OT: losing memories (was Re: How many of you are Extreme Programmers?)

[Peter Hansen]

Dave Benjamin wrote:
> 
> Well, I think Dijkstra's basic point was that you can't really "unlearn"
> anything. You can ignore what you've learned, but it's still there. Once
> you've learned some BASIC, it's a part of your brain, and that imprint will
> remain there FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. But it's okay, it hasn't stopped me
> either. Maybe someday we'll start a therapy group.

After having spent the last few months getting on average something like 
five hours of sleep (my need is for more like 7.5 or 8), I'd have to say
I'm a living rebuttal to your argument.  I have completely forgotten a
variety of interesting things which I used to know.  More than that, I've
forgotten *that* I used to know these things, and am going on the say-so
of others whose memories are more intact.  And I strongly doubt I will 
ever recover those memories, or even the memory of the memories.

I think if pathways in the brain can be built up, through repetition of
stimuli, dreaming, etc., then they can likewise be dissolved, whether
through drug use, pyschological problems or chemical imbalances caused 
by lack of sleep, and so on.  Perhaps simple disuse leads only to an
asymptotic decay which never quite reaches zero, as your argument might
suggest, but I think other processes could act in different ways.

-Peter