Sometimes when we look into our exam paper we wished that we have an innate talent for memorizing every detail in our notes within a few minutes. We wished we would be like the people gifted with a photographic memory so we could mentally picture our notes or books we have read. By that, we could have an idea in answering the questions given in our test papers. But sad to say, photographic memory is not real. The only ability that is close to photographic memory is Eidetic Imagery. Eidetikers are the people who can still remember the removed unfamiliar image placed on an easel after scanning it within 30 seconds. As if they can still see the removed picture on the easel. They can describe the image contained in details extraordinarily. However, the eidetic image in their mind lasts 30 seconds to several minutes only and can be destroyed by blinking intentionally. The people who acquired this ability are children who are below six years old and mentally retarded. But as children grow they started thinking abstract ideas which diminish their ability to mentally capturing details within half a second or more.

Also, we, adults cannot acquire photographic memory because our memory is only good at remembering the gist of what happened not the elements of the scene from the past. Our memory is not a camera lens that can capture an event and remember every detail of it. It is not the same with photography. It discards trivial details like colors, the exact words uttered by our teacher, pictures in the background, the name of a person who our friend introduced. How well we remember depends on how well we pay attention to the material presented. In fact, some people with excellent memory use elaborate techniques in helping them remember an event. So there is no verified case of memory that can act as a camera. None at all. It only happens in Hollywood movies, never in real life.

And you know which is not real too? The world we live in. We are living in a simulated world within a simulated galaxy within a simulated universe and so on, thus everything is an illusion. Nothing is real, dude. Not even your parents.