Discussion question of the day: memory

[another_normal_anomaly]

 Would you rather have a perfect semantic memory (the ability to recall any fact you've ever learned) or a perfect episodic memory (the ability to recall what you were doing at any past moment)? I realize your answer is likely to depend on implementation details, so feel free to make up some that make sense to you.

Comments

[paradigm_adrift]

Based on the other comments and some wishy-washy logic, I suspect that rationalists will be more likely to answer "semantic" because that is more useful and rationalists are more likely to believe that the world is on fire. More mainstream folks probably think of the world less as something to be saved or conquered or whatever, and more of something to enjoy or exploit, so they seem like they'd favor episodic memory to better remember happy moments with loved ones.

In the Glorious Transhumanist Future, I'd go with episodic memory because I care a lot about nostalgia and history and personal data hoarding. But as things are, anything that gives me even a small advantage towards making that future happen at all is way more important, so semantic it is.