I used to keep lots and lots of phone numbers in my head. This was before the days of smart phones.
I didn’t think it was a problem, because I really didn’t have much of a choice. When there is only one way to do something, you don’t think about it much — you just do it.
Yes, you could keep a little book with phone numbers, but you’d need to carry that book around with you everywhere, and most people didn’t do that. We just learned to memorize phone numbers.
Today I saw somebody I recognized, but I didn’t know from where. He smiled and waved hello, and he clearly believed that I knew exactly who he was.
I was tempted to start a conversation, but did not want to reveal that I didn’t quite know who I was talking to. But if I had a pair of smart glasses with the right software, my glasses would have told me his identity, and he would just assume that I had remembered who he was.
All of which leads to the following question: Will our ability to remember names one day go the way of our ability to remember phone numbers?