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I like this quote, but if libraries were hash tables with O(1) lookup time a large messy one is better. Sometimes the way thoughts pop into my head I think bra

I like this quote, but if libraries were hash tables with O(1) lookup time a large messy one is better. Sometimes the way thoughts pop into my head I think brains are more like hash tables than arrays. Of course, extreme over simplification :D

colorint 8y ago
The drawback of hash tables is that they're bad for inexact matching. Likewise, when I go to the library, I usually go to the section I'm interested in and let my eyes wander. So something that pseudorandomly organizes books but lets you find them by exact title quickly is not so good.
ncphillips 8y ago
> but if libraries were hash tables with O(1) lookup time a large messy one is better. If the lookup time was O(1) then it's not a large messy library, it's a large neat library. Besides, the "neatness" of your mind is an metaphor for your ability understand a piece of knowledge in the context of the whole. This is not a literal organizational issue, but a conceptual understanding of how different ideas "fit" together. It takes time and effort to deeply understand and connect a single piece of knowledge to the whole. This quote is not about your ability to quickly recall X, but your ability to relate X to A, B, and C.