Week Ten: We Remember it for you wholesale

This past week I read the short story by Philip K. Dick, We remember it for you wholesale. This story was about a man who’s dream is to go to mars. He ventures to a company called Rekal Incorporated. They tell him they can create false memories for him that convinces him he has been to mars and he will forever have that memory in his brain. Unfortunately when they try and do this they open a can of worms and discover that the main character used to be an undercover agent that had already been to mars, but his memories were erased.

This short story was very interesting to me because it reminded me of the movie conspiracy theory with Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson’s character is obsessed with conspiracy theories, but it turns out he used to be a trained assassin and all of his theories he talks about are true. He just doesn’t remember because his memory was erased. I find it captivating when authors and directors talk about people’s dreams and subconscious feelings. Especially in this story the whole time you’re thinking this man really wants to explore Mars but really his subconscious is trying to remember what happened to him when his memories were erased. Science fiction becomes more interesting to me when it talks about having your memories erased because if we had that now in modern times it would change everything.