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Memory bank

B. S. Raghavan

THE best scientific brains are yet to unravel, and, indeed, even to understand, the mysteries of memory. As is known, it is not unique to human beings. Almost every species on earth seems to be blessed with this faculty although with varying degrees of intensity and with carrying capacities to draw upon it. Without it, learning is impossible, and evolution itself will be a far cry. Personality development and progress on all fronts are predicated upon the existence and exercise of memory. What we call instinct or spontaneous reflex action is nothing but a compressed concentrate of memories of trials and errors over millions of years.

Collective memory or memory bank is the key to the survival of species as well as societies. In the case of human beings, it falls under four categories. The first is the historical memory, based on events and happenings leaving their impact on societies by shaping cultures and civilisations which, in their essence, are codes of conduct determining the contours, complexion and content of interpersonal and inter- and intra-societal relationships.

One part of the historical memory bank is made up of archaeological reconstruction of the course of human endeavour and lifestyles from ancient times as evidenced by architecture, artefacts and anthropological discoveries. The other part comprises rock e dicts, palm leaf manuscripts and other forms of written records leading to a connected account of the accomplishments, accidents and advances up to the present times, providing pointers to where societies may be heading.

Racial memory takes over when the lores and mores of societies are sufficiently broadened and deepened, and they get compartmentalised based on strongly held beliefs, faiths and convictions taking the form of religions or cults. Interactions among them, depending on their maturity and resilience, can extend from confrontation, conflict and violence at one end to resonance and reinforcement at the other. The dissonant impulses of Jews and Palestinians, as also of Hindus and Muslims, for example, are buil t upon these racial memories.

Social memory derives from the treatment meted out, or undergone, by different segments of the same society at the hands of one another and it can be both a cementing and divisive factor. The persistence to this day of the alienation and insecurity inher ent in the caste configurations of the Hindu society is a direct offshoot of social memory.

Finally is the workplace memory. Each workplace, by whatever name called, and set up for whatever function or purpose, accumulates a corpus of practices and solutions, drawing lessons from its experience of problems and mistakes on the one hand and failu res and successes on the other. In the olden days, interestingly, in government offices, a single individual, or at the most, a cell, used to be regarded as a repository of the entire memory, and a reference point for all precedents. He, or the cell, was considered irreplaceable and served as such often until retirement. Nowadays, of course, computer workstations and databases, as workplace memory banks, have become both infallible and indispensable.