You know when you’re talking about something, then you get interrupted and you lose your train of thought? Happens to us all. What I want to know is that if it’s that easy to just simply, absolutely forget a thought involuntarily, why can’t we do it actively?

Question

You know when you’re talking about something, then you get interrupted and you lose your train of thought? Happens to us all. What I want to know is that if it’s that easy to just simply, absolutely forget a thought involuntarily, why can’t we do it actively?

In: 31

Answer 1

There was probably an evolutionary disadvantage to voluntarily forgetting things, and those who could, died off. That’s usually the answer to questions like these. It’s in our best survivalistic interests to remember everything we possibly can. Forgetting things can get us killed. If one of our ancestors had the ability to break the neurons or synapses that create memories, they are long gone from the gene pool. Our brains just don’t work that way *(anymore?)*. But hey, there’s always medical science; it might be possible someday!