Discussion 1

posting a transcript of a video.. answer questions on that transcript. 

 

LIFE WITHOUT MEMORY

Deborah Wearing:
Do you know how we got here?

Clive Wearing:
No.

Deborah Wearing:
You don't remember sitting down?

Clive Wearing:
Nope.

Deborah Wearing:
I reckon we've been here about ten minutes, at least.

Clive Wearing:
Do you? Well, I have no knowledge of it; my eyes only started working now. And all I've seen, the whole time I've been seeing anything at all is that.

Deborah Wearing:
And do you feel absolutely normal?

Clive Wearing:
Not absolutely normal now. Yes, if you've never eaten anything, never tasted anything, never touched anything, smelled anything, what right have you to assume you're alive?

Deborah Wearing:
But you are.

Clive Wearing:
Apparently, yes. But I'd like to know what the hell has been going on.

[Music]

Terry:
Clive was an outstanding musician.

Chris Rosen:
He would take his work if he sees it. At the same time, he had loved music so much that he just really threw himself into it totally.

Deborah Wearing:
Clive was a musician of enormous integrity.

Neil Lunt:
He was the world's expert on Lassus, one of the faithful great composers of the Renaissance.

Deborah Wearing:
And he also worked a great deal in contemporary music. He was the chorus master of the London Sinfonietta, which is Europe's foremost group.

Terry:
Music flows out of him, whether he is singing or playing or conducting.

George Page:
Clive Wearing, through a cruel twist of fortune shows us how fundamental consciousness and memory are to our lives.

Clive Wearing:
[Sings out] Well, well, well… isn't that a surprise, a smashing surprise. [Laughs] Why have I not seen you before?

Deborah Wearing:
I don't know, have you not seen me before?

Clive Wearing:
Nope, this is the first time.

Deborah Wearing:
Are you pleased to see me?

Clive Wearing:
Oh, you bet I am. Yes, there's nobody else I care about in this world at all, except for this.

Deborah Wearing:
Oh, darling thanks you. So how are you feeling this morning?

Clive Wearing:
I am conscious for the first time. This is the first time I've seen anybody at all.

Deborah Wearing:
You've not been conscious before?

Clive Wearing:
No.

Deborah Wearing:
I've been here before this morning.

Clive Wearing:
I haven't seen you before.

Deborah Wearing:
You haven't?

Clive Wearing:
No, I've not seen anything at all before. I've been completely blind the whole time. No taste at all. This is the first taste I've had.

Deborah Wearing:
That's the first coffee you've had.

Clive Wearing:
Yes, cheers.

Deborah Wearing:
Cheers. And how are you seeing things?

Clive Wearing:
Absolutely normal for the first time.

Deborah Wearing:
Full color?

Clive Wearing:
Yes, I've never seen anything the whole time I've been ill, no black and whites, nothing.

Deborah Wearing:
Do you remember me arriving?

Clive Wearing:
No. I don't remember any arrival at all. I don't remember writing in that at all. Nothing to do with me consciously, it's been unconscious writing.

Deborah Wearing:
What are you doing here?

Clive Wearing:
Oh, I don't know, presumably playing patient, but I know it's the first time I've seen any cards.

No.

Deborah Wearing:
It all started with a headache. Clive came home one day and said he had a very bad headache. The headache didn't life, it didn't respond to analgesics, by the fourth day, he developed quite a high fever. And on the evening of the fourth day, for a little while, he forgot his daughter's name. By the fifth day, he was very delirious.

Dr. Alan Parkin:
Clive suffered from viral encephalitis which has led to the damage of the left and the right temporal lobes, plus a good portion of the left frontal lobe. Now the temporal lobes contain a structure called the hippocampus which we know is implicated in memory function and in Clive it has almost certainly been completely destroyed in both sides of his brain. It is this that is primarily responsible for his severe memory impairment. In addition, the damage to his frontal lobes also causes a number of additional memory problems which manifest mostly in terms of him repeating himself a lot and generally showing highly emotional behavior.

Deborah Wearing:
Clive's world now consists of a moment with no past to anchor it and no future to look ahead to. It's a blinkered moment. He sees what is right in front of him, but as soon as that information hits the brain it fades. Nothing makes an impression, nothing registers. Everything goes in perfectly well, because he has all his faculties. His intellect is virtually intact, and he perceives his world as you or I do. But, as soon as he 's perceived it and looked away, it's gone for him. So it's a moment to moment consciousness as it were, a time vacuum. And he feels as if he is awakening afresh the whole time.

Clive Wearing:
Ahh, what a lovely hand you've got, beautiful, marvelous to kiss our hand. You're the first person I've seen. How long has it been?

Woman:
It's been about two and a half years now, Mr. Wearing.

Clive Wearing:
Can you imagine a night two and a half years long? I've not seen anything before this game. Do I have the impression of being consciously awake? Not true.

Deborah Wearing:
He always thinks he has been awake for about two minutes and that is why he looks at his watch all the time to record it, to record the fact, "Oh, I have woken up. This is an important event, therefore I will write it down in my diary." So he writes, "11:54 AM: I am now completely awake for the first time," and he underlines "first time."

Patience begins because he is always playing patience. And the whole diary, every page is a succession of entries saying almost the same thing of first awakeness and when he goes back and looks at his own entries, he does not acknowledge that they are genuine. He says - he knows that it is his handwriting, but as far as he is concerned, he was unconscious when he wrote them. So he quite often - he will score out what he has written before and so his life is an ever repeating moment of first wakening.

The strongest thing in his life I believe in his diary is his love for me. And that is absolutely raw. And each time I walk into that room, it is as if it is the first time he see me for years.

Clive Wearing:
Good heavens, [laughing] well darling.

Deborah Wearing:
Hello. Are you surprised to see me?

Clive Wearing:
It's the first time I've seen anybody at all. You're the first person I've seen.

Deborah Wearing:
You've not seen me before this morning?

Clive Wearing:
No. No, I haven't.

Deborah Wearing:
So how are you feeling this morning?

Clive Wearing:
I'm conscious for the first time. It's the first time I've seen anybody at all.

Deborah Wearing:
You've not been conscious before?

Clive Wearing:
No.

Deborah Wearing:
I've been here this morning.

Clive Wearing:
I haven't seen you before.

Deborah Wearing:
You haven't.

Clive Wearing:
No, I haven't seen anything at all before. I've been completely blind the whole time.

Deborah Wearing:
You don't remember actually arriving at all?

Clive Wearing:
No, no I don't remember that at all. No idea at all.

Deborah Wearing:
But you know who I am, or do you kiss all women like that? [Laughs]

Clive Wearing:
You know I love you, I don't kiss anybody else.

Deborah Wearing:
Yes, I do know, I do know. You've written it all over your diary. Look. I bet you that if I'd look to see what you've written, now you haven't mentioned me on that page. You've mentioned me on this page. "My first thought, I adore Deborah for eternity.

Clive Wearing:
That's right.

Deborah Wearing:
"People's entries in the diary are rubbish," what does that mean?

Clive Wearing:
I have no idea.

Deborah Wearing:
Did you write that?

Clive Wearing:
No, not conscious of it at all. I'm seeing it now for this first time.

Deborah Wearing:
Is it your handwriting?

Clive Wearing:
Yes it is, but I know nothing about it at all.

Deborah Wearing:
So how do you think it got there?

Clive Wearing:
I have no idea at all. I presume the doctors don't know.

Deborah Wearing:
But you must have some idea of how it got there.