colin_jack (u/colin_jack)

colin_jack commented on Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022) efavdb.com/memory%20recal... · Posted by u/rzk

wcfrobert · 7 months ago

I mostly agree with you, I don't do SR myself, but I do think the benefit of spaced repetition is solid for medical students/researchers and language learners.

Also some people just find it fun to go through their Anki deck instead of doomscrolling while on the subway or waiting in line. Whether there's any real benefit for that person is debatable. It's “fun“ in the same way going to the gym, or drinking kale smoothie is fun.

The key for improvement is deliberate practice, and one component of that is "working really hard" which you've pointed. But this is still too vague to be helpful. For those interested in the science of expertise, I highly recommend Peak by Andres Ericsson.

colin_jack · 7 months ago

> Also some people just find it fun to go through their Anki deck instead of doomscrolling while on the subway or waiting in line. Whether there's any real benefit for that person is debatable. It's “fun“ in the same way going to the gym, or drinking kale smoothie is fun.

I'm probably one of those people, but commuting is one of those examples where you have a small (hopefully) amount of relatively low value time, time that is somewhat interrupted. What else of value would you do in it? Maybe listen to a podcast, catch up on blogs. All fine, reasonable choices, but doing a bit of Anki is a reasonable alternative.

Only time I feel like I've wasted those periods is when I end up wasting it (just scrolling through social media or random videos). Anything else is I think a reasonable choice.

colin_jack commented on Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022) efavdb.com/memory%20recal... · Posted by u/rzk

purplethinking · 7 months ago

I used it for language learning and CS among other things. The thing is, life gets busy. Suddenly you have a kid or two. Spaced Repetition falls into the same category of things that people in their 20s do because they have too much time, like using intricate note taking systems, journaling, training for triathlons and being really into artisanal coffee.

colin_jack · 7 months ago

I haven't found that at all. I'm well past my twenties but find Anki is one of the things I can fit in, mainly because even with kids and responsibilities you can often find small periods (say 15 mins) of time through the day. It's not enough time to sit down and start into something really complex, especially as the time is sometimes interrupted, but it is enough time to try a few questions.

colin_jack commented on Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022) efavdb.com/memory%20recal... · Posted by u/rzk

hombre_fatal · 7 months ago

If an approach is so boring that you don't do it, then what does it matter how effective it might be?

Either find a way to make it less boring or switch up the approach. Whatever gets you to keep a habit is what's important.

Same with any habit we want to develop. Cooking. Exercise. Language learning. Building software. Meet people.

colin_jack · 7 months ago

> If an approach is so boring that you don't do it, then what does it matter how effective it might be?

Yeah true, but an obvious argument is that this is where discipline comes in. If you are one of the people Anki works for, then you have to find the level of discipline required to stick with it.

colin_jack commented on Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022) efavdb.com/memory%20recal... · Posted by u/rzk

OskarS · 7 months ago

> I'm not arguing for spaced repetition, but the whole point is you do some amount every day (or as needed) for the rest of your life (within reason). So it's not equivalent to get fit/slim quick at all, it's more about disciplined improvement of yourself. If that isn't effective for you don't do it, but based on your comment it seems like you're coming at it from the wrong angle.

Fair enough, I haven't looked into spaced repetition deeply.

I just always got this weird vibe from people talking about it, like they think memorizing all the world capitals was a way to improve your intelligence. It's not.

Same thing with, like, "memory palace" stuff: being able to memorize a deck of cards is probably fun, and it's a nice parlor trick, but it will not help you solve real-world problems, analyze situations, make discoveries or be a better engineer. The way to do that is to just read books, study, work hard in your chosen field and keep up with the latest developments. That is the only way anyone has ever gotten good at anything.

colin_jack · 7 months ago

Ahh got you. Yeah agreed on a lof of that. What I do is when I learning something that I think will be useful, but that I'll forget, I stick it in Anki.

Otherwise I know the fact will be written in the sand, it won't be there for me to use at the time when it would be useful. That's terminology from a book on memory I read a while back, which ironically I've now forgotten name of because I never put it in Anki.

Also should say I used to be much more scatter gun with what I put in Anki, but these days I combine it with Obsidian which I think is more managable.

Anyway not trying to sell Anki to anyone, if you don't need it don't use it for sure. I just know (think?) it's working for me, at least compared to the alternatives.

colin_jack commented on Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022) efavdb.com/memory%20recal... · Posted by u/rzk

crazygringo · 7 months ago

You're right that nobody became brilliant through spaced repetition. But spaced repetition is not meant for that.

Spaced repetition is not meant for conceptual things or skills. It's meant for only the simplest of facts.

It's meant particularly for foreign language vocab, names and quantities in medical school, names of cases in law school, that sort of thing.

It has little to no relevance in math, physics, and engineering.

Just because it's not meant for all things doesn't mean it doesn't excel at some things.

colin_jack · 7 months ago

> Spaced repetition is not meant for conceptual things or skills. It's meant for facts.

> It has little to no relevance in math, physics, and engineering.

That's one bit I disagree with. Engineering is full of facts/concepts, things you often need to know inherently to be able to apply them, or even to know to google them at the right time. So I think SRS can apply there too.

colin_jack commented on Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022) efavdb.com/memory%20recal... · Posted by u/rzk

2c2c2c · 7 months ago

it's a pretty narrow set of people that want or need to be able to memorize and recall a bunch of facts as efficiently as possible. mostly med school students and language learners, where this stuff obviously works.

colin_jack · 7 months ago

Working in a fast changing but also wide and deep field like software I think being able to remember quite a few facts can be important.

colin_jack commented on Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022) efavdb.com/memory%20recal... · Posted by u/rzk

watwut · 7 months ago

Actually consuming content in any form is even better.

colin_jack · 7 months ago

Obviously depends on your memory. I found that in the past I read voraciously, and spend a lot of time tinkering. Which was good and fun but I sometimes found I'd forgotten the stuff by the time it would have been useful, particularly when learning about topics I wasn't using day by day. Anki an SRS partially solves that.

It's a trade-off though, I now read less and tinker less. Do I regret that, you bet. But still Anki/SRS works for me, especially because I often do it at times when I wouldn't be able to effectively read/tinker (perhaps tired, or getting kids to sleep). That's a long way of saying, do what's effective for you, but there's no point of being so dismissive of what others are doing.

colin_jack commented on Spaced repetition can allow for infinite recall (2022) efavdb.com/memory%20recal... · Posted by u/rzk

OskarS · 7 months ago

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but: of all the really brilliant people I've ever met, interacted with or learned from, I haven't heard of anyone that used techniques like this. Like, the way they learn things and become brilliant is the exact same way every brilliant person has done it for thousands of years: they read books, they discuss and debate with other brilliant people, they study their subjects and work hard. Like, true intelligence is very rarely about rote memorization of facts, it's about making new connections, being creative, and working really hard. There are no shortcuts, you have to put in the work. Aristotle, Leibniz, Einstein or whatever brilliant person you can think of didn't become who they are using cue-cards.

Spaced repetition always seemed like those schemes to get you fit or slim in 30 days that never work. There is exactly one way to get physically healthy, and it's super-unfun: diet and exercise. Same thing with your mind, you have to exercise it and feed it appropriately for months and years. Spend the time you would spend on spaced repetition reading books or watching lectures and doing exercises instead.

colin_jack · 7 months ago

> Aristotle, Leibniz, Einstein or whatever brilliant person you can think of didn't become who they are using cue-cards.

Indeed, but I think that being relevant assumes that people using these techniques believe it will somehow make them brilliant/geniuses.

> Spaced repetition always seemed like those schemes to get you fit or slim in 30 days that never work.

I'm not arguing for spaced repetition, but the whole point is you do some amount every day (or as needed) for the rest of your life (within reason). So it's not equivalent to get fit/slim quick at all, it's more about disciplined improvement of yourself. If that isn't effective for you don't do it, but based on your comment it seems like you're coming at it from the wrong angle.

colin_jack commented on TikTok goes dark in the US techcrunch.com/2025/01/18... · Posted by u/mfiguiere

ninkendo · 8 months ago

Twitter and Facebook are already banned in just about every one of the U.S.’s adversaries. China, Russia, Iran, North Korea etc etc all ban them.

Your comment makes me quite alarmed, to be honest. Are people really this clueless about what goes on in the world? Do they not already know that American platforms are already banned in countries that are adversarial to the US?

colin_jack · 8 months ago

The white house statement said that TikTok “should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership”. If other regions, such as Europe, applied that logic the outcome would be messy. Imagine applying that to X (Musk is part of government) in Europe.

colin_jack commented on TikTok goes dark in the US techcrunch.com/2025/01/18... · Posted by u/mfiguiere

wilg · 8 months ago

None of those arguments are the salient one, which is that a geopolitical adversary has control over a major influence vector on US public opinion. They could simply have divested.

colin_jack · 8 months ago

Surely the risk is others respond, would X/FB not be at risk of same sorts of responses from geopolitical adversaries, which given recent events might be more of the world than it was a decade ago?