I was mainly thinking of difficulty understanding as opposed to difficulty doing. Our minds aren't impressive short term memory-wise. That might be part of the

I was mainly thinking of difficulty understanding as opposed to difficulty doing. Our minds aren't impressive short term memory-wise. That might be part of the nested backquotes problem. Memory prodigies usually don't have greater short term memories--they're just better at "chunking" which is really a compression strategy. Cambridge roads are Escheresque. I've been to Manhattan a few times, but my mental map of Manhattan is better than of Boston, where I live. You gave a talk about compression and beauty, if I remember correctly. Maybe it's all related--beautiful things are more memorable.