[redelbee]

I think a better title might be “Memorize Exponentially” because that seems to be the true gist of the article.

There are undoubtedly many areas in which memorization is useful. I tend to use memorization as a second-order tool, in the sense that it is only useful to memorize once I’ve learned that memorization would be necessary.

I memorize combinations to locks I unlock frequently. I memorize names of items I sell in my shop so I don’t have to look them up over and over again.

In school I often memorized equations just long enough to get by. The few that are still with me are not those I used most frequently; they are the equations I understood at a visceral level. Obviously this means I am more conversant in Newtonian happenings than quantum concerns, so maybe there is a place for memorization. Or perhaps I lack sufficient experience in the quantum to really feel the laws that govern the smallest realms.

Either way the article paints a dull picture of learning. What of the feeling in the minds and hands of those future carpenters swinging their first hammer blows? What of the deep learning of the pianist that happens only after the transition from the first concerto as audience to the latest as featured virtuoso?

An exponential increase in the type of “learning” furthered by spaced repetition might be useful to some. I still prefer the linear road to understanding.

[teeray]

Memorization helps in the murky world of haven’t-quite-learned-it-yet. By knowing certain things to be true because you’ve memorized them, you can start to make connections to other things and investigate why those things are true. I most recently experienced this memorizing a bunch of stuff on intermodulation in RF (amateur radio). It had me questioning “why is this so?”, so I found a related domain: audio. Turns out IMD is an issue with mastering using saturation plugins (which add harmonics). Since I have some music background, this made the whole thing far more sensible to me. It’s really a process of presenting yourself with some disconnected facts, and filling in the gaps over time.

[atahanacar]

>There are undoubtedly many areas in which memorization is useful. I tend to use memorization as a second-order tool, in the sense that it is only useful to memorize once I’ve learned that memorization would be necessary.

For me (in medicine), it is the exact opposite. Memorization comes first, then you start to actually understand and learn things. Everything is so intermingled and there is no "learn this first to understand that". In addition, you can't start practicing things before memorizing them.

I feel like it's the same thing with the mnemonics. It's useful at first, but not very practical or efficient. However, as you use it more, you actually learn and stop using the mnemonic.

[p-christ]

I understand what you mean but I think you underestimate how critical memory is for all forms of learning (even creative work/learning).

Our working memories have a capacity of 4. This means that we basically can't understand something if it requires more than 4 pieces of New knowledge to understand. To understand more complicated things we need to move some of the knowledge into our long-term memories.

We wrote an article on this topic here that i'd love to know what you think of

https://saveall.ai/blog/learning-is-remembering

[vector_spaces]

Someone took the time to read your article and give you their critical impression, and you respond here essentially by saying that they are wrong and that they should read another article you wrote to correct their thinking.

This comes off as condescending and dismissive. It's a poor way to treat people who have taken the time to engage with your content, especially if engagement is what you want, which appears to be the case given your other replies on this topic.

Take the time to respond to them directly rather than pointing them towards more content you've written, even if it means repeating ideas you've written elsewhere.

This approach has a number of benefits:

1. It has the effect of presenting what you've read elsewhere inline (most readers won't click that link)

2. It gives you an opportunity to revisit and refine your own thinking, and

3. It forces you to think carefully about the criticisms levied

And most importantly, it reciprocates the effort they've put into reading your post and responding to you so that you don't come off like a jerk.

[p-christ]

Sorry, you're right. I was maybe too focused on being efficient rather than polite. I'll edit my comment

[betwixthewires]

I read that article, and your introduction on learning quantum mechanics is actually how I learned quantum mechanics! Or at least, about the known quantum particles in the standard model and their properties and behavior.

This is how I learn basically everything. That and practical application, so I'd learn cooking by cooking but I'd learn about information theory by just reading for hours at a time and falling down one hole after another. All this makes me wonder, where do you get the "you have 4 working memory slots" thing from? And how would you actually go about forcing things into long term memory?

[hex9893628af]

This is incorrect. Learning is doing. I know all about all sorts of things. That doesn’t mean I can do many of them.