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I mean I'd like to improve my ability to conceptualize dates (eg. Sept 21, Jan 2, May 20..) so that I can think about them analogously to how I think about loca

I mean I'd like to improve my ability to conceptualize dates (eg. Sept 21, Jan 2, May 20..) so that I can think about them analogously to how I think about locations. As an example, imagine your friend Bob is telling you that last weekend they went base jumping off of the world's fifth tallest bridge. That'd probably evoke a mental image of some bridge and Bob base jumping, but that mental image is untethered to any existing conceptions you have of places in the world. If instead they told you they base jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge, you would be able to invoke your existing knowledge of where the Golden Gate Bridge is and associate that information with it. If your other friend, Alice, told you later that day she took a trip to San Francisco the past weekend, you'd realize that Alice and Bob were in SF over the same weekend. For me, thinking about some date is like thinking about "the world's fifth tallest bridge". Unless there's a significant event that occurs on or very near that date, the date is mostly arbitrary to me and thinking about it doesn't connect with any existing knowledge. If Bob tells me he has a trip coming up on Nov 17 and Alice later tells me she has a trip on Nov 16, I'm unlikely to realize that the trips occur a day apart. The day of the week for a given date would just be a handy thing to be aware of. It could also add context to the date that makes the date easier to visualize. This is similar, though, to relying completely on GPS vs trying to be more geographically aware. There isn't necessarily a functional difference between the two since we essentially always have access to GPS. I don't think there'd be much of a difference between the version of my future where I continue using calendars as I have been and the version where I pursue some alternate way to think about dates. It would just be nice to have a more solid way of thinking about dates and connecting them to existing knowledge.

tra3 5y ago
Fascinating. Thanks for writing this up, I never thought about dates in this manner. It's interesting that you bring up GPS, I'm almost completely geographically disabled, if that makes sense. I struggle somewhat in gridded cities, but I can work things out logically. As soon as I'm in a forrest I almost immediately become lost. I'm relying on a 4 tiered system these days - my phone, my gps enabled watch and an InReach when I'm really out of range. The fourth and the most reliable is my friend who has an incredible sense of direction. I'm not sure whether my lack of geo-sense comes from relying on GPS too much and losing the ability or never having it in the first place. Have you found anything useful with respect to improving your geographical awareness? Back to dates though... Thinking about it, I've made a mistake before where end of the month boundary dates (eg February 27th and March 2) were "a month apart" rather than next to each other. I haven't found anything particularly useful in this regard other than diligent calendaring. I suspect it has something to do with limited working memory. Future planning is particularly hard. That seems to be a universal constant though. In terms of past events, I've found it useful to stick things in spaced repetition systems (like Anki). It was always difficult for me to recall where I was camping or travelling last year. SRS made it easier: Q: Where was I travelling in the summer of 2020? A: I was in blah blah. Q: When did we go visit an abandoned mansion? A: Spring of 2022. Thanks for an interesting conversation.
- monroewalker 5y ago
  I haven't actually done anything yet to work on geographical awareness :|. It's something I wish I was better at but which hasn't proved as frustrating as the issues around tracking dates.

tra3 5y ago

Fascinating. Thanks for writing this up, I never thought about dates in this manner. It's interesting that you bring up GPS, I'm almost completely geographically disabled, if that makes sense. I struggle somewhat in gridded cities, but I can work things out logically. As soon as I'm in a forrest I almost immediately become lost. I'm relying on a 4 tiered system these days - my phone, my gps enabled watch and an InReach when I'm really out of range. The fourth and the most reliable is my friend who has an incredible sense of direction. I'm not sure whether my lack of geo-sense comes from relying on GPS too much and losing the ability or never having it in the first place. Have you found anything useful with respect to improving your geographical awareness? Back to dates though... Thinking about it, I've made a mistake before where end of the month boundary dates (eg February 27th and March 2) were "a month apart" rather than next to each other. I haven't found anything particularly useful in this regard other than diligent calendaring. I suspect it has something to do with limited working memory. Future planning is particularly hard. That seems to be a universal constant though. In terms of past events, I've found it useful to stick things in spaced repetition systems (like Anki). It was always difficult for me to recall where I was camping or travelling last year. SRS made it easier: Q: Where was I travelling in the summer of 2020? A: I was in blah blah. Q: When did we go visit an abandoned mansion? A: Spring of 2022. Thanks for an interesting conversation.

monroewalker 5y ago
I haven't actually done anything yet to work on geographical awareness :|. It's something I wish I was better at but which hasn't proved as frustrating as the issues around tracking dates.