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Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

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Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#51

Post by whacked_new »

herdrick wrote: post #41

On the surface this appears to be one of the best things ever posted here. I'd like to see some other references. The article says the forgetting point is different for everyone, and is different for different sorts of info. Does the software somehow find the right point? Or is the variance not enough to worry about?

The software finds the right point. The variance is also not enough to worry about. Over time, you get an approximation, which is not perfect, and I would go as far as to say that it will never be. Nevertheless, the approximations are good.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#52

Post by paulgb »

yters wrote: post #49
paulgb wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While we're waiting, zapreader ( http://zapreader.com ) solves half the problem.

Also check out dictator, a more robust form of zapreader, but not for browsing. I think it helps me read alot faster.

Neat, I've been looking for something like that. Thanks.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#54

Post by hugh »

mdemare wrote: post #24

Strange - I was on the verge of discovering this for myself for my own language site. I'm already storing the data, but hadn't started with the number crunching yet. On another note - isn't it scandalous how inefficient education is? Cramming all those mind-numbing details in your brain the night before an exam, and then forgetting 70% of them after a couple of months. Ridiculous and wasteful.

Perhaps it's not so wasteful. The stuff you remember is the stuff that you keep on using, while the stuff you forget is the stuff that was never really important. Perhaps learning a vast amount of stuff and then filtering out everything except the stuff you need to use again is the best way to fill your finite amount of brain space with useful knowledge.

That said, I'd be happy if my brain had retained a bit more of the undergraduate mathematics, and a bit less of the lyrics to theme tunes from 1980s sitcoms, but never mind.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#56

Post by TrevorJ »

yters wrote: post #46
Todd wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Those 800 pages of Anna Karenina couldn't have been necessary either. Fortunately, I was able to aquire the Cliffs Notes.

For those who don't want to read the book, it was something about Russia.

I didn't read it, I was too paranoid that I'd get to the last page and it would be a rickroll.

Re: Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

#59

Post by bumbledraven »

The inventor of the ideas behind SuperMemo has a fascinating site in which he explains how he uses the same principles to organize his life. http://www.supermemo.com/english/contents.htm

For instance, he states that "lifetime minimum cost of remembering a single well-formulated piece of knowledge can easily be estimated to fall into the range from 30 seconds to 5 minutes (minimum cost is the cost that is achieved using the optimally spaced repetition schedule). This estimation can be used in cost-benefit analysis in deciding which mission-critical pieces of knowledge should be subject to learning based on spaced repetition."

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