Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo • Hacker News Board

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#41

Post by madhadron » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

chongli wrote: post #11

I'm really skeptical of these sorts of memorization systems, not because I think they don't work (I think they do), but because I see it as a brain "hack" that goes against the grain. What do I mean by this? I think of our memories as a kind of most-frequently-used (MFU) cache. We remember best when we use the information all the time. So when we use this sort of spaced repetition we're trying to artificially "warm u…

> What do I mean by this? I think of our memories as a kind of most-frequently-used (MFU) cache. ... We're not trusting our brains to remember the things that are most important in our lives.

Absolutely not. I would never trust my brain to remember the things that are most important in my life. When is my wife's birthday? That happens once a year. My neurobiology is simply unsuited to triggering something at a specific time once a year. Plus our memory is not an MFU cache, not even close. Abandon all computer science metaphors and engage with the actual biology.

> If you're trying to learn a language, you should learn the way children learn their first language: by speaking.

That's like saying that athletes shouldn't do strength training or drills for specific skills. Mind you, I have learned a number of languages for real world use, and SuperMemo is one of my core tools for doing so.

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#42

Post by MrTonyD » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

I spend an insane numbers of hours on airplanes with my iPad. Any recommendations for which of these would be good for creating cards (with Apple pencil) and using on an iPad with no Internet connection?

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#43

Post by edwardhusarcik » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 7:45 PM UTC

I'm a medical student who uses Anki religiously. I'll vouch for it any day. Currently, I see around 300-1,000 flashcards a day and have been doing it for almost a year straight. Without Anki, I am not sure if I'd be doing nearly as well in school. It is really a game changer for my education (at least my medical education). I wish it was more user friendly, but it is free (on Android) so I can't complain.

As for Supermemo comparison, Anki has been much easier for me to sync / utilize decks offline. I just keep a 24K card deck on my phone and sync it occasionally for a backup then I'm good to go.

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#44

Post by jammygit » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 7:53 PM UTC

Supermemo web doesn't let you export your cards. Maybe there's a way to do it, but I'm using anki so I never lose my cards in case the service goes away or has data loss

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#45

Post by deepprocess » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 7:54 PM UTC

chongli wrote: post #11

I'm really skeptical of these sorts of memorization systems, not because I think they don't work (I think they do), but because I see it as a brain "hack" that goes against the grain. What do I mean by this? I think of our memories as a kind of most-frequently-used (MFU) cache. We remember best when we use the information all the time. So when we use this sort of spaced repetition we're trying to artificially "warm u…

> but because I see it as a brain "hack" that goes against the grain.

The current, modern, and typical grain if you will: language learning is vocabulary, vocabulary and maybe conversation (maybe).

Although early on in childhood, as we develop "receptive language", we are going against this grain naturally by learning phonetics first then moving onwards to vocabulary through conversation.

I was in the auto parts store and a little boy saw me bring in a battery. He said "that wuks heavy!". I replied "that does LOOK heavy". Such a correction is abnormal from adult to adult. We have more grace depending on age.

For me, an average adult, with a busy schedule, learning the difference between the English T and the Spanish T made some great headway in my language hobby. Moving onward in that direction it has helped me understand spoken language - further aiding my memorization of the actual vocabulary. My "grain" if you will: Phonetics - Vocabulary (Anki with imagery) - Conversation (with natives, when I'm able to, it's a hobby)

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#46

Post by jammygit » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 7:55 PM UTC

sy7ar wrote: post #16

neikos wrote: post #13

The choice for me was quite simple, paying once for the great Anki app, or monthly subscriptions for SuperMemo? Since I abhor the subscription trend it made picking easy.

The actual desktop SuperMemo app (supermemo 17 I believe) is not subscription based and is way way more powerful (but also convoluted and somewhat outdated UX wise). The web supermemo is dumb down and mainly for language learning.

Can't use the desktop one easily on Linux however, and can't study on the train with it unless I'm mistaken.

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#47

Post by garmaine » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

chongli wrote: post #11

I'm really skeptical of these sorts of memorization systems, not because I think they don't work (I think they do), but because I see it as a brain "hack" that goes against the grain. What do I mean by this? I think of our memories as a kind of most-frequently-used (MFU) cache. We remember best when we use the information all the time. So when we use this sort of spaced repetition we're trying to artificially "warm u…

You should be exploiting hacks to make things easier, not purposefully avoiding them to make things more difficult for you out of some misguided attempt at “purism.”

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#48

Post by popcorncolonel » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 8:02 PM UTC

This article comes at the perfect time for me, while I'm about to choose a tool to read Japanese sentences!

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#49

Post by Latteland » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 8:42 PM UTC

edwardhusarcik wrote: post #43

I'm a medical student who uses Anki religiously. I'll vouch for it any day. Currently, I see around 300-1,000 flashcards a day and have been doing it for almost a year straight. Without Anki, I am not sure if I'd be doing nearly as well in school. It is really a game changer for my education (at least my medical education). I wish it was more user friendly, but it is free (on Android) so I can't complain. As for Supe…

I've had the idea that a lot of medical training (besides anatomy, chemistry, bio, many other things :-)) was memorizing a big decision tree to evaluate someone, which seems fundamentally different than flash cards. How do you learn that? Family history that pertinent , previous conditions etc.

Re: Whether to Use Anki or SuperMemo

#50

Post by corollari » Sun, Nov 25, 2018, 8:50 PM UTC

A few months ago I built a Chrome extension that replaces the new tab page with an anki window, in an attempt to improve my browsing habits and it seems people overall are finding it useful so far,

You can find the source code and links to the web store listings in https://github.com/corollari/ankiTab