Unrememberer

An unrememberer is a hypothetical entity, a person, being, or force characterized by the active or passive *lack* of ability to remember, recall, or retain information. Unlike a forgetful person, the unrememberer may not simply experience memory lapses. Instead, their entire cognitive structure might be such that memories are either never formed or are immediately and irrevocably erased. This could be due to neurological peculiarities, an inherent flaw in their perception of time, or a more esoteric cause. The term implies an active process, not just an absence; it's not merely forgetting, it's a state of never-having-known. The implications range from profound philosophical questioning to practical narrative uses, where the unrememberer serves as an unreliable narrator or a blank canvas for external manipulation. The unrememberer is a concept explored across various disciplines and is a thought experiment in the nature of self and memory. This can be seen as a person who lacks the ability to remember. A person who never formed the ability to store and retrieve memories.

Unrememberer meaning with examples

• The protagonist, an unrememberer, struggled to navigate the world, experiencing each day as a completely new experience. Relationships were impossible, as any connection immediately dissolved, making a lasting impression a total impossibility. Their lack of personal history made them an easy pawn, molded by whoever gave them the day's narrative. They had no anchor and never were able to truly know anyone.
• The detective, an unrememberer in an amnesiac city, sought to solve a series of interconnected crimes. Each day, the case was a fresh mystery, the clues scattered and meaningless. Without any ability to recall previous investigations, they were always operating in a new and perplexing context, leading to chaos in both the city and within the detective's mind. The detective was always alone.
• Consider a cosmic unrememberer: a entity that experiences everything, only to have the experience instantly erased. Its vast life is a stream of nothing. It creates universes for their destruction with no knowledge that the universes were ever created. This is the ultimate state of being unknowing and not remembering. In a paradoxical state, it can be thought of as forever starting.
• Within the AI simulations, the unrememberer unit operated; it received data but retained nothing. This was done intentionally, to prevent it from forming an independent will. Constantly reset, it was the perfect soldier. This was a philosophical question about free will and how memory affects one's ability to think for oneself and change course.
• The ancient ritual was said to invoke the unrememberer, a void that would consume the memories of those present. Those affected would have no recall of the events. This was a sacrifice in order to rid the tribe of pain. This sacrifice meant pain to the tribe was also lost.