Augmenting long-term memory (2018)

Re:Augmenting long-term memory (2018) by nebulosa on Saturday December 16, 2023 @11:40PM (#38670370)

Pleased to see this posted here again. Nielsen's writing on Anki and memory systems more broadly has been nothing short of incisive, inspiring and paradigm-shifting in contributing to the ongoing "hermeneutic turn" within the community. Whilst this is not as evident as with his later essays, ATLM lays the foundations for some of the most important points for beginners of using the tool: a focus on coherence, disambiguation, and crystallisation as virtues of an Ankification practice; and above all shifting the conversation from it as a miserable prosthetic to memorise arbitrary associations to a genuinely beautiful tool that you can use to shape and change what you know, are and do.

The former interpretation's popularisation does unfortunately seem to be the outcome of it being embedded within the epistemic ecologies of language learning and medical school, two situations where Anki is almost inevitable if one is to succeed, but also where its unique power of meaning making is most neglected. As he writes in "Building a better memory system" [1], targeting the audience of the creative expert seems to be where the most tractability in expanding and improving a mnemonic practice lies. I hope such progress continues in the vein of current open-source and community-oriented advancements such as FSRS - the best feature of which is making switching from SuperMemo all the more obvious ;)

[1] https://michaelnotebook.com/bbms/index.html

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Re:Augmenting long-term memory (2018) by subtra3t on Sunday December 17, 2023 @01:23AM (#38670791)

I'd switch to FSRS, but the short-term workload increase is too much for me. I know it can be avpided by only enabling FARS for new decks and then gradually shifting over the entire collection, but that I don't think I'd like my collection fragmented over multiple spacing algorithms.

For now, Anki's v3 algorithm is good enough for me. The only thing I didn't like about v2 was the lack of buzz factor which meant that a lot of closely related flashcards showed up in the same reviewing session, making review of such cards slightly ineffective.

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Re:Augmenting long-term memory (2018) by hiAndrewQuinn on Sunday December 17, 2023 @02:55AM (#38671125)

I don't get where the "miserable prosthetic" thing comes from. Teen me discovered spaced repetition around 10 years ago and considered it absolutely revolutionary even then - an actual way to combat having a bad memory!

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Re:Augmenting long-term memory (2018) by nebulosa on Sunday December 17, 2023 @03:43AM (#38671344)

It definitely is! It's unfortunate that what seems to have developed to be the consensus view on SRS within most language learning/high-load traditional academic circles (>90% of the userbase, I'd imagine) that it is, at best, a very useful but unfortunate inevitability, or at worse a torturous and exhausting experience. That obviously doesn't apply to everyone; factors like card design, course content/interest (the passion element which Nielsen rightly identifies as integral) and good old mindset and habituation all vary within those communities and beyond; but I think it is fair to say it's the majority opinion, particularly for those just starting to use the software. Some of that difficulty can be overcome by being patient with the obtuseness I think, but at the end of the day it helps to at least somewhat enjoy what you're studying! Anki can help you love a subject you like, but it usually can't help you like one you hate.

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