You could call it a step beyond tweets and Facebook updates that record minute details of the lives of millions. Total Recall explores the offloading of biological memory to computers through Microsoft researcher Gordon Bell?s attempt to digitally record every twist and turn of his personal life. A high-profile foreword by Bill Gates adds an element of intrigue, where he writes about personal experiences that our brain forgets and throws out of our life.
Bell has been compulsively scanning, capturing and logging each and every bit of personal data he generates in his daily life since 2001. To digitally record as much of his life as possible, he wore an automatic camera; an arm-strap that logged his biometrics, and began recording telephone calls. Everything he did on his computer was captured and photos, letters and memorabilia were scanned. To collect all this information, he uses a staggering assortment of hardware?desktop scanner, digicam, heart rate monitor, voice recorder, GPS logger, pedometer, smartphone and e-reader. He began with a classic file and folder hierarchy where data had to be fitted into specific categories.
Later, he switched to a database which increased potential for searching bits later.
To begin with, he wanted to get rid of all the paper in his life. Then he wanted better recall, then a better story to leave to his grandchildren. Next, he realised the potential benefits for his health, studies and a sense of wellbeing from de-cluttering both his physical space and his brain.
The engaging book captures first-hand the experience and implications of storing our lives digitally, but it would disappoint those who expect to see a personal picture of Bell?s life, as in Big Boss (a popular TV series). It is more an attempt to understand the impact and desirability of documenting your life in digital domain. Bits of news about his Mylifebits projects have been circulating for years, but the full picture comes from this book.
While this experiment worked with the resources of Microsoft behind it, Bell argues that cost will not be an issue, as prices of hardware dip and software advances, and it might be feasible for the rest of us to digitally record our lives if we wanted to. And, as phones add more features, from video cameras and e-mail to global positioning technology, their potential to record daily activities grows. This makes it much easier to capture all those bits for posterity?every phone call, every passing conversation, every book you read or face you see.
The theme has surely been explored in science fiction for decades, where people use memory chips to record a person?s life. But there is a dark side to it too. Bell does delve into concerns about privacy and information overload, but he is not convinced that these could be serious challenges. Not everyone will want to record every small bit of their life. But even if a sizeable number do, it does have potential to transform the way we remember our lives. Bill Gates suggests this could change the way we think about memory or how we manage health and the way we share experiences with other people, even other generations and more.
But the experiment, as Bell points out, could be a hit with Generation Y that come of age with Google, cellphone cameras, file sharing, text messaging, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. A big number of them are happy to post random videos or events on websites that literally billions of people can view. But Bell does not advocate sharing lifeblog with the world, warning ?there is too much risk and too little benefit?. But at the same time, he says avoiding lifelogging will be like ?avoiding the use of e-mail or cellphones?.
If his predictions come true, and recording, storage and recall technologies mature to give a total recall experience by 2020, it could radically change the way humans remember their lives. You or your children or your grandchildren can review everything chronologically or easily pull out a particular phone call or e-mail or a party recording or even a bitching session.
Will this define the surveillance society of the web 2.0 age, where all of us can play our own Big Brother?