Question about Copperminds

[Thunder_93]

Hi all,

like the title sais, I have a question about Copperminds. It's an issue, which i thought about for a while. If it has been discussed here already, then I'm sorry.

So, obviously you store memories into this metalminds. Now, what I'm confused about: When you store (or better stored) a memory, is this then gone from your mind, and only existend in the metalmind (like the memory-thing of Dumbledore in Harry Potter) or is it basically like a copy of the memory, and inside the metalmind, it stays accurate, like you've stored it, and in your mind it just fades, like normal memories do?

I'm not sure why, but I always thought it is like the first possibility. But if it is like that, then I don't understand this: If you've stored it away, then all of it is gone, so how will you remember ever putting it away? And if you don't remember that, you wont know that it is available or you've ever had it, so you're not going to ever look at it again

[Xtafa]

Think of it like looking up something in Wikipedia, you have the page open, all the information. You closed the page [put it back in the copper mind] and its gone. You will have a vague memory and the notes you wrote down. 

As for how you know whats in there, for example a smaller codex, listed. Like the glossary in the back of an encyclopedia. 

Culture > Religion > Region > etc

 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Xtafa

[Nathrangking]

4 hours ago, Thunder_93 said:

Hi all,

like the title sais, I have a question about Copperminds. It's an issue, which i thought about for a while. If it has been discussed here already, then I'm sorry.

So, obviously you store memories into this metalminds. Now, what I'm confused about: When you store (or better stored) a memory, is this then gone from your mind, and only existend in the metalmind (like the memory-thing of Dumbledore in Harry Potter) or is it basically like a copy of the memory, and inside the metalmind, it stays accurate, like you've stored it, and in your mind it just fades, like normal memories do?

I'm not sure why, but I always thought it is like the first possibility. But if it is like that, then I don't understand this: If you've stored it away, then all of it is gone, so how will you remember ever putting it away? And if you don't remember that, you wont know that it is available or you've ever had it, so you're not going to ever look at it again

As @Xtafa mentioned it seems clear from the original mistborn trilogy that the memory details are stored in the metalmind and often there will be some kind of stored index to help find a specific memory. The details of the memory go into the coppermind though it does seem that one would remember having placed a certain topic in even without remembering the details. 

[Quickbronze]

As @Nathrangking pointed out, you store the memory itself, but if you don't store the memory of storing it, you still remember storing it. Say for example you memorize a haiku. Then you think "I'm going to store this haiku in a metalmind". You then store the haiku in a coppermind. However, you still remember thinking "I'm going to store this haiku in a metalmind", because you didn't store that memory. 

[Weltall]

Yeah, not only will you not have stored the memory 'Store X in Coppermind Y' so you'll remember that it's in a coppermind somewhere, but we've seen on multiple occasions that Sazed kept a separate coppermind for the purpose of indexing all his stored knowledge so that he could immediately find it when needed.

So, let's say Sazed wanted to look up information on Larstaism. He'd go to his index coppermind and look for a memory of that name, then find which coppermind contains it, then go to that coppermind and get the information he wants. Or if he didn't remember the name but he remembered some tenants of the religion he might go for another part of the index, say 'Religions' or 'Art' and browse through those indices until he found the name, then look up which coppermind he needs to access for the actual information.

[+robardin]

I always wondered how the metalminds could record visual information like the star charts, anatomical drawings, and renderings of animals that Sazed Ascendant uses to rebuild the world. He said that each Keeper listened as a senior Keeper went through his copperminds and recited all the information for the junior Keeper to hear and record into their own copperminds; but even if the original Keeper (who saw the original work) had a visual memory of the charts or drawings, how would that end up getting orally relayed with any accuracy, especially over many generations?

 

[Weltall]

I don't remember the descriptions of how the Keepers learned their material but I imagine that the first Keeper to record a given bit of visual information could call up the memory of whatever picture they want to transmit, then draw it themselves and show it to their students, who could then store the memory in their copperminds and repeat the process when it comes time to pass the information on to the next generation. Runs the risk of losing some information over time if you get a Keeper who isn't good at reproducing the images but still safer than trying to keep all that forbidden knowledge in its original form. And some of the risk could be minimized if you have multiple Keepers recording a given bit of visual information. One taps the memory and reproduces it, then the second taps the memory and compares it to the newly reproduced copy and checks if it's accurate.

[Curious Kid Dan]

This might be slightly left field,

Weren't the Terris people famed for being great scholars? I feel that natural aptitude plays a part.

 

[Weltall]

I rather suspect these are linked. They're great scholars in part because they can use F-Copper to remember huge quantities of information perfectly, but they also train to make the best use of their abilities. Brandon's mentioned this in the annotations and compares it to the Hafiz(a) (Muslims who have memorized the Quran and can recite it word for word) and that Sazed could hold several books worth of knowledge in his head even without copperminds, because of how the Keepers are trained.