LeBron James: The Blessing and Curse of Eidetic Memory
I am always seeking out articles or videos that feature people with high IQ’s. Whether it is a new way of thinking or a hole in my own habits, I value the wisdom that comes from people who are smarter than me.
A few weeks ago I was reading an article on the genius of LeBron James. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the name, LeBron is considered the best basketball player in the world and arguably the greatest of all time.
This particular blog was not seeking to sway its audience in the GOAT debate - greatest of all time - rather, it was marveling at LeBron’s incredible cognitive capacity.
LeBron possesses a skill set known as eidetic memory. Many of us know that term by its common usage, photographic memory. Essentially, this skill allows an individual to recall images from years past and recite the details as if they happened a few minutes ago.
As you can see, LeBron has an uncanny ability to store information.
Until a few weeks ago, I thought an eidetic memory would be an incredible gift to have - that is, until I read the unique challenges it presents for the people who have it.
LeBron struggled for years to unforget things that he didn’t want to rehearse in his mental ledger. You know those mistakes you make and are happy to let go of and sweep under the rug? For someone with LeBron’s gift, there is no rug to sweep under.
People who possess eidetic memory remember ALL the details that pass before their eyes, there is no off switch.
One of the reasons LeBron says he is successful, is he learned to focus on what he learned and not the failure itself. Otherwise, it literally would keep playing back in his memories.
As they say, the grass is not always greener on the other side. And sometimes, those folks just know how to spread their manure better.
I’m curious, would you want to have eidetic memory? What would do with this skill if you had it?
eidetic memory is interesting, an autobiographical memory more so - how would you like to relive entire days from your life, your happiest moments, over and over? Of course, you remember the bad too. I cover all that in A Familiar Rain which I'm going to get around to republishing one day...maybe now, when Steemit is down and posting isn't worth the effort lately. It would be a better use of my time as a writer, I think :)
Sounds like someone has been planning. :)
That's sick. I like the aspect of focusing on what he learned. It's like, that's a good thing to do anyways (we mortals always want to be focused on what we can learn from things too). But in his case it's defaulted in where he's forced to deal with the information. And I guess he learned to deal with it in a good way.
I wouldn't necessarily want it, especially if it's possible to build it as a layer on top 😆 like with futuristic things that record everything we see
More flexible that way than if it's built in to my protocol, lol
Mostly tho it's just the weirdness of changing something about yourself. I'm used to how I am, and wouldn't want to play around with how they made me.
In general tho.. It seems like more room for downside than upside. But it's hard to argue that remembering things is bad. If you master it like LeBron did and learn to minimize the downside, then I think it becomes a slight positive. And maybe a big positive in the sense that it taught you to do something that's good in general.
So I think it's up to the person and how they use it, would be my answer.
Not sure. Had never thought about that downside before. Cool post.
I hear you. Generally, I don’t think about changing physical things about myself, but growing the mind is always fascinating. The ability to become a genius is just too much fun to ignore, lol.
all new possibilities will open doors for the future which i can't even imagine with that for sure
i wouldn't mind having it. In a way it can be from annoying to devastating not to forget anything but i think from our mistakes and experiences we get to become better as human beings so i think if someone could take advantage of that skill he would be ''invincible''
Hmm, sounds like you have a name for your superhero - Mr Invincible.
He is definitely great marketing, I see a lot of people are now Lakers fan.... Sports is great and one of the best unifying events that can bring different culture and people together, Lebron is one of those athlete with that innate ability to connect with people, it would be interesting to see what he does after he hangs his boats up
It will be interesting what he does after he retires. As a Lakers fan, I am excited to see what he builds off the court as well as on.
It would be great to have that kind of memory, especially for my job as an ideal accountant
Very interesting your article about LeBron, I think that all in some way or another we have that kind of memory although we have not exploited or developed it. Our friend in this case was very sensitive to remembering the details of his past. I liked your post very much and I agree to start the debate. Best regards @lydon.sipe