Thread by @jposhaughnessy

1/I've often urged people to keep written records of things because our memories are unreliable narrators.

Just found another great example--I was telling a friend about a painting we own and was certain we had visited the artist's studio in the late 1980s, before we moved

2/ to the East Coast in 1991.

I wanted to relay the experience we had listening to her life's story which I knew I had recorded in my journal, so I was diligently going through my journals from that period.

Nothing, nada, zip.

3/ And while I found some great stuff (28 year old Jim was a thoughtful son-of-a-bitch 😜) but nothing about her.

I was so convinced that the visit was in the 80s that I went through them twice. Still nothing.

Then, I reminded myself of my own advice 🤦🏻‍♂️and started going

4/ journals for the early 90s, AFTER we had moved here and, yep, damn if I didn't find it in an entry dated June 6, 1992 😬

There's nothing that makes this point better than being called a liar in your own handwriting. Our shared HumanOS does us a "kindness" by updating our

5/ memories to make them consistent with what we think NOW. It's why recollections get colored by time and our current thoughts. Very slippery slope.

Here's a picture of the page:

6/ and here's the thread where I urge documenting things in writing. If you don't you might mislead others with your recollections because you'll first mislead yourself.

I wish HumanOS had an operator's manual.

https://twitter.com/jposhaughnessy/status/1218578824197218309