Excellent comment! But I take issue with a few points.
I think that recording everything is almost useless, without a good filter (approaching AI levels). The real power, I think, comes in recall and referencing. Just as an example, I've been reading "The Stars my Destination" and two words came up that I didn't recognize (epileptoid and asthenic - funny, FF doesn't recognize them either!), and it would have been handy to just look them up quickly.
As to "forgetting", people already abuse current mnemonic devices (such as photos) to "hold on" too long, and using people's words against them is a problem with or without perfect recall.
For trade secrets, etc, you do what any high security facility does: recording/transmitting devices left at the door, outside, and simply accept the crippling that comes from lack of instant access to information.
Also, what's wrong with living inside Emacs? ;P
Edit to followup: Works of fiction I've found interesting in this vein include "The Final Cut" (even with the poor execution) and "Strange Days"; anyone have any recommendations along these lines?
> using people's words against them is a problem with or without perfect recall
Yes, it is! But one thing I've learned in managing online communities is that you don't give people the ability to do something you don't want them to do. I don't feel having perfect electronic recall should be a feature without more context sensitivity.
> For trade secrets, etc, you do what any high security facility does
Except for the Steve Mann argument: it's a prosthesis. When you take the hardware away from him, you're disabling him. He becomes disoriented and cannot function as well. It's like taking away a wheelchair, or crutches, or a hearing aid. And when more and more of your potential employees rely on these devices 18 hours a day, more and more will be negatively impacted. No, I think it's something that has to be fixed in the legal system or fixed in the entire design of a wearable system.
> Works of fiction I've found interesting in this vein
The novel "Snow Crash" has wearable computing used only by a subset of wired individuals derisively called "gargoyles." Everyone else still uses workstations.
The "Old Man's War" series of books has soldiers with embedded computers, including a subset of soldiers who have them embedded since birth.
The novel "Permanence" also has them, but used for pervasive IP rights enforcement.
The novel "Signal to Noise" has an elite intellectual class with implants that work with pervasive wireless sensors and fully immersive workstations.
The film "Stranger Than Fiction" has AR-style overlays at least during the opening sequences.
Psychohistorical Crisis by Donald Kingsbury: imagine a wearable computer, brain interfaced, that you grow up with. Now imagine it being taken away, and destroyed, and relearning to read, with your eyes and animal brain. A non-authorized sequel to Asimov's Foundation series. Better (imho) than the original.
If you've read the Foundation trilogy, you'll have some more context, but if you're not too fazed by highly science fictional settings (i.e. you've read a fair amount of science fiction) you should be OK.
Are photos really mnemonic devices? I mean, you could certainly have a visual mnemonic device, but a simple photo is just a photo. A mnemonic is usually some kind of trick...
I can't say you're wrong, but I can't say I'm convinced either...
If you'll excuse the analogy, the mental picture that came to mind was someone pining over their ex and taking longer to get over breaking up with them because they keep pictures of them around.
I think that recording everything is almost useless, without a good filter (approaching AI levels). The real power, I think, comes in recall and referencing. Just as an example, I've been reading "The Stars my Destination" and two words came up that I didn't recognize (epileptoid and asthenic - funny, FF doesn't recognize them either!), and it would have been handy to just look them up quickly.
As to "forgetting", people already abuse current mnemonic devices (such as photos) to "hold on" too long, and using people's words against them is a problem with or without perfect recall.
For trade secrets, etc, you do what any high security facility does: recording/transmitting devices left at the door, outside, and simply accept the crippling that comes from lack of instant access to information.
Also, what's wrong with living inside Emacs? ;P
Edit to followup: Works of fiction I've found interesting in this vein include "The Final Cut" (even with the poor execution) and "Strange Days"; anyone have any recommendations along these lines?