[xbar]

I think you are minimizing something that is very important.

Understanding deeply and completely any topic is much easier when you understand deeply and completely the fundamental components and concepts--which starts with memorization.

[sajforbes]

This idea was the foundation for the Quantum Country book [0], which was essentially an experiment in combining reading with spaced repetition learning to let you do just that: understand a topic deeply.

Anyone interested in the theoretical underpinnings of the idea can read about it in the blog post [1] the co-authors wrote. For anyone who objects to the idea that rote-memorisation can aide learning rather than simply let you mechanically repeat facts, you should read the paragraph "How important is memory, anyway?" [2].

[0]: https://quantum.country/ [1]: https://numinous.productions/ttft/ [2]: https://numinous.productions/ttft/#how-important-is-memory

[michaelcampbell]

Indeed. Having a good memorization of "building blocks" of whatever higher minded thing you're looking into allows a lot more native synthesis of ideas.

It also keeps you from having to interrupt your flow to stop and go look something up.

[unshavedyak]

Yea, i thought that was studied, but perhaps not. Ie the knowledge we retain help us formalize larger more complex thoughts. Perhaps facts are a too small unit? Though i don't see why you couldn't also use Spaced Rep to memorize larger relationships.