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pete_68 t1_j9rln9b wrote

>I heard that with things such as brain/computer interfaces, neural implants, and mind uploading we can delete memories,

You heard wrong. It's science fiction.

We have no real idea how memories are stored, beyond a fairly basic level. We know that the hippocampus is involved in storing memories and if you destroy it, you can't create new memories, but memories aren't stored in a folder somewhere in your brain. You can't just go in an delete a memory. They're stored throughout your brain (edit: Specifically the neocortex, but this is a pretty extensive area of the brain). That's why you can remember smells and sounds and sights and the way things feel, because they're stored in all those parts of the brain where those sensations are experienced. And they're interweaved with each other. You couldn't destroy one without destroying others.

This is not something that we're anywhere close to being competent to messing with.

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