Radiolab "Memory and Forgetting"

This podcast was a little too interesting.  Oliver Sacks cases always freak me out just a little because they are so bizarre that I start to imagine getting one of them.  This podcast made me fear encephalitis at the core of my being.  The thought that one minute all that constructs of a capable human being is lost because of a lack of memory retention is wholly terrifying.  Also it tears at the ideas behind nature vs. nurture.  In this case because the nurture element, or experiences element, to Clive Wearing is gone and cannot be formed the nature element, or genetics, does not matter, he can still not function.  It almost makes an argument that humans personalities and psychologies are much more a make up of their experience.  The Wearing case also shows the fragility of the human mind, which is probably the most terrifying part.  Like reading the "The Bell Jar", I was constantly questioning my retention and sanity while listening to this segment. 
The segment on the painter that was painting a subconscious memory for years was incredibly engaging.  The artist could remember the visual memory but couldn't recall any of the other aspects of the memory like touch, or language, or smell.  Then after enough time he stumbles upon the right visual trigger to set off the entirety of the memory into conscious thought.  That's pretty intense. 
This radiolab also threw me for a loop because the idea of constantly recreating a memory each time that it is remembered is slightly unnerving.  Every time that I remember something, which is a million times a day, I wondered if I destructed the original memory.  If now that I have remembered it, it will never be correct.  It makes me think the funny stories I tell to friends and if these stories are now almost completely falsified due to the instability of memory.  If memory is in some ways who we are as we see through the Clive Wearing case and if memory is incredibly unstable and fragile, than everyone must be incredibly fragile and unstable.  Scary!!... I'm exaggerating this a little but still this radiolab was enthralling.