Why do we forget?

Question

This is a two part question.

First, for the evolutionist:

Is forgetting an evolutionary trait? If so, is forgetting higher on the scale, evolutionary speaking, than memory recall? In other words, do we forget because it has been evolutionary beneficial, or do we forget because we have not yet evolved our memory storage/retrieval process?

Secondly, for the theist:

Why would god create us with the ability to forget? In other words, why would god purposely make it so we can potentially forget about god?

Answer 1

I don't remember.

All kidding aside... though it may not seem to be so, forgetting is actually part of learning.  Your brain is initially (in the womb) hooked up more or less randomly.  Neurons grow together and connect but there's no way our DNA could control the entirety of this process because there's just not enough information in it to tell each neuron where to connect.  And after its first burst of growth about a third or so of it is destroyed as the brain goes through the process of eliminating all the connections that are irrelevant and get in the way.

Nor does this process end at birth.  Just as it is important for connections to grow to support signals that are useful, it is JUST as important for connections to be eliminated to inhibit signals that are not.  When you learn that 2+2=4, you are ALSO learning that it's not 5 or 3.  With new technology, these processes are even observable at an individual neuronal level.

Now if you think about it, remembering what you did yesterday probably comes up fairly regularly during your typical day.  A useful path that is reinforced.  But can you say the same thing for remembering what you did with the same degree of accuracy a week, a month, or a year ago?  As you stop accessing that information, your brain stops reinforcing it and eventually destroys it because it only interferes with what you DO want to know - what happened yesterday.

And it is actually observed that people with perfect recall actually do have problems sometimes getting along in life like everyone else.  If what happened a year ago spring to mind with the ease of what happened yesterday, it becomes very easy to operate on old and irrelevant information.  Such people often have trouble in relationships, prioritizing properly, and so on.  There are those who describe h**l as never forgetting your mistakes, after all.

There is some recent speculation that this has to do with the process of dreaming - that dreaming involves culling those irrelevant pathways (which is why dreams are often so weird).  Pretty much EVERY creature with a brain has been demonstrated to dream, which suggests that it's a pretty useful phenomenon.  The only two exceptions (a dolphin and an anteater) have exceptionally large brains for their observed intelligence.  This suggests that a non-dreaming (and perhaps non-forgetting) brain is actually far less efficient in operation.

Forgetting is important!

Answer 2

We forget things because:

1) We did not take it in to our heart deeply.

2) Our brain only take in certain % when listening.

    Eg. Listening to a music, we only know how to sing the chorus part or humming its melody out when listen it once. It is hard to take in all at one goal.

God made up this is because no one is perfect!

Answer 3

there's simply no need to recall absolutely everything in order to survive and pass on your genes.

Answer 4

I have never heard of an evolutionist but I am not a theist.

We forget because neurons can atrophy if they are not stimulated regularly as the the length of a synapse grows the chances of non-stimulation of its neighboring dendrites increases.

In terms of cellular biology it is an evolutionary trait.

We forget because we do not repeatedly activate or recall the information that is forgotten.

If it is not being used chances are that it is not useful.

Even if we do evolve to retain all of the information we encounter, no doubt there will be information that remains useless and would be just as well forgotten.

Answer 5

Dear Friend,

                      If i lived from moment  to moment, then this answers your question completely. If we live in The Now, then we don't have to bother about your question, because we are living a complete time, space and vision with our six senses i.e. living completely. If we live in the past or future, then your question holds good, because memory is used to remember the past only and not the Now as it Now is experienced and lived. The remembrance of future is actually past and hypothetical, because nobody   knows what is coming. It is the Now that is most important and is actually lived. Memory for the Theist or Atheist is used only for the Past my  Friend.

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