Maybe I don't have to worry so much about early-onset Alzheimer's, but there's some great food for thought here. Not the best clipping job, so it's worth reading the article.

There is stuff on this is if you search 'extended mind' or similar, in Artificial Intelligence, philosophy and psychology. 40 years ago Marshall McLuhan came up with the phrase about electronic media becoming 'extensions of the nervous system'. In general, this frees up the inetelligent mind which is characterised by ability to connect information and ideas, identify patterns etc.

It's possible that someone could have once said the same thing about printing. Could it be a reduction in attention span that makes the transfer from short-term to long-term memory more difficult?

Years ago, in one of Carl Sagan's books, I read that extrasomatic memory was the greatest invention of humankind, because it meant that knowledge could be passed from generation to generation independently, without the need for memorization.

Other factors could be at work, too. I can remember most of my family's birthdays, but always have to look up my nephew's. On the other hand, I can't stand him, so that may have something to do with it. In fact, I wish I could forget more about his end of the family.

This is so true! There is a vast "freeing" of the mind by committing so much of our life to computers and artificial storage. This will definitely continue as computers gain more speed, power and storage. But what are we doing with our brains now? With the expendable time and lack of "stuff" to remember, what is humankind to do with their very own minds?