# logic question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930 "2010-11-25T23:49:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/1 "2010-11-25T23:49:34Z")
Is it possible to remember not doing somerhing? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/2 "2010-11-25T23:59:53Z")
I remember what I have done for the last 5 minutes I did not go to the bathroom in the last 5 minutes Therefore I remember not going to the bathroom in the last 5 minutes. Like that? ---
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/3 "2010-11-26T00:11:30Z")
It’s one thing to say “I don’t recall going to the bathroom in the past five minutes”, but can you recall not doing it? ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/4 "2010-11-26T00:19:28Z")
Not if you put it like that. But that’s not a logic question. It’s a question about what it means to remember things. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/5 "2010-11-26T01:02:25Z")
I very clearly remember not eating breakfast this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/6 "2010-11-26T01:06:31Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > It’s one thing to say “I don’t recall going to the bathroom in the past five minutes”, but can you recall not doing it? All the time. I think I should urinate, but don’t. I can remember not going. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/7 "2010-11-26T01:07:40Z")
Also related, though not quite what you’re asking: it’s entirely possible to remember something that didn’t happen. [cite](http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20101008-21216.html). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/8 "2010-11-26T01:10:53Z")
Sure, I can be conscious of not doing something _ **now** _, and then remembering that ten seconds later. And it’s not a logic question, it’s an epistemological question. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/9 "2010-11-26T01:30:14Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > Also related, though not quite what you’re asking: it’s entirely possible to remember something that didn’t happen. [cite](http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20101008-21216.html). I disagree. That is not actually remembering. It is seeming to remember, or thinking that one remembers. ---
**Author:** ![copperwindow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@copperwindow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/copperwindow)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/10 "2010-11-26T01:46:55Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Sure, I can be conscious of not doing something _ **now** _, and then remembering that ten seconds later. > > And it’s not a logic question, it’s an epistemological question. No, it’s a semantics question, I realized it after posting it. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/11 "2010-11-26T02:04:03Z")
It is possible to remember that you have not done something at some specified time, or during some specified period of time (including _ever_). Whether it is possible to remember not doing something regardless of any temporal specification seems to me to be more questionable. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/12 "2010-11-26T05:12:51Z")
I remember my not giving a factual answer to this OP. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/13 "2010-11-26T05:50:12Z")
> [@copperwindow](#): > > No, it’s a semantics question, I realized it after posting it. Well if it’s semantic, then it’s easy to answer. I remember not failing to vote at the last election. I remember not forgetting to turn up to my graduation ceremony. I remember not getting lost on the way to my sister’s wedding. I clearly remember not doing lot of things. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/14 "2010-11-26T13:20:06Z")
Well - If you’ve just completed some multi-step task you’re familiar with, it’s certainly possible to “replay the tape” in your head and realize “Oh gosh, I recognize now that I forgot to do step 3.” It’s a pretty standard technique for error avoidance. So in that sense you’re pretty clearly remembering not doing something. Or said another way, you’re remembering what you _did do_ and comparing it to what you _should have done_. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logic-question/561930/15 "2010-11-26T19:31:18Z")
If you’re willing to apply some interpretation to the memories, I can distinctly recall not having flown down to Rio in a zeppelin in the last six months. I wasn’t planning to, and I didn’t think of my activities as “doing something other than hopping in a zeppelin and going to get some Brazilian action” at the time, but looking back on it now I can certainly conclude that there have been no zeppelins or half-dressed women speaking Portuguese in my immediate history. My point is, even though my memories haven’t changed, they’re cast in a somewhat different light due to retroactive interpretations applied to them. This is actually a rather important part of the human experience, given how commonly people are retroactively embarrassed by prior behaviors or inaction.