Article by Michael Nielsen on how to make Spaced repetition memory system and similar systems an important practice for many people.
Michael likens memory system practice to other “skillful practices” like yoga, basketball, surfing, dance, meditation. His central point is that the main thing needed for memory systems to become widespread is not a new tool, or new features, or UI design—but rather for us to culturally develop more powerful and more transferable memory practices.
Q. Michael’s point that many skillful practices were developed over decades or centuries?
A. Practices like meditation and yoga are the result of centuries of refinement. Even basketball has changed enormously in the 130 years it has existed (see e.g. the role of the three-pointer).
Q. Michael’s point that many skillful practices are not developed alone?
A. Practices like ballet and meditation are “the agglomeration of insight from thousands or even millions of practitioners.”
Q. “People write books… to to help people get better at yoga … But the primary carrier for improvement is”…?
A. Local culture. “To become a much better basketball player you almost certainly need to be playing actively with the best group that you can.”
Q. What Silicon Valley mindset around memory systems does Michael reject?
A. “What’s required to build a company and tool that will make memory systems widespread? What user interface, what features?” Better to think about: how did meditation become popular? What does virtuosity look like, how do we get there, how do we transfer it?
Q. Why is Michael unconcerned about beginners’ difficulties with memory systems?
A. Meditation is hard and initially unrewarding, but lots of people do it. The key thing is to make the core experience extraordinarily valuable, a very good use of time.
Q. “In surfing, surfboards have changed a lot over the past 70 years. But”…?
A. “…surfers have changed far more: most of the advance in surfing is due to the advance in skills collectively held by the community.”
Q. Why does Michael think memory systems are mostly used for boring things?
A. Culturally, we haven’t developed the skills and transferable high enough that these systems can be routinely used for interesting use cases (e.g. mastering and contributing to complex conceptual subjects).
Q. Michael’s point about memory practice being internal?
A. You can’t easily watch an expert memory practitioner and understand, imitate, or improve what they’re doing—as you can in surf, sport, etc. It’s more like meditation; that makes the culture harder to build.
Q. Michael’s point about memory practice being instrumental?
A. Dance and basketball are ends in themselves, but memory systems are connected to some other purpose. This means the culture around the practice will probably look pretty different.