The Mandela Effect

What this episode covers

In this episode, Megan and Frank investigate the Mandela Effect. Why do so many people "remember" Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s, or the Fruit of the Loom logo as containing a cornucopia, or the existence of a movie starring Sinbad as a genie? What explains these collective mis-rememberings: parallel dimensions, a government cover-up, a glitch in the matrix? Or should we just conclude that human memory is inherently unreliable? How do false memories arise, and how can we distinguish the real from the imagined? Despite our cultural obsession with preserving every memory, could there be some value in forgetting the past? Thinkers discussed include Augustine of Hippo, Friedrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, and Elizabeth Loftus. Hosts' Websites: Megan J Fritts (google.com) [https://sites.google.com/view/meganjfritts/home?authuser=0] Frank J. Cabrera (google.com) [https://sites.google.com/view/frank-j-cabrera/research?pli=1] Email: [email protected] ----------------------- Bibliography: The Visual Mandela Effect as Evidence for Shared and Specific False Memories Across People [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36219739/] The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) Task: A Simple Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate False Memories [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5407674/] Understanding Memory and the Human Lifespan | Plus [https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/memory-and-the-human-lifespan] Loftus & Pickrell 1995 - The formation of false memories. [https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-29546-001] Loftus & Palmer 1974 - Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022537174800113] Chloe Wall - Knowing (from) me, knowing (from) you: Essays on memory and testimony [https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/esploro/outputs/doctoral/Knowing-from-me-knowing-from-you/9926478758301891] Total recall: the people who never forget | Memory | The Guardian [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/08/total-recall-the-people-who-never-forget] Nietzsche: 'On the Genealogy of Morality' and Other Writings [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Nietzsche_On_the_Genealogy_of_Morality_a/Hx6YEVvHjgkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=To+shut+the+doors+and+windows+of+consciousness+for+a+while%3B+not+to+be+bothered+by+the+noise+and+battle+with+which+our+underworld+of+serviceable+organs+work+with+and+against+each+other%3B+a+little+peace,+a+little+tabula+rasa+of+consciousness+to+make+room+for+something+new,+above+all+for+the+nobler+functions+and+functionaries,+for+ruling,+predicting,+pre+determining+(our+organism+runs+along+oligarchic+lines,+you+see)+%E2%80%93+that,+as+I+said,+is+the+benefit+of+active+forgetfulness,+like+a+doorkeeper+or+guardian+of+mental+order,+rest+and+etiquette:+from+which+we+can+immediately+see+how+there+could+be+no+happiness,+cheerfulness,+hope,+pride,+immediacy,+without+forgetfulness&pg=PA38&printsec=frontcover] ----------------------- Cover Artwork by Logan Fritts ------------------------- Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/simon-folwar/neon-signs License code: OEYM6IYHOOWN8GSB