Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2002 00:30:30 -0400
From: Kafka Dreams 
To: void
Subject: theory, practice, theory, practice, cha cha cha


I like ice cream sandwiches.  I liked them as a kid and in this
wretched heat and general lassitude of summer, when a cold
dessert-like object is desired, I chose a box of Hood's Ice Cream
Sandwiches.  They make me happy.

And as I hold the sandwich and lick the sides where the ice cream is
softening, I get that nostalgia feeling again, remembering how I ate
them like that as a kid - around the edges a couple of times before
actually taking a bite.

That started me thinking about how nostalgia's really been hitting me
since the age of 26 or 27... not for a specific period (childhood,
high school, college), just for certain things - images, tastes,
smells, music, textures, etc.  Each making pleasant associations.
Sometimes a specific moment is recalled, sometimes a general feeling,
other times a regularly repeated event but without details.  Places
where I was happy, things that made me happy, stuff I enjoyed.

So now I'm wondering, since we don't really understand how memory
works and we're not really sure why new neurons are created (although
the fact that they are is a new discovery) or why old ones die or what
happens underneath these biological processes to our perceptions.

And I'm wondering - what if nostalgia is a way to bring the memories
stored in a decaying system to another area of newer growth, for long
term storage?  What if nostalgia is a biologically useful thing that
provides us with positive feedback in order to encourage the
associations that trigger it?  Like sexual pleasure and reproduction,
it's an element of a biological tool to maintain memory and keep
lessons learned (a useful survival trait) healthy.

Just a thought.  (Which could, of course, just be my brain trying to
stimulate other brains to come up with ways to improve its quality of
life.  Darned thing.)

Kelly J.
  Meta-nerding