Memories
of the Future
Can a simple pill make us remember? And if it
can, should it?
The Observer, May 2004
So a man goes to the doctor, and the doctor tells
him there is bad news. In fact, there is bad
news and really bad news. Which does he want
first?
'The really bad news.'
'The really bad news is that you have Aids.'
'Oh my God. And what's the bad news?'
'The bad news is you also have Alzheimer's.'
'Could be worse,' the man says. 'At least I don't
have Aids.'
This year may be remembered as the year in which
we all got the really bad news. Alzheimer's competes
fiercely with HIV to be the disease of our times,
and it is difficult to get through a day without
hearing someone say, 'Now where did I put that
thing - I must be getting Alzheimer's.' The disease
has entered our culture far beyond the level
of dubious internet jokes: bookshops are increasingly
busy with fiction and memoirs in which someone
can't recognise their own children; celebrity
interviews feature poignant moments in which
actors (in this case David Hyde Pierce from Frasier)
will recall, 'The last time I got an Emmy, I
brought it to my dad. He was so excited because
he couldn't wait to tell my mom - and she had
died four years before.'
There are more symptoms of Alzheimer's than just
severe memory loss, but it is memory loss that
provides the most disturbing details of the disease,
and the symptom that, as healthy individuals,
we fear most. We may approximate what it is like
to lose our sight by closing our eyes and bumping
into things, and to go deaf by blocking our ears;
in both cases our memories will help us manage.
But one cannot imagine what it is like to have
no memory. We may forget our keys, but we don't
usually forget where our front door is; we may
forget where we left our car, but we do not forget
that it is somewhere in the car park.
Psychologists have long since tired of telling
each other that we are our memories, but it is
as potent a thought as ever. It is no wonder
that severe memory loss can be a disaster for
those who experience it and those who observe
it.
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