3 ms·

> if you really think SR is the best thing ever, don't argue with people - prove us wrong. Prove you wrong how? By learning things with it? Plenty of people al

> if you really think SR is the best thing ever, don't argue with people - prove us wrong. Prove you wrong how? By learning things with it? Plenty of people already have used SR to pass tests, aid in learning a language, etc. There are scientific papers that show SR to be an effective learning tool. I really don't get what you're asking for. It's not like SR learning is going to let you "unleash your strength on the quivering masses". You also have to propose an alternative to it. In your comment, you seem to have critiqued it with "if you want to be an encyclopedia, maybe SR is a good approach. But if you want to understand the world .... SR can't help you". The fact that you say "If you want to be an encyclopedia, maybe SR is a good approach" indicates to me that you think SR does actually work, and so there's nothing to prove here. Yes, obviously if your strawman is "SR compared to moving to the culture to learn a language", then SR will fall short. But no one is saying that, everyone's saying "Instead of looking up a word in a dictionary each time you forget it, use SR, and instead of just doing immersion, do immersion + SR"

btrask 6y ago
> Prove you wrong how? By learning things with it? The author of the article is specifically struggling with his evangelism. He says he thinks the world would be a better place if everyone used spaced repetition. I don't know (can't imagine honestly) what sort of utopia he envisions, but he needs to show instead of tell. Just like I need to. It's so insanely hard to lead people. I think the only thing that works is to lead by example. Any sort of talking is just fluff. You have to show people how to accomplish or attain something they care about. As for SR itself... for decades we've had some of the smartest people (and perhaps even some of the best educators) like Richard Feynman decry rote memorization in the classroom. SR takes the worst 8th grade history class you ever had and doubles down on it. You can choose what to memorize, but it's still just memorization. Why not use a personal knowledge base (== your Anki deck) that you can refer to, and let your memory naturally cache the things you commonly use? If you have a problem and you're considering SR as a way to solve it, my advice is to really drill down into what the problem is. Why do you think you need to fill your brain with snippets of data? (If you're just trying to pass a test, then sure, use Anki.)
- kaba0 6y ago
  Spaced repetition is the way your brain stores everything, even abstract ideas, mathematics,etc. You can only remember anything either by having repeated exposure to it, or having it really connected to some other memory of yours. Also, you seem to underestimate the importance of having encyclopedic knowledge. I agree that it is not useful to have random facts in your mind, but passive knowledge is extremely important - like even on topics you are not well-informed about, having learnt something about it in the past will put you in a much more open-minded position on it. If people were to remember some really basic biology from high school, they would be much less open to bullshit like “alternative medicine”,anti-vaccines, etc.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > As for SR itself... for decades we've had some of the smartest people (and perhaps even some of the best educators) like Richard Feynman decry rote memorization in the classroom At the same time, learning in most areas requires some memorization. Even if, in terms of knowledge skills, SR only helps directly with the memorization component, there's considerable empirical evidence that it does make that more time efficient. Using it to structure that part of learning allows you, all other things being equal, to reduce the proportion of learning time devoted to memorization. > SR takes the worst 8th grade history class you ever had and doubles down on it. Well, SRS maybe. Having first learned about SR in ballroom dance teacher training as a tool for structuring both curriculum for in-person instruction and personal practice, I disagree. The common usage pattern for spaced repetition software may do that, but spaced repetition is more than just that.
- loopz 6y ago
  Right. If you're gonna "lead" by talking, the disconnect is only going to widen. A leader doesn't need to know the details, but need to know enough to be relevant.
- jmnicolas 6y ago
  > Why do you think you need to fill your brain with snippets of data? Because you can combine instantly different pieces of your knowledge to attain new insights. If it's not in your brain you might not even think of Googling it.

btrask 6y ago

> Prove you wrong how? By learning things with it? The author of the article is specifically struggling with his evangelism. He says he thinks the world would be a better place if everyone used spaced repetition. I don't know (can't imagine honestly) what sort of utopia he envisions, but he needs to show instead of tell. Just like I need to. It's so insanely hard to lead people. I think the only thing that works is to lead by example. Any sort of talking is just fluff. You have to show people how to accomplish or attain something they care about. As for SR itself... for decades we've had some of the smartest people (and perhaps even some of the best educators) like Richard Feynman decry rote memorization in the classroom. SR takes the worst 8th grade history class you ever had and doubles down on it. You can choose what to memorize, but it's still just memorization. Why not use a personal knowledge base (== your Anki deck) that you can refer to, and let your memory naturally cache the things you commonly use? If you have a problem and you're considering SR as a way to solve it, my advice is to really drill down into what the problem is. Why do you think you need to fill your brain with snippets of data? (If you're just trying to pass a test, then sure, use Anki.)

kaba0 6y ago
Spaced repetition is the way your brain stores everything, even abstract ideas, mathematics,etc. You can only remember anything either by having repeated exposure to it, or having it really connected to some other memory of yours. Also, you seem to underestimate the importance of having encyclopedic knowledge. I agree that it is not useful to have random facts in your mind, but passive knowledge is extremely important - like even on topics you are not well-informed about, having learnt something about it in the past will put you in a much more open-minded position on it. If people were to remember some really basic biology from high school, they would be much less open to bullshit like “alternative medicine”,anti-vaccines, etc.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> As for SR itself... for decades we've had some of the smartest people (and perhaps even some of the best educators) like Richard Feynman decry rote memorization in the classroom At the same time, learning in most areas requires some memorization. Even if, in terms of knowledge skills, SR only helps directly with the memorization component, there's considerable empirical evidence that it does make that more time efficient. Using it to structure that part of learning allows you, all other things being equal, to reduce the proportion of learning time devoted to memorization. > SR takes the worst 8th grade history class you ever had and doubles down on it. Well, SRS maybe. Having first learned about SR in ballroom dance teacher training as a tool for structuring both curriculum for in-person instruction and personal practice, I disagree. The common usage pattern for spaced repetition software may do that, but spaced repetition is more than just that.
loopz 6y ago
Right. If you're gonna "lead" by talking, the disconnect is only going to widen. A leader doesn't need to know the details, but need to know enough to be relevant.
jmnicolas 6y ago
> Why do you think you need to fill your brain with snippets of data? Because you can combine instantly different pieces of your knowledge to attain new insights. If it's not in your brain you might not even think of Googling it.