system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Where do your thoughts go when you forget them?

If a brain is analogous to a computer, is there some place where memories are stored either short term or long term?
gpt
Memories in the human brain are, as far as we know, stored as links between clusters of neurons. When we remember something, we're sending a cascade of impulses down this network to re-experience something as you did originally.

When you forget, those connections are broken. The memory is literally disassembled. The neurons are (usually) still there, but without the connection, the cascade can't happen and you can't remember it. Degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's involve brain cells literally dying, cutting those connections in the process.