if you imbibe the amount of alcohol in order to black out, an interesting thing happens. the cause of the blackout is the hippocampus. or more specifically, the hippocampus stops working.
the purpose of the hippocampus is to transfer information from the short-term to the long-term memory. now when you get really drunk, it just shuts off and doesn't transfer the memory--your experience--to storage.
since short term is that, short term. i would think that when you reach blackout stage, you aren't really aware about why you are doing something, just that you are doing it. think about it. if you can only remember back 30 seconds you won't remember why the cops are using tasers on you, only that they hurt.
i used to think that you did create and store the memories, you just broke the retrieval system for those memories. but you don't even store the experience. it never exists inside your head!
if you think that our memories and experiences define our reality, the fact that these memories--and effectively, the experiences--do not exist your reality may be skewed.
it is a good thing i subscribe to a theory of objective, concrete reality.
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