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Yiming Ma with Tessa Hulls: These Memories Do Not Belong to Us: A Novel
Current technologies make it so easy for us to share all kinds of information on a global scale. What if one day we were able to share and trade our actual memories? Writer Yiming Ma wants to consider this very question in his novel, These Memories Do Not Belong to Us.
In Ma’s book, in a far-off future, China has conquered the U.S. and has created the Qin Empire, where every citizen is fitted with a Mindbank. This intracranial device is capable of recording and transmitting memories between minds. This technology gives birth to Memory Capitalism, where people can buy memories to relive the life experiences of others. This leads to opportunities for manipulation: memories can be edited, marketed, and even corrupted for personal gain.
After the sudden passing of the unnamed narrator’s mother, this main character inherits a collection of banned memories from his mother’s Mindbank, which is so dangerous that even possessing them places the narrator’s freedom in jeopardy. The memories are tales of sumo wrestlers, social activists, armless swimmers, and watchmakers, all struggling amid the backdrop of Qin’s ascent toward global dominance. Determined to release his mother’s memories to the world before they are destroyed forever, the narrator will risk everything – even if the cost is his own life.
What are the costs of your own memories? Through his storytelling, Ma considers this question and how governments and media work to control the collective imagination – an idea that reflects today’s societal conversations about truth and trust.
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3204812-0
