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 importan

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.