During my recent trip to Arizona, my sister told me a story about an incident that happened when I was in kindergarten. Apparently, she and I were sitting on our front porch when I spotted a girl I liked from my class walking toward our house on the sidewalk.
As the girl drew near, I grabbed a newspaper, held it up and pretended to read it.
“That happened today?” I called out loudly. “How interesting!”
***
Most of the time, I’m the oldest one in the room, so when it comes to memories, mine reach back the furthest. So it is a refreshing experience whenever I get to hang out with my sisters, who remember things that I don’t.
It is also nice to be just a character in the memory of others as opposed to the being the family patrician and sole custodian of the now-distant past.
I was almost 30 when my first child was born, and almost 60 when my first grandchild was born. That’s a lot of rings on the tree for me to try and recall when my descendants ask me specific questions about the past.
Besides, the way I tell a tale is not necessarily more accurate than anyone else, plus the more distant in the past an event occurred, the more our individual versions are likely to diverge, which brings me to the phenomenon of memory consensus.
Within families, communities, countries, cultures — even on a species level — we ultimately tend to reach some sort of consensus about the past, though historians, ideologues, contrarians and poets continue to debate and revise that consensus as new evidence emerges.
And as much as I enjoy telling my descendants stories from the past, I’m acutely aware from my journalism career that for a more well-rounded narrative, other sources ought to be interviewed. My version is only that — mine.
A joint family memoir would no doubt do a better job. As the saying goes, ‘there’s your version, my version and then there’s the truth and no one is lying.’
As for the story of the girl and the newspaper at the top of this essay, I had no memory of it until my sister told me about it last week.
That said, it has the ring of truth.
LINKS:
The real meaning of Xi’s visit to Putin (Financial Times)
Xi promotes China as peacemaker on first trip to Russia since Ukraine invasion (NBC)
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At the China-Russia Border, the Xi-Putin Partnership Shows Signs of Fraying (WSJ)
China's Xi meeting Putin in boost for isolated Russia leader (AP)
Mike Pence and Chris Sununu rebuke DeSantis, back aid for Ukraine (Reuters)
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Amazon to lay off 9,000 more workers in addition to earlier cuts (CNBC)
Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email (CNN)
Before Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the Fed Spotted Big Problems (NYT)
US banks are on a ‘bumpy’ path as troubles deepen at First Republic, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature (SCMP)
Banking stocks and bonds plummeted after UBS Group sealed a state-backed takeover of troubled peer Credit Suisse, a deal that was orchestrated in an attempt to restore confidence in a battered sector. (Reuters)
With GPT-4, dangers of ‘Stochastic Parrots’ remain, say researchers. No wonder OpenAI CEO is a ‘bit scared’ (VentureBeat)
The case for slowing down AI — Pumping the brakes on artificial intelligence could be the best thing we ever do for humanity. (Vox)
Startups Are Already Using GPT-4 to Spend Less on Human Coders (Vice)
Corporate investment in AI is on the rise, driven by the tech’s promise — It's a virtual gold rush (TechCrunch)
Not Everything Needs a Chatbot! (Slate)
Poet vs. chatbot: We gave the same prompt to a human, Microsoft Bing, and OpenAI’s new GPT-4 (GeekWire)
To protect human artistry from AI, new safeguards might be essential (WP)
Artificial intelligence may be here to do more than just replace us (IOL)
How AI is driving the future of technology (VentureBeat)
Who’s responsible when ChatGPT goes off the rails? Congress should say. (Edit Bd/WP)
McConnell’s absence leaves colleagues wondering about GOP’s future (The Hill)
The Federalist Society Isn’t Quite Sure About Democracy Anymore (Politico Mag)
Inside the Payoff to a Porn Star That Could Lead to Trump’s Indictment (NYT)
Trump ally to appear before NYC grand jury eyeing charges (AP)
Haberman: Trump ‘very anxious’ about potential indictment in New York (The Hill)
Lab Leak or Not? How Politics Shaped the Battle Over Covid’s Origin (NYT)
More than 1000 artifacts in Metropolitan Museum of Art catalog linked to alleged looting and trafficking figures (ICIJ)
Congress Rules Food Stamps Can Only Be Used On Rutabagas (The Onion)
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