Brin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brin_bellway) wrote2020-10-01 12:53 pm
brin_bellway) wrote2020-10-01 12:53 pm
Lifelogging, part 3
[mild cw: amnesia]
(part 2)
Bought another lifelogger today. The same kind as the second one: there really aren't many options for "airgapped microphone with both voice-activated and continuous modes that can hang around your neck and doesn't have always-on lights", since for some unfathomable reason my usecase is extremely rare.
---
(As soon as I heard that *anyone* had *ever* worn a recording necklace, it immediately struck me as an Extremely Me thing to do. And indeed, when I did end up getting my hands on one--even if just audio-only--it became a part of me very quickly†. Why anyone *wouldn't* want a prosthetic memory augmentation I don't know.
Okay, yes, I know some people talk about "poor searchability", but I disagree. First, even a purely timestamp-based index is occasionally helpful: sometimes very much so (defusing major he-said-she-said arguments), but also sometimes more mildly ("what were the other two things on that verbal list of tasks again? she said she was going to email me a copy, but she never did. *plugs lifelogger into laptop, listens to clip from half an hour ago* oh yeah, *those*, okay."). Second, automated transcription gets better every year. Already, the transcription job I worked at in late 2016 and early 2017 no longer exists as such: their AI now writes the first draft, and the people are now beta readers. The day has not *yet* arrived where you can download one of those AIs off Synaptic as easily as you can Recoll, but I fully expect that it will. (And then I can *combine* it with Recoll and have a searchable record of all of my conversations, both text- and voice-based! Semi-retroactively!)
(and furthermore it'll then be much more practical to *reinforce* those memories, to re-read them like I re-read my blog posts and chat logs, and be more *whole* even in wetware)
And other people talk about "privacy invasion", but really, it's just an extension of myself. Would they be upset if my memory were *naturally* sufficient? It's not like it's one of those Amazon telescreens: I would never make people be around one of *those*, nor am I ever going to use cloud-based transcription services. I'll wait until it's practical for a moderately tech-savvy person to do it locally.
But is it *really* so uncommon to be the kind of mind that thinks this is worthwhile? Or are we just stuck in an equilibrium where memory augmentation is rare because it's rare, so that people either shy away from the Weirdness or don't think of it at all? (How many people would live healthier and happier lives if they wore pollen masks?))
---
As I was saying, even *this* device isn't actually meant for this usecase: it's a repurposed lecture note-taker. No wonder, then, that the battery wore out to the point of unreliability after a mere eight months: I'm running it much harder than it was designed for.
Well, it's only $40. If you look at it as a subscription, I'd gladly pay $5/month for this. And the 16GB microSD card is swappable and therefore salvageable from each worn-out device.
But I do wish the battery were replaceable too.
---
†Not only does it feel like a part of my body in the same way my wristwatch and glasses and smartphone do, I've found myself adapting my behaviour to make things easier on the future selves listening. I'm more likely to describe things verbally rather than just pointing and going "that", I use speakerphone as much as possible when calling people. ↩
(part 2)
Bought another lifelogger today. The same kind as the second one: there really aren't many options for "airgapped microphone with both voice-activated and continuous modes that can hang around your neck and doesn't have always-on lights", since for some unfathomable reason my usecase is extremely rare.
---
(As soon as I heard that *anyone* had *ever* worn a recording necklace, it immediately struck me as an Extremely Me thing to do. And indeed, when I did end up getting my hands on one--even if just audio-only--it became a part of me very quickly†. Why anyone *wouldn't* want a prosthetic memory augmentation I don't know.
Okay, yes, I know some people talk about "poor searchability", but I disagree. First, even a purely timestamp-based index is occasionally helpful: sometimes very much so (defusing major he-said-she-said arguments), but also sometimes more mildly ("what were the other two things on that verbal list of tasks again? she said she was going to email me a copy, but she never did. *plugs lifelogger into laptop, listens to clip from half an hour ago* oh yeah, *those*, okay."). Second, automated transcription gets better every year. Already, the transcription job I worked at in late 2016 and early 2017 no longer exists as such: their AI now writes the first draft, and the people are now beta readers. The day has not *yet* arrived where you can download one of those AIs off Synaptic as easily as you can Recoll, but I fully expect that it will. (And then I can *combine* it with Recoll and have a searchable record of all of my conversations, both text- and voice-based! Semi-retroactively!)
(and furthermore it'll then be much more practical to *reinforce* those memories, to re-read them like I re-read my blog posts and chat logs, and be more *whole* even in wetware)
And other people talk about "privacy invasion", but really, it's just an extension of myself. Would they be upset if my memory were *naturally* sufficient? It's not like it's one of those Amazon telescreens: I would never make people be around one of *those*, nor am I ever going to use cloud-based transcription services. I'll wait until it's practical for a moderately tech-savvy person to do it locally.
But is it *really* so uncommon to be the kind of mind that thinks this is worthwhile? Or are we just stuck in an equilibrium where memory augmentation is rare because it's rare, so that people either shy away from the Weirdness or don't think of it at all? (How many people would live healthier and happier lives if they wore pollen masks?))
---
As I was saying, even *this* device isn't actually meant for this usecase: it's a repurposed lecture note-taker. No wonder, then, that the battery wore out to the point of unreliability after a mere eight months: I'm running it much harder than it was designed for.
Well, it's only $40. If you look at it as a subscription, I'd gladly pay $5/month for this. And the 16GB microSD card is swappable and therefore salvageable from each worn-out device.
But I do wish the battery were replaceable too.
---
†Not only does it feel like a part of my body in the same way my wristwatch and glasses and smartphone do, I've found myself adapting my behaviour to make things easier on the future selves listening. I'm more likely to describe things verbally rather than just pointing and going "that", I use speakerphone as much as possible when calling people. ↩