You definitely have no idea of how doctors work if you think they don’t heavily rely on reference books for most of the stuff they do

I don’t think you’re being generous with your reading of their point.

You can't easily consider a treatment or remedy or library function you don't remember. Better to use all the tools at hand (memory being a useful tool - a L2 cache as it were) than handicap yourself by only using a few.

I'd rather have my doctor consulting recent knowledge base than use their 30 year old memories from school. Medicine is not set in stone and recommendations change.

As I've heard it, use your memory, then back it up with documentation if/when you need the certainty.

You can't easily consider a treatment or remedy or library function you don't remember.

The problem with using cache is that you can feel certain it's correct but you don't really know until you check with the source. And since you check with the source anyway, the cache becomes a drag to correctness

Do they have every single medicine memorized, or just the ones they most commonly use? Sure, I tend to remember the parts of libraries and apis I use often, but I'd still argue my editor having a reminder just a keystroke away is very beneficial.

Reality: They rely on medical representatives to know what the actual medicines are. They remember the ones with the most kickbacks.

More than just the most commonly used...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR7d56UeeeU <= Song-based memorization aide for 200 different medications

There are over 20,000 approved medications in the US. I don't really feel like this analogy is holding up very well. But, have I happened to remember about 200 or so API and library calls over my career? Probably.