7 ms·

In many cases, thinking that we are limited is itself a limiting factor. I've noticed this is true in ever facet of my life. When I was 14, I memorized pi to

by 300bps 13y ago

In many cases, thinking that we are limited is itself a limiting factor. I've noticed this is true in ever facet of my life. When I was 14, I memorized pi to 50 digits with almost no effort. Later, I memorized it to 100, then 200. I realized at that point that I could memorize anything that I wanted to. I memorize phone numbers, credit card numbers, everything with almost no effort and not using any mnemonic device. It's so handy when buying something on the Internet to have every credit card in my wallet memorized. Invariably when I demonstrate this to someone I get the, "Oh I could never do that, my memory is terrible." I actually convinced a friend of mine many years ago that he could in fact memorize pi to 100 digits... and he did and still remembers it to this day. I'm convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it.

GoNB 13y ago
Eh, no mnemonic device? Most people memorize things by simple repetition. If you're implying anyone can have eidetic memory by "removing their limits", I don't buy it. It's something developed at a young age.
- 300bps 13y ago
  If you're implying anyone can have eidetic memory by "removing their limits" What I said is that most people don't try to memorize things because they think that they can't. Most people memorize things by simple repetition Sure, and most people don't try to memorize things because (again) they think that they can't no matter what technique they use. I don't buy it I'm not selling anything. I'm merely passing on my own experiences and those of my friends. If you choose to continue to believe you can't memorize things because of some innate lack of ability, it doesn't affect me at all.
  - sown 13y ago
    > I'm not selling anything. I'm merely passing on my own experiences and those of my friends. If you choose to continue to believe you can't memorize things because of some innate lack of ability, it doesn't affect me at all. Fortunately, there's a large body of scientific research that can tell us how many numbers a person can memorize in short term memory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exceptional_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exceptional_memory
  - GoNB 13y ago
    > Sure, and most people don't try to memorize things because (again) they think that they can't no matter what technique they use. Citation? I mean, you're saying "most people" after all. If we're just talking anecdotes here, I've never met anyone who couldn't memorize something with simple repetition technique. When people say they have "poor memory", they are referring to not having eidetic memory. For example: "I don't remember her name! I have terrible memory." Well, it's probably because you only met her once in passing. It's not like you went home, wrote her name on some flash cards and crammed it into your memory. You weren't holding yourself back thinking "I can't remember her name because I have terrible memory!" It's simply that some people have eidetic memory and some don't. You can't learn eidetic memory by "thinking you can" or sheer will. It's developed at early childhood. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory) > I'm not selling anything. I'm merely passing on my own experiences and those of my friends. If you choose to continue to believe you can't memorize things because of some innate lack of ability, it doesn't affect me at all. You are overly pedantic. It's just an expression.
    - 300bps 13y ago
      Citation? I mean, you're saying "most people" after all. I think you may be the most confused person in this thread. Go ahead and re-read this particular branch of it. You said most people first. I then quoted your use of "most people". So I guess the appropriate thing for me to do at this point is to snarkily ask for your citation?
devindotcom 13y ago
I'm happy you have this ability, but suggesting that everyone else just isn't living up to their potential because of some mental block that you have supposedly (and accidentally) overcome is, perhaps, limiting your compassion. You are very lucky to have an exceptional memory; others are not so lucky, and must work hard to do what costs you no effort. Supposing they just aren't trying hard enough or are succumbing to some crippling lack of self-faith is belittling and people will rightfully resent it.
- 300bps 13y ago
  I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed. Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effort". When I originally memorized pi to 50 digits it took about 15 minutes which is what I could consider "almost no effort" but that's more than 15 seconds which is what I would consider "no effort". And I'm sorry my comment made you resentful. Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
    - 300bps 13y ago
      Attitudes like yours smack of the smugness and arrogance that I've had to deal with all of my life Take a breath, my friend. I'm not the person who's been keeping you down all these years that you are apparently lashing out at. I responded to your other comment down-thread. My comment was aimed at a normal demographic. You state that you have some undiagnosed mental handicap. If I posted a comment saying how I was able to increase my vertical leap by 10% through almost no effort and I think anybody can do it, should people in wheelchairs respond with self-righteous anger as you have? I would hope they would read it for what it is; a call to believe in yourself to reach your best potential. People have different potentials - I would think that was self-evident.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- 300bps 13y ago
  You're right. And if I made a comment about how well I learned to clap through almost no effort I suppose I'd have one-armed people writing comments to complain. If you have a mental handicap, my comment was not directed toward you and I hope you took no offense.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
    - 300bps 13y ago
      I'm just replying to tell you I'm not going to reply to you anymore. This has apparently stirred some serious anger in you and there's no point to any further discussion between us. I apologize for any offense and hope things get better for you.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
      - gems 13y ago
        Please just answer the question. You seem to be using the person (sillysaurus) as an excuse to avoid having to address problems in your own worldview.
        300bps 13y ago
        In this short "debate", sillysaurus has called me "annoying", "smug", "arrogant", "biased" and referred to me repeatedly as "people like you". He's not debating me. He's debating every person that ever insulted him and using me as the punching bag while he's doing it. He's not listening to what I'm saying. Every time I reply to him he hears the people who have been putting him down and becomes more angry. Why in the world would I type out another reply to him? Anyway, I don't see the significance of his question as aimed toward me. what the difference is between someone who has a mental handicap, and who just isn't very good at memorizing things He used the word handicap - I was just quoting him. I don't know what a mental handicap that causes you not to be able to memorize might look like. Does he have a traumatic brain injury? That would be a handicap. But he says he was like this since birth. Did oxygen get cut off to him during delivery? I have no idea what he's talking about when he says he's handicapped. How in the world can I answer his question? In any case, I was aiming my comment at normal people and to head off the next silly question of what normal is, I mean people of typical mental capacity.
sown 13y ago
Others here are skeptical that just anyone can memorize pi to an arbitrary length. One way you can test if this has to do with you being 14 when this happened, is to memorize phi or e to 100, 200 or so digits with no mnemonic device. Or, maybe a string of random words or the contents of an entire magazine, each 100s of items long. It all depends on you being honest, but I'm curious. Maybe your brain has changed since then or you learned how to do this, but at a certain age when the brain was more malleable, hence the window of training was very narrow and adults like myself can't do this, either. If you can memorize this without a mnemonic device, then I hate to break it to you, you are a mutant with Eidetic memory. And, so incidentally was your friend. If you can't, then perhaps you've found a special, easy way to make memorizing numbers easy. Perhaps you should start a website and sell this technique?
- nerfhammer 13y ago
  People who have preternaturally good memories invariably turn out to have intuitively rediscovered classic mnemonic techniques at a young age and have used them semi-consciously without realizing it most of their lives.
- tghw 13y ago
  I'm not sure it's possible to not use a mnemonic device. Our brains record information by association, which, by definition, is a mnemonic device. I highly recommend reading Moonwalking with Einstein. It's about a journalist who got interested in memory competitions and, with a lot of practice, ended up winning the US memory championship. Anyone can do it. [0] http://www.amazon.com/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Remembering-Everything/dp/0143120530 http://www.amazon.com/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Rememberi...
orionblastar 13y ago
I am glad that you developed an excellent memory. I used to know PI to 30 digits but forgot it and got some digits wrong. You might want to write a book on memory and memorizing things using what you learned when you were young. People like me need to learn that. My memory is not perfect, and I am often picked on for not being able to remember stuff. I believe that I can do it, and am not sure why I fail. Ever since I developed a mental illness in 2001, I've been having memory issues and difficulty concentrating. The psyhe meds for example make me dizzy, confused, and drowsy. In 2003 I could no longer work as I was too sick and became disabled. I always wanted to get out of this rut and get back to work some day. I am 45 now, and nobody wants to hire someone that old these days.
epidemian 13y ago
You've received a lot of criticism for that comment, but, considering myself as having a very bad memory, i'm grateful that you posted it. It made me reconsider how much of my "terrible" memory is because it actually sucks or because i already have a preconception that i'll forget about everything if i don't write it down. You see, it's not that my memory is equally terrible for all things. Sometimes i forget about things i was told literally seconds ago; but somehow i remember quotes from The Simpsons episodes that i haven't seen in years, or equally seemingly useless stuff. So, what makes these things different? Maybe the situation of being told something and thinking "shit, i must remember this! [but i probably wont]" actually makes things much worse.
- 300bps 13y ago
  You've received a lot of criticism for that comment, but, considering myself as having a very bad memory, i'm grateful that you posted it Thanks. Just to dig the hole deeper for myself - I used to have a terrible time falling asleep when I was younger. For the past 20 years though I sleep like a baby every night. If I wake up in the middle of the night (normally due to one of my 3 children or my wife), I fall back asleep with no problem. Honestly the only thing I did differently was I managed to convince myself that I am a great sleeper. I found the thing that was keeping me up nights was worrying about how much sleep I was going to eke out that night. I'm sure someone will now say how arrogant and smug I am because they have a disorder that causes them to smack themselves in the face every 10 seconds which makes good sleep impossible. i already have a preconception that i'll forget about everything if i don't write it down. I purposely write nothing down temporarily. I deal with CUSIPs at work a lot and I will purposely memorize them for short time periods instead of copying/pasting them because I find the more I do it, the better I am at it.
  - JRobertson 13y ago
    This topic is one that my wife and I talk about regularly. She is slowly learning to better control her anxiety, but one side effect is that she worries about sleep, all the time. She almost universally resists committing to morning activities because she's worried about how much sleep she'll get the night before. We just got back from a vacation where she slept like a rock the whole time despite sharing a room with our two kids, a noisy ventilation system and the sounds of the city. I told her it was because she didn't care how much sleep she got. I've noticed the same thing in myself. The nights I slept the worst are the nights where I care/worry how much sleep I will get.
gioele 13y ago
> I actually convinced a friend of mine many years ago that he could in fact memorize pi to 100 digits... and he did and still remembers it to this day. I'm convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it. I have similar experiences with (re)teaching basic math tricks and approximation to adults. "Oh, I wish I could to that but I suck at math" is a quite common response. I love the flash in their eyes when, after a short explanation, they make their first multiplication by 9 or division by 5 without the use of a calculator. What I still don't understand is why some people are satisfied after learning the first trick while other (only 1/10th max) ask for more tricks. Shouldn't the idea of having learnt something new _always_ sparkle the interest in learning more?
- klibertp 13y ago
  Learning something new is fulfilling, but it tires you at the same time. I think that you'd have much more people wanting to learn again if you asked them after some time.
xauronx 13y ago
Man, this is so disappointing that everyone shits on you for this post. Just like most negative internet forums, you end up with one person putting themselves out there and telling about their experience and then 100 people criticizing everything about it (and plenty of stuff they made up about it). Anyhow, I think your root sentiment is valid (that most people are only limited by what they believe they can accomplish). Most people take offense to the "little effort" part, but I believe that if you through pure will power accomplish something you thought you would NEVER accomplish, that's "little effort". Most people would probably be surprised by their progress in something if they just put their heads down and worked at it.
- vehementi 13y ago
  I see this a lot on HN, people embarrassing themselves by totally missing the point of some post / article / blog / whatever and raging about the tone or taking issue with some particular usage. Oh no, this guy maybe over reached in his assumption about how well general people can memorize numbers! Better make ourselves look like idiots and go wildly off point about it! Check out the thread about that guy's blog "Kids these days can't use computers" as a prime example :(

by 300bps 13y ago

GoNB 13y ago

Eh, no mnemonic device? Most people memorize things by simple repetition. If you're implying anyone can have eidetic memory by "removing their limits", I don't buy it. It's something developed at a young age.

300bps 13y ago
If you're implying anyone can have eidetic memory by "removing their limits" What I said is that most people don't try to memorize things because they think that they can't. Most people memorize things by simple repetition Sure, and most people don't try to memorize things because (again) they think that they can't no matter what technique they use. I don't buy it I'm not selling anything. I'm merely passing on my own experiences and those of my friends. If you choose to continue to believe you can't memorize things because of some innate lack of ability, it doesn't affect me at all.
- sown 13y ago
  > I'm not selling anything. I'm merely passing on my own experiences and those of my friends. If you choose to continue to believe you can't memorize things because of some innate lack of ability, it doesn't affect me at all. Fortunately, there's a large body of scientific research that can tell us how many numbers a person can memorize in short term memory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus...) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exceptional_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exceptional_memory
- GoNB 13y ago
  > Sure, and most people don't try to memorize things because (again) they think that they can't no matter what technique they use. Citation? I mean, you're saying "most people" after all. If we're just talking anecdotes here, I've never met anyone who couldn't memorize something with simple repetition technique. When people say they have "poor memory", they are referring to not having eidetic memory. For example: "I don't remember her name! I have terrible memory." Well, it's probably because you only met her once in passing. It's not like you went home, wrote her name on some flash cards and crammed it into your memory. You weren't holding yourself back thinking "I can't remember her name because I have terrible memory!" It's simply that some people have eidetic memory and some don't. You can't learn eidetic memory by "thinking you can" or sheer will. It's developed at early childhood. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory) > I'm not selling anything. I'm merely passing on my own experiences and those of my friends. If you choose to continue to believe you can't memorize things because of some innate lack of ability, it doesn't affect me at all. You are overly pedantic. It's just an expression.
  - 300bps 13y ago
    Citation? I mean, you're saying "most people" after all. I think you may be the most confused person in this thread. Go ahead and re-read this particular branch of it. You said most people first. I then quoted your use of "most people". So I guess the appropriate thing for me to do at this point is to snarkily ask for your citation?

devindotcom 13y ago

I'm happy you have this ability, but suggesting that everyone else just isn't living up to their potential because of some mental block that you have supposedly (and accidentally) overcome is, perhaps, limiting your compassion. You are very lucky to have an exceptional memory; others are not so lucky, and must work hard to do what costs you no effort. Supposing they just aren't trying hard enough or are succumbing to some crippling lack of self-faith is belittling and people will rightfully resent it.

300bps 13y ago
I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed. Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effort". When I originally memorized pi to 50 digits it took about 15 minutes which is what I could consider "almost no effort" but that's more than 15 seconds which is what I would consider "no effort". And I'm sorry my comment made you resentful. Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
  - 300bps 13y ago
    Attitudes like yours smack of the smugness and arrogance that I've had to deal with all of my life Take a breath, my friend. I'm not the person who's been keeping you down all these years that you are apparently lashing out at. I responded to your other comment down-thread. My comment was aimed at a normal demographic. You state that you have some undiagnosed mental handicap. If I posted a comment saying how I was able to increase my vertical leap by 10% through almost no effort and I think anybody can do it, should people in wheelchairs respond with self-righteous anger as you have? I would hope they would read it for what it is; a call to believe in yourself to reach your best potential. People have different potentials - I would think that was self-evident.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

300bps 13y ago
You're right. And if I made a comment about how well I learned to clap through almost no effort I suppose I'd have one-armed people writing comments to complain. If you have a mental handicap, my comment was not directed toward you and I hope you took no offense.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
  - 300bps 13y ago
    I'm just replying to tell you I'm not going to reply to you anymore. This has apparently stirred some serious anger in you and there's no point to any further discussion between us. I apologize for any offense and hope things get better for you.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    - gems 13y ago
      Please just answer the question. You seem to be using the person (sillysaurus) as an excuse to avoid having to address problems in your own worldview.
      - 300bps 13y ago
        In this short "debate", sillysaurus has called me "annoying", "smug", "arrogant", "biased" and referred to me repeatedly as "people like you". He's not debating me. He's debating every person that ever insulted him and using me as the punching bag while he's doing it. He's not listening to what I'm saying. Every time I reply to him he hears the people who have been putting him down and becomes more angry. Why in the world would I type out another reply to him? Anyway, I don't see the significance of his question as aimed toward me. what the difference is between someone who has a mental handicap, and who just isn't very good at memorizing things He used the word handicap - I was just quoting him. I don't know what a mental handicap that causes you not to be able to memorize might look like. Does he have a traumatic brain injury? That would be a handicap. But he says he was like this since birth. Did oxygen get cut off to him during delivery? I have no idea what he's talking about when he says he's handicapped. How in the world can I answer his question? In any case, I was aiming my comment at normal people and to head off the next silly question of what normal is, I mean people of typical mental capacity.

sown 13y ago

Others here are skeptical that just anyone can memorize pi to an arbitrary length. One way you can test if this has to do with you being 14 when this happened, is to memorize phi or e to 100, 200 or so digits with no mnemonic device. Or, maybe a string of random words or the contents of an entire magazine, each 100s of items long. It all depends on you being honest, but I'm curious. Maybe your brain has changed since then or you learned how to do this, but at a certain age when the brain was more malleable, hence the window of training was very narrow and adults like myself can't do this, either. If you can memorize this without a mnemonic device, then I hate to break it to you, you are a mutant with Eidetic memory. And, so incidentally was your friend. If you can't, then perhaps you've found a special, easy way to make memorizing numbers easy. Perhaps you should start a website and sell this technique?

nerfhammer 13y ago
People who have preternaturally good memories invariably turn out to have intuitively rediscovered classic mnemonic techniques at a young age and have used them semi-consciously without realizing it most of their lives.
tghw 13y ago
I'm not sure it's possible to not use a mnemonic device. Our brains record information by association, which, by definition, is a mnemonic device. I highly recommend reading Moonwalking with Einstein. It's about a journalist who got interested in memory competitions and, with a lot of practice, ended up winning the US memory championship. Anyone can do it. [0] http://www.amazon.com/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Remembering-Everything/dp/0143120530 http://www.amazon.com/Moonwalking-Einstein-Science-Rememberi...

orionblastar 13y ago

I am glad that you developed an excellent memory. I used to know PI to 30 digits but forgot it and got some digits wrong. You might want to write a book on memory and memorizing things using what you learned when you were young. People like me need to learn that. My memory is not perfect, and I am often picked on for not being able to remember stuff. I believe that I can do it, and am not sure why I fail. Ever since I developed a mental illness in 2001, I've been having memory issues and difficulty concentrating. The psyhe meds for example make me dizzy, confused, and drowsy. In 2003 I could no longer work as I was too sick and became disabled. I always wanted to get out of this rut and get back to work some day. I am 45 now, and nobody wants to hire someone that old these days.

epidemian 13y ago

You've received a lot of criticism for that comment, but, considering myself as having a very bad memory, i'm grateful that you posted it. It made me reconsider how much of my "terrible" memory is because it actually sucks or because i already have a preconception that i'll forget about everything if i don't write it down. You see, it's not that my memory is equally terrible for all things. Sometimes i forget about things i was told literally seconds ago; but somehow i remember quotes from The Simpsons episodes that i haven't seen in years, or equally seemingly useless stuff. So, what makes these things different? Maybe the situation of being told something and thinking "shit, i must remember this! [but i probably wont]" actually makes things much worse.

300bps 13y ago
You've received a lot of criticism for that comment, but, considering myself as having a very bad memory, i'm grateful that you posted it Thanks. Just to dig the hole deeper for myself - I used to have a terrible time falling asleep when I was younger. For the past 20 years though I sleep like a baby every night. If I wake up in the middle of the night (normally due to one of my 3 children or my wife), I fall back asleep with no problem. Honestly the only thing I did differently was I managed to convince myself that I am a great sleeper. I found the thing that was keeping me up nights was worrying about how much sleep I was going to eke out that night. I'm sure someone will now say how arrogant and smug I am because they have a disorder that causes them to smack themselves in the face every 10 seconds which makes good sleep impossible. i already have a preconception that i'll forget about everything if i don't write it down. I purposely write nothing down temporarily. I deal with CUSIPs at work a lot and I will purposely memorize them for short time periods instead of copying/pasting them because I find the more I do it, the better I am at it.
- JRobertson 13y ago
  This topic is one that my wife and I talk about regularly. She is slowly learning to better control her anxiety, but one side effect is that she worries about sleep, all the time. She almost universally resists committing to morning activities because she's worried about how much sleep she'll get the night before. We just got back from a vacation where she slept like a rock the whole time despite sharing a room with our two kids, a noisy ventilation system and the sounds of the city. I told her it was because she didn't care how much sleep she got. I've noticed the same thing in myself. The nights I slept the worst are the nights where I care/worry how much sleep I will get.

gioele 13y ago

> I actually convinced a friend of mine many years ago that he could in fact memorize pi to 100 digits... and he did and still remembers it to this day. I'm convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it. I have similar experiences with (re)teaching basic math tricks and approximation to adults. "Oh, I wish I could to that but I suck at math" is a quite common response. I love the flash in their eyes when, after a short explanation, they make their first multiplication by 9 or division by 5 without the use of a calculator. What I still don't understand is why some people are satisfied after learning the first trick while other (only 1/10th max) ask for more tricks. Shouldn't the idea of having learnt something new _always_ sparkle the interest in learning more?

klibertp 13y ago
Learning something new is fulfilling, but it tires you at the same time. I think that you'd have much more people wanting to learn again if you asked them after some time.

xauronx 13y ago

Man, this is so disappointing that everyone shits on you for this post. Just like most negative internet forums, you end up with one person putting themselves out there and telling about their experience and then 100 people criticizing everything about it (and plenty of stuff they made up about it). Anyhow, I think your root sentiment is valid (that most people are only limited by what they believe they can accomplish). Most people take offense to the "little effort" part, but I believe that if you through pure will power accomplish something you thought you would NEVER accomplish, that's "little effort". Most people would probably be surprised by their progress in something if they just put their heads down and worked at it.

vehementi 13y ago
I see this a lot on HN, people embarrassing themselves by totally missing the point of some post / article / blog / whatever and raging about the tone or taking issue with some particular usage. Oh no, this guy maybe over reached in his assumption about how well general people can memorize numbers! Better make ourselves look like idiots and go wildly off point about it! Check out the thread about that guy's blog "Kids these days can't use computers" as a prime example :(