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Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

scotthyoung.com

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Re: Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

#31
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spaced repetition and incremental reading don't have to be a conscious effort or implemented with flashcard systems, in fact it might be better not to, depending on your goals. After extensive practice with such systems (talking years between physical flaschards, supermemo and anki), I found it leads to shallow understanding and bad linking between knowledge bits, even though I make sure I understand before committin…

> Spaced repetition and incremental reading don't have to be a conscious effort > The valuable part looks like to be in the effort of understanding, thinking deeply and widely and summarizing. Which part of this is not conscious effort? You just made a stronger case for such automated systems, especially for people who don't have good memory or abnormal levels of discipline and motivation.

I read it as "flash card systems can be low-effort, but the value comes from effort, so taking a low-effort, automated option is not necessarily best".

Maybe the paragraph isn't phrased in the clearest way, but I agree with this interpretation, if that is what they meant.

Re: Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

#32
The article's title is itself a clickbait. Starting the article to invalidate Bruce Lee's quote shows how much unworthy to read the rest. He spent all his life studying the body and mind and practicing dozens of martial arts to create and improve his own style, your fat pale narcissist ass dares to say that ? I hate it when people speak about subjects they have no clue about.

Re: Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

#33
post #8

A common tactic in practicing music is to play a passage slowed down, sped up, with varying rhythms, up/down an octave, etc, with the idea that if you have complete mastery you can also play it the way it's written.

When I took kung fu I was told "Do it slow, do it fast, do it normal." Slow and normal helped you refine your technique; fast helped you commit the technique to muscle memory so you don't overthink it. Training for speed also adds power.

Re: Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

#34
Over how many generations?

Genetic algorithm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_algorithm

Mutation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_(genetic_algorithm)

Crossover: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_(genetic_algorithm)

Selection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_(genetic_algorithm)

...

AlphaZero / MuZero: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuZero :

> MuZero was trained via self-play, with no access to rules, opening books, or endgame tablebases.

Self-play algorithms essentially mutate and select according to the game rules. For a generally-defined mastery objective, are there subjective and/or objective game rules, and is there a distance metric for ranking candidate solutions?

Re: Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

#35
I think it has something to do with "Memory Palace". You solve the same or similar problem in different contexts. There is something similar and something different about the problem in all these different contexts. While seeing the different parts you also see the similar parts and can see how those are connected other by the dissimilar parts.

It is like seeing a 3 dimensional object from multiple viewpoint. Some things change some stay the same. You understand and thus remember the thing better because you know it's "essence", what is the same about it always.

Re: Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

#37
post #8

A common tactic in practicing music is to play a passage slowed down, sped up, with varying rhythms, up/down an octave, etc, with the idea that if you have complete mastery you can also play it the way it's written.

Play it enough so you can’t forget it.

Re: Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

#38

This fits with the literature on block vs random order exercise in learning motor skills, where random order mostly outbeats block. For example see [1] [1] https://best-essays-service.org/essays/health/the-effect-of-...

Also when practising throwing stuff, practising at varying distances yields better results than practising only at the single distance that is used to compare performance.

Re: Variability, not repetition, is the key to mastery

#39
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not my experience. I'm learning to sing, my spouse is a pro singer, she told me "pick a song, preferably one you don't know well so as not to be biased, sing it a thousand ways over and over, try it right, try it wrong, try whacky stuff, try nonsense stuff, talk it, rap it, twist it, warp it around, then do it all over again a thousand times, and finally, sing it your way."

> my spouse is a pro singer This is off topic, but... Six years ago I caught a cold that affected my throat. After four days, I recovered from every symptom except the phlegm in my throat, which has persisted continuously from then to now. It catches my voice and blocks me from singing normally. (And, unless I cough regularly, it builds up over time to the point that my airway can become severely restricted.) This se…

I had similar complains for the longer part of this year - turns out I had a chronic but mild bacterial infection. Get it checked.

Other alternative: check for allergies.

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