So much for Artificial Intelligence...

[rmhinden]

His avoidance of remembering things was based on his theory that his brain had a finite ability to remember stuff, and if he used up his memory on non-consequential stuff when he was young, he would not be able to remember anything at all when he got old.

I think your co-worker is wrong. Our brains are dynamic and create new pathways based on new stimulus. He is also confusing short term vs. long term memory.

I think he is more likely to loose memory by not excersing his brain.

Bob

 

[smorgasbord]

His avoidance of remembering things was based on his theory that his brain had a finite ability to remember stuff, and if he used up his memory on non-consequential stuff when he was young, he would not be able to remember anything at all when he got old.

A Conan Doyle wrote very similar thoughts from Sherlock Holmes:

https://archive.li/HcqjF

Sherlock Holmes would not have been surprised to hear that human memory is limited in capacity (''When the Brain's Mailbox Is Full,'' July 27). Tasked by Dr. Watson for his ignorance of the Copernican theory of the solar system in ''A Study in Scarlet,'' Holmes said he considered that a man's brain was ''originally like a little empty attic'' and that it was ''a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls.'' There comes a time, Holmes adds, ''when for every addition of knowledge you forget something you knew before.''
Later, in ''The Five Orange Pips,'' Holmes expanded on what he originally told Watson: ''I say now, as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.''
Fortunately I had the lumber-room of the Web to find these half-remembered bits of Holmesian arcana.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I think your co-worker is wrong. Our brains are dynamic and create new pathways based on new stimulus. He is also confusing short term vs. long term memory.

I think he is more likely to loose memory by not excersing his brain.

Bob

I may forget what I walked into the kitchen for, but I can name the song and artist of most 80's hits just from a note! ;-)