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Total recall
A legend in computer science unveils the digital revolution that will transform human memory.
In 1998, pioneering computer scientist Gordon Bell and his colleague Jim Gemmell at Microsoft began an experiment called MyLifeBits[ an attempt to record Bell's entire life digitally. Foreseeing the coming explosion of digital memory capacity and ubiquitous sensing devices, Bell set out to create a database of everything he did, saw, read, ate, felt[ his whole life experience. He fused together a digital version of his past (scanned photos, letters, memorabilia, and so on) with a cuttingedge recording of his present, using sensor-enhanced cameras, GPS, and the latest in software technology. Fascination with this amazing undertaking has been ongoing, with features running everywhere from CBS to "Scientific American, The New Yorker" to "Fast Company." But until now the full implications of what is really possible have not been revealed. Bell's experiment is only a foretaste of an incredible new era in which memory will go far beyond the human senses and everything can be remembered. You will have total recall.
"Total Recall" outlines the transformation coming that will affect virtually every aspect of our lives. It describes the near-future with heart monitors woven into clothing, wearable cameras that take photographs constantly and monitors that know what you have eaten. It details the steps anyone can take now to [ lifelog[? and create a private, personal database. Welcome to life in the new era of total recall.
Just as Nicholas Negroponte's 1995 bestseller "Being Digital" allowed a peek into the twenty-first century (predicting everything from YouTube to e-books), "Total Recall" offers a glimpse into a sci-fi future that begins . . . five minutes ago.
In 1998, pioneering computer scientist Gordon Bell and his colleague Jim Gemmell at Microsoft began an experiment called MyLifeBits[ an attempt to record Bell's entire life digitally. Foreseeing the coming explosion of digital memory capacity and ubiquitous sensing devices, Bell set out to create a database of everything he did, saw, read, ate, felt[ his whole life experience. He fused together a digital version of his past (scanned photos, letters, memorabilia, and so on) with a cuttingedge recording of his present, using sensor-enhanced cameras, GPS, and the latest in software technology. Fascination with this amazing undertaking has been ongoing, with features running everywhere from CBS to "Scientific American, The New Yorker" to "Fast Company." But until now the full implications of what is really possible have not been revealed. Bell's experiment is only a foretaste of an incredible new era in which memory will go far beyond the human senses and everything can be remembered. You will have total recall.
"Total Recall" outlines the transformation coming that will affect virtually every aspect of our lives. It describes the near-future with heart monitors woven into clothing, wearable cameras that take photographs constantly and monitors that know what you have eaten. It details the steps anyone can take now to [ lifelog[? and create a private, personal database. Welcome to life in the new era of total recall.
Just as Nicholas Negroponte's 1995 bestseller "Being Digital" allowed a peek into the twenty-first century (predicting everything from YouTube to e-books), "Total Recall" offers a glimpse into a sci-fi future that begins . . . five minutes ago.
352 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2009
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