Memory

[cameronmore]

Although MFO defines 'a memory' in terms of the disposition to remember, and defines the process of remembering, it does not simply define what a memory is. I suggest (tentatively) that a memory is a generically dependent continuant that depends of the brain to exist. The specifically dependent continuant (SDC) 'a memory' does not capture the fact that a memory is some kind of information-bearing entity, only the disposition to have memories and remember.

A generically dependent continuant (GDC), as Barry Smith writes in 'Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology,' captures a few key aspects of memory: a GDC depends on some independent continuant (the brain), a GDC cannot migrate from one entity to another, and is concretized in some specifically dependent continuant ('a memory' which is already in MFO as the disposition to remember).

The disposition of memory (SDC) is realized in the process of remembering which remembers some memory (GDC). Another way of saying this is that a memory is a highly complex pattern that realizes some disposition to remember in the memory process.

I am not sure if a memory is an information content entity (ICE). An ICE inheres_in an information bearing entity,and I think that might not be a good spproach, but I think GDC is a step in the right direction.

I am happy to be wrong, and I just want to get a conversation started on this subject. Thank you!