Interesting that expert mnemonists (e.g. world memory champions) don't seem to be able translate that into "real-world" achievement (e.g. top execs, creatives, etc). IME insight production does seem to depend on my long-term memory performance. Not sure how to account for this.
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One explanation might be that mnemonists' techniques often emphasize memorizing large sets of relatively detached information. That doesn't match the structure of knowledge I suspect I need in my LTM to produce insights.
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My use of LTM usually feels more like "streaming long-term memory" than like a mnemonist's memory palace enumeration: each day, a few new details and observations, slowly agglomerating over time into something which might notice a coincidence / contradiction / connection.
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If you’re able to spend the thousands of hours necessary to be an expert mnemonist, you probably don’t have much else going on in your life. There’s probably a tradeoff going on there.
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I considered that, but I don't think it's enough. Foer famously became a champion after just a year of practice.
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I suspect it has to do with synthesis? Merely memorizing information doesn't mean you can innovate off of it. A system like densely linked notes would be much better for that, I think.
I'd be interested in a comparison of mnemonic vs synthesis via notes vs both, though.
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Right. I think memory is necessary but not sufficient.
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The cultural explanation is the best one I have besides the null hypothesis, yeah.
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no surprise to me, i am awful at recalling things on demand — like specifically asking me for something means i probably won’t be able to find it at first — but excellent at synthesis and construction bc it appears for me when i need it
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