Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/5219
56 winter 2009 In other words, wouldn't it be great to have a backup of your brain? Gordon Bell is a walking experiment doing just this. Bell has been tracking his life in delicious detail for the past 11 years. It started at Microsoft Research, where Bell started the MylifeBits project. His goal was to digitally record as much of his life as possible. He wore a camera, recorded his phone calls, scanned photos and letters, documented all of his computer work, and tracked his biometrics. The job of Bell's colleague Jim Gemmell was to build software to make all this tracking easier, searchable, and meaningful. This September Bell and Gemmell released a book called Total Recall: How the E-Memory Revolution Will Change Everything. In it, they talk about the future implications of being able to remember everything about your life in extraordinary detail. Bell proposes that a "continuous digital diary or e-memory" that integrates digital recording devices, memory storage and search engines will fundamentally "change what it means to be human." Their work includes research into memory, work, health, learning, and immortality. A side order of privacy is served up too, as the authors distinguish between "life loggers," who keep their records to themselves, and "life bloggers," who broadcast their data. Of course, self-tracking is not a new idea. People have been recording their lives in analog format ever since they started drawing on cave walls. Benjamin Franklin used to keep a detailed checklist of the thirteen virtues he was striving to live by, including annotated explanations of where he was succeeding and where he still needed to improve. Now, it can all be monitored digitally. It probably won't surprise the readers of this article that I track myself. But it might surprise you that I track 40 different things every day. On a typical day, my pain level is 2, my weight is 126 lbs, I did 1 hour of walking, my happiness is 9, and I slept 6 hours. Charts like the one below help me to be aware of my mood, activity level, and sleep, and how these things interrelate. the Quantified Life is Worth Living self tracking: AlEXANDRA CARMICHAEl What would you do with a complete memory of your entire life? Would you relive your first kiss? Figure out what triggered your recent migraine? Remember the name that goes with the familiar face in front of you?