128 The Third

What is memory? Why do people live carrying something so imperfect as memory?

Some say it is for survival. They say it is so the brain can remember one’s condition, recognize the state of being ‘healthy,’ and distinguish when that is not the case so it can respond accordingly. Beyond that, the link between survival and memory ran very deep.

Others say memory is everything that makes a person. They say the values and ethics every human must have, slowly built up since childhood, along with the traces of a life, are all melted into memory.

Neither side was wrong.

If you couldn't remember what was dangerous and what wasn't, your chance of dying rose, and if you lost all your memories, it was effectively the same as losing yourself. Both arguments were perfectly reasonable. There was no need to decide which one was the right answer.

In this way, memory had always been a fine weapon and means of survival for humanity, a shield for self-preservation. For thousands upon thousands of years, memory had etched trust into humankind.

And that became the source of the problem.

“…….”

By nature, people do not doubt their own memories.

Memory is something one experiences, learns, and comes to understand for oneself. To doubt it was little different from doubting yourself...