The Woman Who Could Not Forget - Jill Price
Why Hacker News recommends it
Cited in discussions of perfect memory as an illustration that it can be a burden rather than a superpower.
What it is
A short TV segment on Jill Price, a woman with highly superior autobiographical memory who recalls nearly every day of her life. She describes the good and bad sides of never forgetting.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2012 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Cites olalonde · 2012-08 · on “Why Can Some People Recall Every Day Of Their Lives? Brain Scans Offer Clues”
According to A.J. (aka Jill Price) herself, it is more a curse than a superpower: [this video] "We can say time heals all wounds," said Price's mother. "Doesn't for her."
Cites shannifin · 2021-08 · on “What’s it like living with a phenomenal memory and can it be learned?”
> Glowacki is on the autism spectrum and has superlative memory and calendar recall skills. I've also known several autistic people who have great memories; I don't know if the right word would be "interest", "obsession", or "compulsion", but they have an inclination to go over certain facts in their heads over and over, so of course developing a good memory for those facts is natural. I've seen similar articles and TV segments about people who particularly remember autobiographical facts, what they were doing everyday for decades. Again, it's not "automatic" memory, as it tends to be sensationalized, but rather the result of an interest or obsession to continually think about it. For instan
Cites nthingtohide · 2025-04 · on “Nominal Aphasia: Problems in Name Retrieval”
> On the plus side I live in today and dont dwell on the past. It is like a superpower for happiness. This is true on many levels. 4:10 @ The Woman Who Could Not Forget - Jill Price [this video] Perfect Memory = Perfect Inability to Forgive | House M.D. [LINK]