Philip K. Dick's pioneering works of science-fiction highlighted the philosophical question: without memory, who are we? Or if our memory is replaced? First of all, reality is a subjective thing, as I have already highlighted in an earlier post. Therefore, do the implanted memories become any less real? Well, only if the current reality that the subject perceives as real, the overriding reality fails to contradict his memories. In Let Us Remember it For You Wholesale, the reality that Douglas had never been to Mars was completely valid, until it was contradicted by greater evidence in the form of the drawer of Martian life. And every time Douglas' memory was rewritten, his reality changed. Now the nature of reality at a societal level and at a personal level are two very different things. What Douglas believes to be the true reality, and that which is believed to be true by the majority of society. It is entirely likely that Douglas is correct, and that reality indeed changes with his belief, and that everyone else is simply wrong. Reality is a fickle thing like that. Its based entirely on you, what you think is real.
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