Word: korsakoff
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...wrote Chesterton. Science makes a more severe judgment. It calls living in the present psychotic. Not happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care living in the present, but the real thing. Some individuals by reason of accident or disease (generally alcoholism) suffer from what is called Korsakoff's psychosis: they have no memory. Not that they have forgotten their ancient childhood memories. They often retain these. But they have lost entirely the capacity to establish new memories. Everything they see, everything they hear, everything they think, they forget within seconds. Introduce yourself to a Korsakoffian, leave the room, and return...