I have never heard of mindbugs concept before until after reading the chapter “Mindbugs” in the Blindspot. I found this concept to be very intriguing especially when the chapter discussed the idea of faulty memory. When it revealed the consequences of false memories, I never would have really thought it about like that. For example, faulty memory of a witness in a criminal court case can be harmful and dangerous in our criminal justice system; misinformation has led to many cases of wrongful incarceration. This clearly is a major issue, so how would we go about determining the accuracy of someone’s eyewitness testimony other than checking video surveillance (if it’s not there) for proof.
Critical Thinking
I felt the same way when reading this article. It is really mind-blowing that we put so much trust into these accounts but there is no way to truly tell if they are true or a result of a mindbug. I read an article for a past project that talked about how the best way to get accurate accounts is very open-ended questions but the witness has such a hard time putting themselves back into the situation that they miss-remember, so either way they are affected by mindbugs.
While reading this article, I also found it particularly shocking that our justice system has the potential to be this faulty over the issue of mindbugs. I specifically discussed the Innocent Project and how this could be a way to debunk mind bugs and specifically use DNA to prove the innocence of people who were wrongly convicted.
I feel the same way. Mass incarceration is a HUGE problem in this country and I know that this can’t be helping. I’m not sure if we’ll ever be able to know the truth about things. Especially since truth can be objective.