INCEPTION

I saw the movie Inception a week ago and I was fascinated by the ingenuity of the makers of the film. The concept of implanting an idea in the human brain when a person is asleep definitely tickles the imagination and triggers the paranoia in us. In the first place, how many times have we been asleep in the company of people we rarely know?

Since watching the film, an idea which I have been toying on for years got back from the archives again. I used to say that the human brain is no different from a computer, that is, it both serves as database and processor at the same time.

If forensic technology has made it possible to extract data from a storage device even when it crashed, vis-à-vis determine the logical chronology of every activity, be it file creation, modification or deletion, I hope science should be able to retrieve data from the brain in the same manner and under the same circumstance. If technology is able to pinpoint to the exact location of a folder or file from the computer when need arises, I don’t see any reason why science should not be able to trace the particular brain cell that holds substantial memory or information.

Criminal investigation will immensely benefit out of the wonders of this concept when realized. In mysterious deaths in particular, secrets get buried in the grave with the deceased and justice remains to be evasive. The realization of the concept may be the answer to this.

I can still remember of a case I handled years back when a rich Chinese-businesswoman got stabbed 37 times leading to her death. I take pride in the efforts I exerted in the investigation of the case, what with its simulated time-motion studies, forensic examinations on specimens, tons of documents that suggest “fraud” to be the motive, and my having prepared maybe a hundred-page investigative report. Yet when the case was decided in Court, it was dismissed on the basis of technicality. To this date, I have quizzed myself whether what I did gave justice to the victim, at least from my limited power and capability at that time. On the other side, I questioned myself whether I actually barked at the wrong tree. I am sure the feeling is mutual for investigators who went through the same predicament.

On another note, more than the investigative perks, I get excited over the benefits it can give to the sentimental in me. When this concept gets realized, I would like to retrieve the happiest memories from my database. I would certainly extract the memory of the very first movie I saw with my family, when as a 7-year old I marveled over the giant screen where a man in blue suit and red cape was the main attraction. Likewise, the ecstasy of the day when my first child was born would be something I would love to experience again after 12 years. Or maybe even the joys brought about by my last trip to Quiapo and Raon. Oh, what I wouldn’t give in exchange for those very precious memories?

While I am not able to delete and modify them, it will at least allow me to re-live it in my consciousness, feel the feeling again, experience the goose-bumps and maybe bring back the smile it used to create. After all, while science has always been logical and practical in its use, it certainly does not divert from its usefulness if at times it caters to our sentimentality.