Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Iain McGilchrist, Oliver Hardt, and Catherine Loveday debate the decline of memory in the modern, technological age.
What do we lose when machines do our remembering for us?
With a free trial, you can watch the full debate NOW at iai.tv/video/i-forget-therefore-i-am?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description
From education and exams, to being convincing and socially impressive, memory is often prized as critical to success. But might forgetting be more important to our sense of self and our ability to make good decisions? We retain a tiny fraction of the sensory data our bodies experience. And some argue what we choose to ignore is more important than what we seek to remember. As Nietzsche argued, "it is possible to live with almost no memories, but without forgetting it is impossible to live at all". Real life examples of people who are unable to forget confirm this, but it is also supported by the many who are unable to forget experiences that have lasting and damaging effects on their lives.
Is forgetting a vital and critical aspect of being who we are? Should we place less emphasis on memory and focus more on what and how to forget? And should psychotherapy follow Freud and seek to recover memories or is wellbeing more easily found with finding ways to forget?
#psychology #memory #neuroscience
Join Oliver Hardt, Professor of Psychology at McGill University, Catherine Loveday, Author of The Secret World of the Brain, and Iain McGilchrist, famed neuroscientist, philosopher and psychologist at the University of Oxford as they clash over what it means to be human. Hosted by Oxford philosopher Jessica Frazier.
The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=/i-forget-therefore-i-am
00:00 "One of the most devastating things for a culture is not to remember"
00:27 Iain McGilchrist on outsourcing memory to computers
03:04 Catherine Loveday: "People are terrified of forgetting"
04:37 Oliver Hardt on the history of remembering
08:00 Tyrants target a culture's collective memory
10:06 Ancient Romans perfected the art of forgetting
12:10 It takes three generations for traumatic events to be forgotten
14:13 What future tools can help us to forget better and remember well?
For debates and talks: iai.tv
For articles: iai.tv/articles
For courses: iai.tv/iai-academy/courses
Iain McGilchrist, Oliver Hardt, and Catherine Loveday debate the decline of memory in the modern, technological age.
What do we lose when machines do our remembering for us?
With a free trial, you can watch the full debate NOW at iai.tv/video/i-forget-therefore-i-am?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description
From education and exams, to being convincing and socially impressive, memory is often prized as critical to success. But might forgetting be more important to our sense of self and our ability to make good decisions? We retain a tiny fraction of the sensory data our bodies experience. And some argue what we choose to ignore is more important than what we seek to remember. As Nietzsche argued, "it is possible to live with almost no memories, but without forgetting it is impossible to live at all". Real life examples of people who are unable to forget confirm this, but it is also supported by the many who are unable to forget experiences that have lasting and damaging effects on their lives.
Is forgetting a vital and critical aspect of being who we are? Should we place less emphasis on memory and focus more on what and how to forget? And should psychotherapy follow Freud and seek to recover memories or is wellbeing more easily found with finding ways to forget?
#psychology #memory #neuroscience
Join Oliver Hardt, Professor of Psychology at McGill University, Catherine Loveday, Author of The Secret World of the Brain, and Iain McGilchrist, famed neuroscientist, philosopher and psychologist at the University of Oxford as they clash over what it means to be human. Hosted by Oxford philosopher Jessica Frazier.
The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=/i-forget-therefore-i-am
00:00 "One of the most devastating things for a culture is not to remember"
00:27 Iain McGilchrist on outsourcing memory to computers
03:04 Catherine Loveday: "People are terrified of forgetting"
04:37 Oliver Hardt on the history of remembering
08:00 Tyrants target a culture's collective memory
10:06 Ancient Romans perfected the art of forgetting
12:10 It takes three generations for traumatic events to be forgotten
14:13 What future tools can help us to forget better and remember well?
For debates and talks: iai.tv
For articles: iai.tv/articles
For courses: iai.tv/iai-academy/courses
