What if nobody could forget?
Nobody can forget anything any more. Every insult from 1998 stays with you, and so does every kindness.
They both remember exactly what was said. The kitchen is very quiet.
Day 1
A man apologises for something he said at a wedding in 2004. He can hear his own voice saying it, and so can she. They stand in the kitchen with no idea how to start again.
By the evening, small things pile up too: every password, every wrong turn, every stranger’s face on the bus.
Year 1
Courts have a new problem. A witness who can’t forget isn’t the same as a witness who is right. People still misread what they see. Now they just remember their mistakes perfectly.
Friendships get more careful. You can still forgive someone, but you can’t lose track of what they did.
Year 10
Schools spend less time on dates and more on what to do with them, because nobody forgets the date of a battle any more. Pupils memorise less and argue more.
Many people become slow, careful speakers. Anything they say, they will have to live with.
Who wins
- PromisesNobody can pretend they said something different.
- People learning a craftEvery lesson sticks, including the mistakes.
- People who are kind on ordinary daysEvery small kindness is remembered.
Who loses
- Anyone who needed a bad year to fadeIt stays as sharp as the day it happened.
- Couples after an argumentThe apology helps. The words it answers are still there.
- WitnessesA vivid memory still isn’t necessarily a true one.
Forgetting is useful: it’s how the brain throws out what it doesn’t need, and it’s part of how people forgive. The few people who remember almost everything often say it’s harder than it sounds.
Would you give up forgetting?
More what-ifs
