The mnemonic medium is particularly valuable for platform knowledge

We don’t yet understand how different types of content fare in the Mnemonic medium. But one genre which seems to particularly benefit from this medium is “platform knowledge.” That is, foundational material which you can use for lots of subsequent activity, like Quantum Country. The overhead of the memory system is more likely to be worth paying in such contexts.

In some domains, it may actually not be possible to learn more complex ideas without significant fluency with some platform knowledge: Complex ideas may be hard to learn in part because their components overflow working memory.

In other domains, like in climate science, a small amount of platform knowledge allows people to think with models instead of intuition.

What’s more: Platform knowledge helps non-practitioners amplify good ideas


Q. Why is Quantum Country an example of high-leverage material to learn with the mnemonic medium?
A. It’s “platform knowledge”: lots of other material depends on it.

Q. Why is platform knowledge a particularly valuable use for the mnemonic medium?
A. The added “cost” of studying is more amply repaid.

Q. Why might a typical blog post offer a poor cost/benefit trade when written in the mnemonic medium?
A. Most blog posts aren’t “platform knowledge”: the reader doesn’t meaningfully build on that knowledge.