W e have long thought that memory is the storehouse of our identity. We are our memory. But what about other people’s lives？ How do we best remember somebody else？ This question is never more important than for our friends and family who have died. Memory research and technology has a lot to contribute to how we can better remember somebody else. There are two issues here. The legacy of vast amounts of digital information from our personal lives， and the 1）facilitation of remembering loved ones. I propose a social network， like a Facebook of the dead. We can will our digital footprint to a 2）curator， who can tend for our memory， and， through 3）collaboration with others， they can access the information and images which best represent the memory of the dead one. Facebook is already beginning to do this. When a Facebookmember dies， they become memorialized. But actually， it lacks the memory angle.

In the film， “Saving Private Ryan”， there’s a scene where the soldiers， far from home， are worried they can no longer recall the faces of those that they miss. “The trick”， says Captain Miller， played by Tom Hanks， “is to think of something specific”. For him， his wife 4）pruning the rose bushes. We need to think more about how to make sure we can 5）preserve memories， such as pruning the rose bushes.

長期以來，我們認(rèn)為記憶是儲存著我們個人信息的倉庫。我們便是記憶本身。但是關(guān)于其他人的記憶呢？我們用來銘記他人的最好方式是什么呢？當(dāng)我們想要去銘記那些已經(jīng)不在人世的親友時，這個問題會顯得更為重要。記憶研究與技術(shù)對我們?nèi)绾胃玫赜涀∷俗龀隽嗽S多貢獻(xiàn)。這里有兩大難題。一是要保留我們個人生活的大量的數(shù)碼信息，二是能便于我們銘記深愛的人。我主張建一種社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)，像是已故者們的臉書 。我們可以把數(shù)碼足跡捐贈給一個管理者。這個管理者會看守著我們的記憶，還能通過與他人合作獲取關(guān)于已故者們最具代表性的記憶信息與圖像。臉書已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備開始這么做了。當(dāng)一個臉書用戶去世時，他們就會得到后人的銘記。但實際上，這缺乏記憶的角度。

電影《拯救大兵瑞恩》中有這樣一個場景：遠(yuǎn)離家鄉(xiāng)的士兵們擔(dān)心著他們可能無法再想起他們思念的人們的模樣。由湯姆·漢克斯飾演的米勒上尉告訴他們，不忘卻他們的竅門就是去回憶細(xì)節(jié)。對于他來說，他會回憶她的妻子修剪玫瑰花叢的畫面。我們需要發(fā)掘更多可以讓我們的記憶，比如修剪玫瑰花叢，得以妥善保存的方式。