The Good Old Days

Yes we have all heard the phrase. We all hear people older than ourselves talking about how things were better in the good old days and then we start using the same phrase ourselves. Usually it refers to a time when things were anything but good. Often it was a time of poverty and deprivation and things we are now glad to see the back of. But memory itself lends a patina to our previous times which make them glow in our minds.

The real reason we like the old days is because we are not there any more. We can remember things from a safe distance because we are no longer there to put our foot in things. We know how everything worked out and have some idea of the significance of everything we have experienced. But the recollection of memory is far from an exact science. Different people leave their pasts behind at different rates and usually without knowing it. Different things seem to make sense at different times and something half remembered one day can seem very real and relevant the next. We have ways of controlling memory but they are not often used in a beneficial way. Therefore we are at the mercy of our hidden selves when it comes to our past lives and what we can look at from a distance and take the pleasant parts out of.

I was aware of this when I was younger. So one day I decided to imprint soomething on my memory for all time. It was a boring physics lesson with a teacher I did not like and understood less. I did much better when others took the class temporarily. So this day to relieve the misery most creative people endure at a school I listened to what he was saying and took some notice of what he put on the blackboard. I decided that I would remember this for the sake of it. About thirty years later I still do. Of course I do not remember what he had written on the board or what he was saying though I do remember these things on other occasions. What I remember is the teacher standing by the board and talking and the rough appearance of what he had written. I remember most of all deciding to remember. So the detail is there and part of the good old days even though they were actually hideous old days I should never have had to put up with blah blah blah blah blah blah.......

The question all this raises is a simple one. Would we think the good old days were better or worse if we could control our memory of them? If we could choose what to remember what would be the effect? There is a danger that if we choose to remember good things they may end up as broken dreams when we look back on them. No good old days then. Similarly if we think we have risen above our pasts there would be no point having good memories of them. They are the good old days because they were so bad they make our endurance of them look good. But if we continue with our current laissez-faire attitude on this question is there not a danger that the best and most significant parts might be lost for some reason? Is it not true that the good old days might be even better if only we could remember and reevaluate everything about them?

The way to resolve this question is by developing a simple matrix. We all inhabit cyberspace nowadays in one way or another. Whether we like it or not certain aspects of our lives are lived electronically and recorded electronically. Try picking up the telephone. So there is all this space full of jumbled junk just waiting to be colonised. The internet companies may use the space but by definition they cannot colonise it because there is too much competition. When one starts all start. It is however defineable space even if it is virtual because as we have all seen it can get too congested to use which it would not do unless it had boundaries. So what is to stop people buying this space? Nothing tangible can go in there because it is virtual space. But what is to stop us downloading our memories? We can all claim a space for our memories and store them there instead of in our heads. Then we can decide exactly how far away each memory should be. The ones we like least can be at the farthest end and the favourite ones nearest. We can buy additional spaces and detach certain items to put them nearer or further away relative to other memories and thus maintain a developing flow of relevant images. We can send the space floating or fix it or any combination of the two. The mind is often said to wander. If we bought virtual space we could not only give it things to wander in but make everything else stronger or dimmer in relation to where the mind is to keep us healthy and active all our lives.

Whether something becomes part of the good old days depends on its own intrinsic value as well as its relevance to us. So now it is time to face up to the consequences of this. In virtual space there are always policemen of some sort to stop the worst excesses of brutalism occurring. Give these policemen something more pleasant to do. Make them set exams for our memories. Those that are good enough to qualify will also be relevant enough in the same way that if you are good enough you are old enough. Then the whole process of memory will be taken away from us and reaccessed when it is to our greatest benefit. We love the good old days because we are no longer there. To obtain maximum benefit from our memories we should no longer be in them either. Then we will have all excuses and none simultaneously. This is of course what any recollection of the past is ultimately designed to achieve.