"The case is simple: our memory is immensely valuable to us, and we already record much of our lives using video and photography, messenger logs and voice messages. These records are valuable to us in significant part because they enhance our memory and thereby promote its value. Recording those parts of our lives that we do not yet record would possess the same kind of value."
"Creating these records should ideally function without additional effort: they should be frictionless like messenger logs or the fictional technology in the Black Mirror episode 'The Entire History of You' (2011). A lifetime of records would take a lifetime to revisit in real time (with long stretches of little intrinsic interest). But we could revisit parts by searching by timestamp or tags, and the content of records could be automatically analysed, and software could generate transcripts and best-of cuts."
Modern devices enable near-complete recording of conversations and first-person audio-visual experiences, offering radical enhancement of personal memory. Memory provides pleasure, supports identity and practical decision-making, and recorded logs extend and preserve those functions. Frictionless lifelogging can mirror existing messenger logs by automatically transcribing, timestamping, tagging, and generating searchable summaries and best-of cuts, reducing the need to review entire lifetimes of data. Lower-resolution footage, audiologs and transcripts limit storage demands. Significant objections arise from privacy and potential adverse psychological effects, which require careful address. Individuals are urged to experiment with extensive recording before dismissing its potential benefits.
Read at Aeon
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