Do we have a collective memory?

Question

Is there a large pool of knowledge that we all draw from?

Answer 1

Feeling a little Jungian, are we, old man?

"The collective unconscious is a part of the psyche which can be negatively distinguished from a personal unconscious by the fact that it does not, like the latter, owe its existence to personal experience and consequently is not a personal acquisition.... [T]he contents of the collective unconscious have never been in consciousness, and therefore have never been individually acquired, but owe their existence exclusively to heredity.... [T]he content of the collective unconscious is made up essentially of archetypes.
The concept of the archetype, which is an indispensable correlate of the idea of the collective unconscious, indicates the existence of definite forms in the psyche which seem to be present always and everywhere. Mythological research calls them "motifs".... Adolf Bastian long ago called them "elementary" or primordial thoughts."
....My thesis, then, is as follows: In addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only empirical psyche (even if we tack on the personal unconscious as an appendix), there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic content."

In other words, yes.

Answer 2

Yes. There is a school of belief that believes that there are instincts or 'memories' that are passed down through genetics. For example, the most common fear throughout human civilization is the fear of bugs and spiders. Even if a person has lived their whole life with out have a single encounter with an insect or spider there will be a natural repulsion towards them. Scientists belief this fear is encoded into our genes and is due to the fact that when our ancestors were swinging in the trees with the monkeys, a bite from an insect or spider could be very deadly, thus a natural fear towards these small creatures developed and has been encoded into our genes, making archeanophobia the number one fear in any society.

Answer 3

I think that we must have collective memory to a larger degree than we are aware of. The reason I say this is because there are great examples in the rest of the animal kingdom that point to extensive collective memory. For example, the Monarch Butterfly migrates to the same places, exactly the same trees in some locations, year after year, even though it takes several generations to complete a migration cycle.

Answer 4

Yes, it's everyone that I ever come across. My teachers, family, friends, strangers, books, movies, shows,.....life. The world is the large pool of knowledge.

Answer 5

Its called the library

.... and more and more of it is online ... perhaps we can all think as one using the Internet and a large virtual mind in the future. Decisions based on majority consensus. Will we be like somewhat the Borg? Ah but I digress

Answer 6

I honestly do not think that we have a collective memory. I think that we gather our own memories and that knowledge is learned individually and differently from others.

Answer 7

Yes, we have within our consciousness all the knowledge and experiences of all ages. See romans 1-19/21. All learning is but reawaking to what is already in our subsciousness. You are the life or consciousness within the body. "God dwells within you as you". As the colors of the rainbow are contained within sunlight, so to are we all contained within the light of Gods unconditional love.

Answer 8

Cutlturally, maybe, but not with 100% of the population. We all remember wars, Watergate, Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction, etc.

However, our interpretations and perspectives about said incidents will differ from person to person.

Answer 9

I thin it is instinct already hardwired like how to mate or finding food.

Answer 10

You should read Sigmund Freud's _Moses and Monotheism_.