Have you ever struggled to explain exactly how you felt in a specific moment? You grasp for adjectives, you use metaphors, you wave your hands around, but deep down you know the other person doesn’t quite get it. They understand the concept of your joy or your pain, but they don’t feel the texture of it. But imagine a world where you didn’t have to use words. What if we could transfer our memories—sights, sounds, and emotions—directly to someone else?
This is English Plus Espresso from English Plus Podcast. Never Stop Learning.
Let’s play with this reality for a moment. I don’t mean just watching a video of someone’s past. I mean the full sensory download. Imagine you are sitting with a friend who is trying to describe the best meal they ever had. In our current reality, you just nod and say, “Wow, sounds delicious.” But in this “What If” world, they simply offer you a hand, you make contact, and suddenly, you can taste the saffron, you can smell the woodsmoke, you can feel the warmth of the sun on their skin from a vacation ten years ago.
It sounds like a superpower, doesn’t it? It sounds like the ultimate cure for loneliness.
Think about the implications for empathy. Right now, empathy is an act of imagination. We try to walk in someone else’s shoes. But if we could share memories, we wouldn’t have to imagine. We would know. Arguments born of misunderstanding could vanish in an instant. If your partner is acting grumpy, instead of asking “What’s wrong?” and getting a “Nothing” in response, they could just flash you a memory of their terrible commute, the rude boss, the spilled coffee. You would feel their frustration physically. Instant forgiveness.
But let’s let the inner child loose here—the part of us that is a bit mischievous. Imagine the chaos!
If memories were shareable files, would there be hackers? Would you walk down the street and accidentally download a stranger’s memory of an embarrassing high school talent show? Or think about the secrets we keep. We all have those cringe-worthy moments that we lock away in the vaults of our minds. In this world, would we have to build mental firewalls?
And what about the nature of truth? We like to think our memories are perfect recordings, but we know they aren’t. They are colored by our emotions. If I share a memory of an argument with you, you aren’t seeing what actually happened; you are seeing my version of what happened, complete with my righteous indignation. If two people shared their memories of the same event, they might look like two completely different movies.
There is also a deeper, more poignant question here. Would we lose the mystery of each other? Part of the beauty of human connection is the chase—the long late-night conversations where we slowly peel back the layers of our history. If we could just “AirDrop” our entire life story to a new partner on the first date, would it be efficient? Yes. But would it take the magic out of getting to know someone?
Maybe the struggle to communicate is actually what binds us. The effort we put into finding the right words to tell a story is an act of love. When you try to describe a sunset to someone who wasn’t there, you are painting a picture for them. You are creating art. If you could just transmit the image, you become a camera, not an artist.
However, think of the comfort. Imagine being able to share the memory of a loved one who has passed away with a child who never met them. Not just a photo, but the sound of their laugh, the feeling of their hug. That is where this fantasy becomes pure magic. It would make immortality, in a sense, possible. We could carry the best parts of each other forever, not just in our hearts, but in our minds.
So, here is the question I want to leave you with today. If you could share one single memory with the entire world—one moment from your life that you think would make humanity better, or just make them smile—what memory would that be?
Let me know in the comments below.
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