Memories: They are all there by Dr. Kevin R. Stone

"Knowledge is expanding. Lines are blurring between the physical and digital, between humans and machines. In this article, and in upcoming articles, I will speculate on what this change might look like and how it may improve our lives now and in the future." according to Dr. Kevin R. Stone.

No one quite knows how memories are stored or how they can be easily accessed. 
Photo: San Francisco Examiner

I believe that rather than being fleeting and spotty, memory may be permanent and total.

Here is my conception of how memory might work: 

All exposures by the senses are recorded and retrievable from a very early age in life. However, to optimize recall time, most are suppressed. Drugs that open gateways such as marijuana, Ecstasy and psilocybins can temporarily remove the inhibitors, and so permit access. The capacity for storage is relatively unlimited. The mechanisms of storage are possibly a combination of the traditional electrical synapse theory, used for rapid access, and a yet to be discovered genetic code like write-rewrite storage mechanism. This mechanism could explain why the storage is unlimited and some memories are harder to recall than others.

The significance of each of these suppositions is the following: 
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Source: San Francisco Examiner