Thoughts about the "maps" SRS-essay, inspired by and a reaction to reading 's account. Not trying to argue, just providing my (different) experience. (1/7)
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Overall, prompts feel different than e.g. my Finnish vocab flashcards. They trigger a lot more thoughts and associations, and answering them takes longer. For instance, I went to look up "confirmation holism" in the middle of my review. (2/7)
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Prompts seem to serve as reminder to engage with the key points of the essay, and this engaging is what builds the fluency with the material. I feel like I'm "getting something out of it". (3/7)
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So what is different for me? I feel like 's writing (in general) echoes a lot of my own thinking and experience. Our "abstraction stacks" could be very similar. (see drmaciver.substack.com/p/being-deep-i) (4/7)
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I think this means it's easier for prompts to be "good" (right amount of tractable/effortful). Answering prompts feels a lot more like building on and riffing on a line of thought I already have, rather than engaging with something entirely new. (5/7)
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That is not to say I enjoy all the prompts. I don't care about Pokemon Go or about driving to an island: I care about the underlying idea. It's frustrating to not "know" a prompt because it asks for a specific example even though I feel I know the idea. (6/7)
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Luckily, it's my Orbit so I make the rules. If you don't like a card, you can just click "remembered" and it will go away. Though maybe something like "soft delete" (notes.andymatuschak.org/About_these_no) is better for writer feedback. (7/7)
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Thank you for this thoughtful feedback! Yes, very interested in soft delete and author feedback mechanisms.