Blockchain and human episodic memory
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
2019-04-17 v3 Neurons and Cognition
Abstract
We relate the concepts used in decentralized ledger technology to studies of episodic memory in the mammalian brain. Specifically, we introduce the standard concepts of linked list, hash functions, and sharding, from computer science. We argue that these concepts may be more relevant to studies of the neural mechanisms of memory than has been previously appreciated. In turn, we also highlight that certain phenomena studied in the brain, namely metacognition, reality monitoring, and how perceptual conscious experiences come about, may inspire development in blockchain technology too, specifically regarding probabilistic consensus protocols.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1811.02881,
title = {Blockchain and human episodic memory},
author = {Seong Hah Cho and Cody A Cushing and Kunal Patel and Alok Kothari and Rongjian Lan and Matthias Michel and Mouslim Cherkaoui and Hakwan Lau},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.02881},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
30 pages, 2 figures; Minor edits, added figures, revised and updated sections