Can America's relationships survive actually knowing what he said at cousin Emily's wedding?They had better. Every word of it was the absolute truth. Posted by: triticale on February 24, 2007 10:16 AM
Wow. Someone asks "Who wants Big Brother in their life?" and people jump up and down and go "Oooh, me! Me!"
Posted by: CatCube on February 24, 2007 10:23 AMWill there be a record made of the person replaying all this crap?
Posted by: linton on February 24, 2007 10:34 AMLinton indicated the key question. At what point does the person stop living life in order to spend long tedious hours reliving moments that weren't all that interesting the first time? Even someday in a nursing home, I hope I have better things to do than to replay my life in this much boring detail.
Posted by: Ann on February 24, 2007 12:37 PMActual conversation from my household.
mother: Person [not my real name], why did you just slam the door to your brother's room?
me: Mother, I did not slam the door to my brother's room.
mother: You're just so disrespectful to other people, they don't like it when you just slam their doors like that.
me: but mother
enter brother of Person
brother: what's up?
me: Brother, I'd like to apologize for slamming your door ...
brother: what? But you didn't slam my door.
me: *rofl*
mother: *turns purple with anger*
Haha. Laugh now, but twenty years down the road you'll be that mom.
Posted by: Zhong lu on February 24, 2007 10:47 PMOne piece of technology that will eventually be available is similar to that in the movie "Final Cut", in which new borns are implanted with a device that records their entire lives from their point of view.
Posted by: Yancey Ward on February 25, 2007 12:37 PMYou don't have to wait to record your full life in sound. A $200 pocket voice recorder saves 150MB of high quality audio in a twelve hour battery charge, and a $200 hard disk will store three years of audio at that rate.
I could get about 70 minutes of music in 150 MB, very roughly. But 12 hours of recording? Have I missed something? The first part of the sentence seems to talk about battery life, the second talks about hard disk space. 2 different things.
Posted by: Ryan on February 25, 2007 10:41 PMit wouldn't make much difference. even when they play back Cheney saying the insurgents are on the run, he denies it.
Just deny everything and smile....
Posted by: judson on February 26, 2007 1:30 PMJust wait till this guy ends up involved in a lawsuit and is served with discovery requests!
Posted by: Wurly on February 26, 2007 2:14 PMWurly: Just think of a whole team of lawyers having to listen to a replay of your entire life. If mine's anything to go by, not even lawyers deserve that!
Posted by: markm on February 27, 2007 2:59 PM