Memory is our brain's way of off-loading tasks from conscious focus. Without it we would have to focus on every task like we were doing it for the first time. Imagine every time you get behind the wheel of a car you had to drive like it was the first time. People would probably have nervous breakdowns while commuting. The death toll would be high. Living would be hellish and humans would be idiots.

To put this in computer or robotics terms, think of Rodney Brooks' subsumption architecture. You have all these lower systems in a hierarchy that the conscious mind can override when necessary. When you go for a walk you do not focus on each footstep, you send a message to some part of your mind to start the walking pattern and off you go. You override that behavior before you walk in front of a bus. There isn't a different self walking. It's you. You have simply developed into a more complex self than the one that had to think about putting one foot in front of the other to walk across the floor. You have developed walking circuits. It's like getting an upgrade. Self v1.2.0.130.8.91.0.1

The beauty of neuroplasticity is that you can add upgrades like this whenever you care to put the effort into learning a new skill.

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The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.

Arthur C. Clarke

The Brain Science Podcast