11/11/11

Short-term memory capacity for most people is between 5 & 9 items or digits...that's why phone numbers were kept to 7 digits for so long...

so what is the magic number for short term memory now???   Well that all depends on the type of person you are...and it doesn't apply to most people...it applies to everyone and their particular chosen path thru modern technology...take for instance the computer you're using to view this blog...I can guarantee you with absolute certainty you had to not only type in a USER name...but also a password...and this is true for each and every account you open online...so you either hafta use the same password over and over and over again...so that your short term memory isn't adversely affected...or you hafta attempt to memorize significantly more than the 'average' human being...and I don't know about you but I'd like to know what the definition of the term 'average' refers to with regards to this little morsel of memory capacity and calculation...because I am old skewl...I grew up in an age that didn't have computers...or cell phones...or little check boxes allowing my passwords to be kept by a browser so that my lazy ass wouldn't forget them...nor were we alloowed to use calculators in an attempt to get better grades on math exams...as I recall I had to memorize alot more shit back in the '80's than I do today...let's see there were hundreds of classmates...multiply each of them by 7...and there you had the short term memory capacity of an elephant...mathematical equations...all their steps...quite a bit more than 7 items...today you don't even hafta attend a damn math class at all if you have the right graphing calculator...and yoou know how to operate it...hell with smart phones available these days you don't even hafta go to the library to do any research...now some people embrace this new technology with open arms...others fight it like it was some sort of invasive anally implanted rectal cancer that takes an alien probing to install...personally I just happen to be at an age where I can still grasp most of it without much effort...however I do view it as the beginning of the Declination of Western Civilizations...it is a tool...and it has a meaningful purpose when applied correctly...for most people that simply isn't the case...behind the scenes it is a product controlled by mass media to effect the 'average' human beings daily experience...so many people sit in front of the computer every chance they get that it has taken over as the number one form of entertainment for many...and as time goes on people will become less societal...and much more desensitized about every day events...short term memory has very little swag in the modern era...altho it still has its uses...mine has been converted into a scapegoat...I blame it for not remembering peoples names...the ignorant ramblings they spew forth without being so much as asked...phone numbers I'll never use...its a beautiful thing...seldom used properly anymore...and if the tidbit is indeed true...then perhaps we all need to be branded with 7 digit numbers across our foreheads at birth...because the 'average' humans capacity to remember anything at all whether it be 7 items or digits is easily efected thru manipulation...the biggest example of this...in recent events...would be 9/11...there are so many differing stories...videos...  government explanations...that even people who were standing outside the damn buildings...within feet of each other...have entirely different recollections of the days events...this manipulation of memory is ever present in the field of law enforcement...and the legal system itself...'Hogwash'...you say...take a day off work...go sit in a county courthouse and watch the days proceedings...one after the other people will be called forward to face charges...they'll be read what the charges are...and asked for a plea...they'll more often than not enter a plea of not guilty...at which time the prosecuting attorney will make an offer to the defendant or their attorney...by the time it's all said and done...Dave the Defendant will plead guilty to a lesser charge...which in most cases isn't even related to the original charge...if you wait until Dave walks out of the courtroom and ask him what he was just convicted of...he'll spout off the charge named in the plea deal...without even mentioning the original charges or the plea offer he accepted...and if that doesn't do it for ya...if you take 7 people...put them in an ordinary situation...let's say sitting around a table at a bar...introduce an extraordinary event...say a bar fight involving six different people...seperate the original 7 people and interview them each as to what took place and you will have 7 different stories evolve...  memory is stored in clips...fragments...thumbnails in the mind...when recalled they get distorted...  discombobulated...filling in the voids with things that are from other memories...or just made up...  now if you wanna have some fun with this...use it at your next alcohol present social gathering...or better yet...use it the day after...call up the individual who had the most to drink...tell them a completely ficticious story about something they did or said the night before...have a couple other eople who were in attendance do the same thing...repeating the same made up story...by Monday morning the poor bastard will have contemplated the plausibility of said story so many times thru out the remainder of the weekend that if you have somebody who wasn't in attendance...idly approach the now embarrassed alcoholic...  and ask him how his weekend went...chances are he'll recite a 'memory' that NEVER happened...so don't let short term memory lapse make a fool out of ya...my short term memory may suck...but my long term ability to hold a grudge will last forever...LOL!!!