Ask Slashdot: How Would You Feel About Recording Your Entire Life?

skade88 writes "As I get older, I find the little details of my life slip away from my memory after years and decades pass. I find myself wishing I had a way to record at least sound and video of my entire life. It would be nice to be able to go back and see what I was like when I was younger without the fog of memory clouding my view of the past. It would be cool to share with my boy friend and future kids how I was when I was younger by just showing them video from my life. Do y'all know of any good way to do this? I would settle for recording what I see from a first person point of view. There is also concerns that range beyond the technical. If I were to record my entire life, that would mean also recording other people, when they are interacting with me on a daily basis. What sort of privacy laws pertain to this? Even without laws, would others act differently around me because they were being recorded with my life record? How would it make you feel if your friend or family member did this?"

Resources

[eldavojohn]

You might look into Vannevar Bush's efforts [wikipedia.org] on the memex machine [wikipedia.org] as well as the follow on to him, Gordon Bell [wikipedia.org] and his MyLifeBits [wikipedia.org]. This was discussed on Slashdot in 2007 [slashdot.org].

Google's Glass [google.com] might one day accomplish what you're asking. I saw a kickstarter about facebook glasses that recorded but I'm not going to link to that as I don't think it was very ... well received?

If I were to record my entire life, that would mean also recording other people, when they are interacting with me on a daily basis. What sort of privacy laws pertain to this?

So personally, I would use this only on my property and public property. And then I would separate the data between data from the property I was on and public property and just be mindful if I was sharing that the people in the public property video did not give their consent to be recorded. I think this means different things in different states so if you would tell us your state/commonwealth you could probably get better information. Personally, people would act weird if they knew they were being recorded and since it was for my own personal records and on public property I wouldn't see how it would come to light that I own it let alone archive it.

If you wanted to be absolutely respectful of other people I would suggest only using it on your property and then bringing a stack of waivers with you for people to sign before you started recording. Good luck!

Journal

[guantamanera]

I been writting a journal since age 12, and all I been using is pen and paper. Going through the pages is faster than rewinding with a digital device. When you read through memorable moment many years later you will notice the the memories will flood back in, and even the smells of the moment will make it back. You don't even have to read the whole to thing you wrotem just a few snipets and your brain will fill in the blanks. Also written journals are more collectible than digital files, so if your family does not read it after you pass some stranger will.

Re:Google Glass ad

[93 Escort Wagon]

The somewhat reasonable person in me says this is a not so subtle Google Glass ad.

And to answer the question that was posed: No, I don't want you recording all your interactions with me. But if you're looking to end our friendship, doing so would be an efficient expedient towards that that end.

Re:The fog of memory is vital

[muridae]

You'll find that many serious psychological disorders stem from not being able to forget.

Okay. List them. "Serious psychological disorders"? Go ahead and list them out of the DSMIV or whatever you can

PTSD.