Sean Young as the genetically-engineered replicant Rachael in Ridlley Scott’s Blade Runner. Photograph: Allstar Picture Librar

 

"Be careful what you wish for. That’s what Joel, played by Jim Carrey, discovers in Charlie Kaufman’s 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, when he asks a memory-erasure company, Lacuna Inc, to excise the recollections of a painful breakup from his mind. During the procedure, Joel realises he doesn’t want every memory of the relationship to vanish and tries desperately to hold on to a few fragments.

The movie offers a metaphor for how we are defined by our memories, how poignant is both their recall and their loss – and how unreliable they can be."

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/12/memory-how-science-fiction-can-become-reality?CMP=fb_gu