Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
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Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#2I see this argument as semi-fallacious, since it's really asking "can you recall infinite things on an infinite timescale using this method"? Sure, the math might add up, but humans are reliably fallible. I do agree, from practice, that practicing spaced repetition can increase the breadth of knowledge beyond that of "casual learning", but I've seen my brain fail on aged entries too.
Nicky Case's intro to spaced repetition is pretty stellar, both as a crash course and the reasoning behind it: https://ncase.me/remember/
Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#3I see this argument as semi-fallacious, since it's really asking "can you recall infinite things on an infinite timescale using this method"? Sure, the math might add up, but humans are reliably fallible. I do agree, from practice, that practicing spaced repetition can increase the breadth of knowledge beyond that of "casual learning", but I've seen my brain fail on aged entries too. Nicky Case's intro to spaced repe…
More than semi-fallacious - the math doesn't add up, because you run into the Bekenstein bound, which limits how much information you can pack into a volume.
Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#4Sincere question: is this satire?
Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#5Sincere question: is this satire?
Honestly yeah I think it’s a form of satire[0], which IMO takes nothing away from the joke.
Satire is fun! And I think the folks taking the math seriously are probably in on the joke.
[0] or whatever brand of comedy “imagine a cow approximates to an oblong sphere” is. “This is strictly satire” is not a hill I must die on.
Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#6I see this argument as semi-fallacious, since it's really asking "can you recall infinite things on an infinite timescale using this method"? Sure, the math might add up, but humans are reliably fallible. I do agree, from practice, that practicing spaced repetition can increase the breadth of knowledge beyond that of "casual learning", but I've seen my brain fail on aged entries too. Nicky Case's intro to spaced repe…
The argument is wholely fallacious and the author knows it and is just being silly. The entire argument is based on assumptions that only hold for smallish numbers of items. It we get to larger finite numbers, such as the number of possible states of a human brain, those assumptions are clearly false.
Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#7This is false if memory's are stored physically in the brain. Unless there is an increase in brain volume, this process will eventually hit the Bekenstein bound. I don't care if the upper bound is "effectively infinite," that's not what the proof claimed.
Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#8I see this argument as semi-fallacious, since it's really asking "can you recall infinite things on an infinite timescale using this method"? Sure, the math might add up, but humans are reliably fallible. I do agree, from practice, that practicing spaced repetition can increase the breadth of knowledge beyond that of "casual learning", but I've seen my brain fail on aged entries too. Nicky Case's intro to spaced repe…
More than semi-fallacious - the math doesn't add up, because you run into the Bekenstein bound, which limits how much information you can pack into a volume.
This is why I don't use spaced repetition. The danger of becoming a black hole is just too high. Forgetting things is well known to be highly evolutionary advantageous, because all the critters that remember everything and turned into black holes stopped reproducing. Very dangerous stuff to play with.
Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#9This 'proof' seems a little suspect. It assumes that the rules they have discovered hold for all situations. Even if they have tested a large number of facts to remember, there is no reason to believe their isn't some threshold where it doesn't hold anymore.
Also, they seem to be holding this learning technique like it is a mathematical fact of the universe. I am not an expert, but nothing in the human brain works that consistently. I can't imagine every single person in the world can learn equally well with this technique.
Although this is likely some form of satire, because there is no way anyone could seriously think the brain works like this.
Re: Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
More than semi-fallacious - the math doesn't add up, because you run into the Bekenstein bound, which limits how much information you can pack into a volume.
This is why I don't use spaced repetition. The danger of becoming a black hole is just too high. Forgetting things is well known to be highly evolutionary advantageous, because all the critters that remember everything and turned into black holes stopped reproducing. Very dangerous stuff to play with.
Ha! Certainly none of us will get anywhere close to this bound, no matter how much time we log in Anki. But the OP asked "Would an infinitely-long-lived, but forgetful person be able to recall an infinite number of facts using this method?", and the answer is a surprising "no, you turn into a black hole".