michael_b

I don't think I understand the riddle of experience vs. memory. I would daresay that means the concept is half-baked. Within the TED talk, Daniel Kahneman poses the probably familiar philosophical quandary: if you could take a beautiful vacation and afterwards your memory and photo album was completely erased, would you still do it? Whether you would still do it illustrates whether you live in service of the experiencing self instead of the remembering self. Part of what prevents me from understanding the riddle is that I believe vacations are worth more than the memories and photos: vacations change you. Maybe you could argue that this change is also a form of memory in service to the remembering self, but I'm not sure that's what he meant. In his thought experiment on vacations he asks if you would still take a vacation if, at the end of it, you forgot the whole thing and all of your photos were deleted. As if your memory is just a brain version of your photo album. What about the rest of these features of typical vacations where you may go somewhere photo worthy? * a chance to unwind from not having to work * a chance to heal, because you break normal patterns of repetitive stress (e.g. not sitting at a desk all day for a week or two) * a chance to work out every day in a different way * developing your "worldliness"; e.g. opening your mind a bit, because you've likely met new and different people * come back with a sweet tan * come back with more Facebook friends * come back with extra dives in your SCUBA log book * new delicious condiments in your kitchen * flashes of insight you get from having some time to consider a 30,000 foot view of your life * surprisingly large dip in your bank account balance (so much personal development awaits) * if you're lucky (or maybe unlucky), you discover new modalities of being and abandon your current way of life Are all of these potential features and possible changes to your personality/lifestyle revert