| Inventor 2 ~Memory Keeping System |
February 6, 2020
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| A middle aged man came to the inventor's office and told him his concerns: He has always had a bad memory. When he was a child, he never won at the card game 'Concentration' in which the players would flip two cards and if they matched, you would get the cards. Also, he would easily forget people's names. But, until recently, he didn't care about his weak point because he had been working for a long time in the same company without being fired because of his bad memory. But, recently some shocking things happened in a row. Recently, he went to the super market and bought a pack of ground coffee beans. After purchasing it, at home, when he was about to make coffee, he realized something was wrong: it wasn't the coffee beans that he had needed, it was the filter paper that was running out. He had gone to the supermarket in order to buy paper filters but bought coffee instead. What a bonehead! He had to give up drinking coffee that afternoon. Another shocking thing happened when he sat down to read a book. There were many  books on his bookshelves. It seemed great except for one thing: there were a couple copies of the same books. He had mistakenly bought the second ones not realizing that he had one already. When he picked up a book, he felt a 'de ja vu' feeling, and he looked at the bookshelves again and found two of the same book: he had bought a third one! He couldn't overlook it this time. So he came to the inventor's office."But ..." the inventor said, "Maybe this problem would be in the field of psychologists or hypnotists, or ... I think that there are some specialists for memorizing. Or ... didn't you buy any books like 'Memory Training' or '10 Theories to Improve Your Memory' or something like that?" He said that he tried some HOW-TO books, but somehow he couldn't continue. He hated hospitals. The inventor joked, "Ok, but, I hope you don't think that I can put a memory chip in your head to help you memorize things." But, the guy didn't laugh. The inventor promised to make something and asked him to come again one week later. The inventor himself wasn't good at memorizing, either. He heard that forgetting is needed for human beings. As you can't forget sad things, how can you live healthy for the rest of your life? He also heard that humans can't "forget" things, but more accurately people "can't recall" things because once information enters the brain, it stay there. The problem is in retrieval. He had some How-To-Memorize books. Their methods seemed similar. To connect things to familiar things. For example, if it was the number '746913', the books would recommend a strategy like this, "7 minus 4 equals 3, then added 6, 9, and the last one 1." Or, "Imagine there are 7 books on the table, next there are 4 pens and 6 erasers, next to them are 9 dice and 13 cards." Making a story is another popular method, "7 samurai fought against 46 ninja, it lasted 9 days and 13 ninja remained." But these methods have a weak point: it's troublesome. So people give up. One week later the guy came to the inventor's office and was given the invention, it was a ring-shaped gadget. After the inventor's explanation, the guy thanked the inventor and left happily. Looking at him as he left, the inventor sighed, he didn't have confidence this time about his invention. Soon after leaving the inventor's office, the guy started his experiment. He looked at the number plate of a car parked on the road, it was '2NVL814'. He called out the number into the mic on the ring on his finger. He moved the ring to his ear, soon the female voice sounded, "2 new vehicles lived from 8 to 14 years." He listened to this twice pushing the replay button, then he recalled it many times in his mind. He went to the next car and did the same thing. This time the number was '3JCT265'. The voice said, "3 jet cars traveled for 265 days." He didn't think that he could memorize 265, but, for now, he needed to concentrate on it. He went to the next car. It was, 'DAU1518'. The ring sounded, "Daily ...." One week later, the guy went back to the inventor's office. "I can't believe this machine worked this well. Even now I can say, 'Daily Animals used from 15 to 18.' I don't know if this makes sense or not, though." The inventor smiled, "Yes. Whether it makes sense or not is not a big problem. Strange sentences sometimes attract people and make them memorize it easily. The guy nodded and continued: He also tried signs on the road, it read 'Morgan, Lewis & McKenzie Law Firm'. The ring said, "Morgan, stock investor, Lewis, writer, McKenzie, tennis player, needed a lawyer." Next was 'Allen & White Tax Accountant Office'. "Allen directed 'Snow White' and paid tax." Next one was 'Baker & Watkins Accounting Firm'. "In the Baker Street, Watkins software was invented and needed accounting." The guy said, "Maybe 'Morgan' is from Morgan Stanley, 'Allen' is from Woody Allen. Although, 'McKenzie' is for 'McEnroe', I think. And a more interesting thing happened. When I went to the supermarket, I came up with the idea not to use the machine this time. I started to make sentences by myself like, 'A cabbage likes soy sauce, ramen loves fizz, onion likes toothpaste, ...' It was a horrible story, but it worked!" The guy left. The inventor was thinking about his invention. "The guy didn't need the machine. The machine just taught about ways to memorize. And the machine gave him confidence about his memory. As he got confidence, his brain would become more positive and would be activated. He could relax." The inventor was amazed by human brains' quality. |
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*concentration :トランプの「神経衰弱」
*overlook :見過ごす
*recall :思い出す
*hypnotist :催眠術師
*retrieval :回復、復旧
*activate :活性化する
*quality :資質