A Perfect Memory

Blank gaps in memories, slow recall, and difficulty in remembering abstract or specific things prove to those who have experienced them (without making assumptions) that there are indeed possible limitations to the capacity to remember.  Whether these exact limitations will be a part of someone's experiences with memory or to what extent they would manifest would be are individualistic variables, not universal, logically necessary parts of what it means to be human.  It is only things like the fact that memory is about recollection and that no memory of an event proves the event occurred that are true of all human memories.  The limitations that individuals specifically face due to their own personal memories, such as having gaps in memories that someone else does not have, still could spark a desire to be free of all constraints on memory.

A perfect memory might seem very desirable until a person looks to reason and sees that it could actually be a hellacious thing to live with.  All the things in one's life that are objectively harmful or subjectively disliked would be ever before someone with a memory that has no lapses.  A perfect memory would not necessarily always be pleasant; it could mean that one is never not thinking about a mistake from long ago, always reliving trauma, and perhaps even tormented that they did not get to experience or reflect on something themselves before someone else brought it up, with no way to forget and rediscover something.  There are only a handful of ways a perfect memory could lead to misery, but those outcomes would be very potent.

An abuse victim who could never let memories of certain parts of the abuse fade would probably wish their memory was more selectively functional.  A person tormented by regret over how they handled past circumstances would probably prefer the same.  Likewise, a person who wanted to forget a truth or process to return to it--whether because they prize autonomy or because they want to appreciate it anew--would be unable to do this as long as their memory is perfect.  Memory, for such people, can be a prison of agony even as it is also a necessity to look within themselves or look to reason without constantly forgetting where they were Introspectively headed.  Memory's epistemological centrality (though reason is more foundational) is inescapable even when some of its consequences are unwanted.

Given human limitations and struggles, it can actually be better for subjective peace that many people will not have to constantly relive or permanently recall every event, conversation, emotion, and loss.  The exact psychological impact of a perfect memory, a terrible one, or a memory in between these two extremes is subjective in all cases, so it is logically possible for someone to not even care about any of the potential hardships that could come with a perfect memory--which would ironically mean that there are not any true hardships that hinge on their memory.  It is just that casual comments by someone wishing they could remember everything about their lives betrays probable ignorance about the issue.  There is likely only a handful of people who would truly want a perfect memory in light of these truths. 

When a person is only fixated on the most trivial, practical pursuits instead of rationalistic truths, it might be easy for them to long for a perfect memory without ever truly realizing that it might not entail what they want, even bringing with it painful or bitter experiences.  Contentment with the general limitations of memory (including the deep epistemological limitation of not knowing if an event happened just because one remembers it), if it can be obtained, and thorough rationality and self-awareness, which are attainable by everyone, are the most effective ways to live with memory and its contents one way or another.  With all but the awareness of present thoughts and perceptions relying on memory, this is no minor attitude to have.