Without memory, are our actions meaningless?

Answer 1

I don't think so, because most of our actions are appreciated in the moment...before they become memories. It also seems to me that even without conscious memory, there is still something subconscious that our actions affect within the mind anyway. So....no. Our actions are not meaningless without memory.

Answer 2

When aren't our actions meaningless? With memory, without, there is no free will. Actions beget reactions and everything is already in place for what we'll do, while we act under a seemingly necessary illusion of free will. Hmm, I'd say without memory our actions are probably more meaningful! Since our current and future actions are nothing more than reactions to our DNA, upbringing, and past experiences.

Answer 3

Whoa Nellie. you're asking significant questions and that is tremendous. it would want to be effectual to appreciate that there'll always be more effective questions till the day there are not any more effective. even as the questions now no longer are mandatory you'll understand. this isn't any longer an identical as drawing conclusions. perchance conclusions are an phantasm. What if existence itself were God? What if the invisible existence stress that animates each little thing were an identical as that which it animates? What if each little thing interior the cloth, emotional, psychological and actual international all arose out of this exact same existence stress and are constituted from an identical essence? What if all mutually we referred to as this managerie existence? What if the captivating different wealthy and inventive demonstrate of this essence this is all round us and everywhere were God? What if a rock the position basically as a lot God as a tree or an animal or you? What if God were an essence that blanketed the Human type and all different varieties? What if existence gave you existence and the freedom to trust or no longer count number on options? A theory or lots of of ideas are not to any extent further fallacy. they're only a small area of the entire image and collectively carry the entire image in microcosm inherently. in case you concentration on a theory as content cloth interpreted in spite of the undeniable fact that the lens of our conditioned beliefs than we see ourselves. What makes the concept a threat? what's the concept itself made up of? the position does it come from? Why can we've some ideas and not in any respect others? the position do they originate and the position do they pass? can we charm to them? can we repel others without understanding? Are ideas issues? Are we are ideas? look deeper. perchance all isn't what it first seems.

Answer 4

Our memory is billions of "routes", actions and words can have a significance without being directly expressed. Even if you forget the action it was still stored in your short term memory. Prospective memory is simply remembering to remember. You can sense something and through repetition it can commit itself to being stored as a long term memory. On another note, every single act of love bears the imprint of God.

Answer 5

I'd like to counter Eddie J's answer. Its a common misconception that since actions cause reations and so on that everthing is set in stone.
There is more randomness than you might imagine. Take, for example, the breakdown of a radioactive substance (the sun). It's impossible to predict in what fashion it will emit radiation (purely random) and so its effects are also random. Thus destroying the cause and effect chain.

Answer 6

Since we do have memory, your question is meaningless!!

Answer 7

Ahhh. A question close to my heart.

I am a geriatric psychologist specializing in the treatment of people with dementia. Therefore, I actually know a lot about this particular question. I will answer simply, but hopefully give readers something to think about. There are many types of dementia, but I will simplify it to say that dementia is a brain disease characterized by a loss of memory and some other function, such as ability to plan. See the reference below for more information.

Theorists have sliced up the notion of memory in many ways and to many degrees, each corresponding to a particular neural structure and neural network. Memory can be divided up into declarative and nondeclarative memory,. In general, declarative memory consists of the things we can tell about, while nondeclarative memory consists of the things we know and can demonstrate, but may not be able to tell how.

Both of these categories can be further broken down. For example, under declarative memory, we use the term episodic memory for what we usually refer to as memory for events that have happened to us. Semantic memory involves facts. It too is broken down between knowledge of words and their meaning, historical facts, and personal semantics, which is the knowledge of personal relevant facts.

Under declarative memory, we have procedural memory, such as is used to ride a bicycle, and we have recognition memory, the ability to recognize whether or not we have seen something before. There are many other types of memory to describe here. I left a few references below, if you are interested.

In addition, different types of memory have been found to be processed, organized and retained in different neural networks. Damage to one pathway may damage that form of memory, leaving other types of memory intact.

This brings me to the answer to your question.

Depending on how you define memory, you will get a different answer to your question. Are you asking if episodic memory is necessary to finding meaning in action ? If you are, I will respond by saying that there are many other ways to remember that still give life its meaning. I treat people with vastly diminished episodic memory who learn to regulate their feelings better, and end up living a better, more well-related life. They will tell you that they have a good life even if they don't remember exactly what happened.

Let me give an illustration:

It is a common experience in my practice that people with impaired episodic memory see a movie that they enjoy immensely. Afterwards, they cannot tell much about the plot, or even about the characters, but they can say they loved the experience. They can even say things they liked about it, such as the acting, the music, the drama, etc. I can help these people remember more by assembling fragments of memories that are connected to emotions or sensations. In this way I take on the role of the missing brain structure and pathways necessary for episodic learning and recall. But even if I didn't help them recall the film, they would still remember how much they enjoyed it.

Emotional memory resides in a different place than factual memory, although obviously the two interact at multiple places in the brain.

This process works even better if the emotional event is more central and important. For example, I may help someone remember the death of a loved one. Very often, a person with dementia who has recently lost a loved one will show clinical sigs of grief and depression. If asked why he or she will reply "I am crying but I don't know why." Clearly, in this sense, it is important to help a person make sense of the loss. The memory also becomes quite meaningful if it prevents a catastrophic response whenever reminded of the loss. In this sense I maintain that the memory gives life more meaning with which to make sense of feelings. I have developed techniques to do just that.

Finally, I treat many people with dementia using a modified form of psychotherapy. In general, they talk about the same things that "normal" people do, things that bother them about their life past or present, and worries about the future. I screen for people who have enough alternate memory pathways so that I can work around the damaged episodic pathway. Those that have enough alternate pathways usually get better the same way as more intact persons, even if they do not remember the content of the sessions. So, I can definitely say that the act of regulation of our emotions is meaningful, even if the way we did it is forgotten.

Hopefully I have given you a few things to think about while answering your question.

Answer 8

No, they if they affect others then they have meaning. Regardless if they are committed to memory or not.

Answer 9

you would forget a lot of things

Answer 10

good question. i dunno. it kind of makes sense for them to be meaningless if we can't really remember. : /