djcb comments on Spaced Repetition Database for the Mysterious Answers to Mysterious Questions Sequence - Less Wrong

46 Post author: divia 25 June 2010 01:08AM

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Comment author: djcb 25 June 2010 05:25:58PM *  6 points [-]

Great post, thanks! In these primitive times without knowledge pills, discussion of methods to improve our learning are very welcome. Here are some I know;

  • I found the SuperMemo discussed in this article pretty good for things like learning foreign words (I'm trying to pick up some Finnish vocabulary); I'm not sure how it would work for knowledge that cannot be so easily represented as A=B. I haven't fully explored the potential though.
  • My personal favorite are audiobooks; it's a great way to pick up a lot of qualitative knowledge (say, history or psychology), or 'reading' a lot of 19th-century literature. Librivox and friends are excellent resources for that. The great thing about audio books is that I can do something useful with my idle time (shopping, running, commuting etc)
  • For language learning, the Pimsleur is an interesting way; it's about repeating simple phrases again and again - completely ignoring writing or grammar, but still a relatively quick way to be able to converse with locals (worked for me with Greek at least to some extent)
  • Memorization of random lists of things, like the ones mentioned in Mind Performance Hacks
  • Remembering the things to do; GTD and OrgMode are my main tools here.

Still, there is a whole universe of knowledge that cannot be acquired using such tools -- procedural knowledge, deeply technical knowledge. I suppose there is no alternative to sitting down and excercise those gray cells; still, I'd be very interested if anyone has some new approaches there.

Comment author: sketerpot 27 June 2010 10:11:31PM 4 points [-]

My favorite fast learning method is to have an urgent reason for learning something. Not only does it improve your focus and provide you with immediate practice, but it cuts through extraneous bullshit like nothing else.

Remembering the things to do; GTD and OrgMode are my main tools here.

Org Mode is amazing. I use it for notes and todo lists all the time, and it works nicely. But it's also thoroughly ridiculous in terms of power. Did you know that it has an ASCII-art spreadsheet that can do symbolic integration? It's true!

Comment author: djcb 03 July 2010 10:15:13AM 0 points [-]

:-) Indeed -- I regularly take the numbers in a table, do some statistical analysis on them use R and generate some graphs, which are then included in the PDF-export.

Comment author: gwern 27 June 2010 06:15:04PM 3 points [-]

I'm not sure how it would work for knowledge that cannot be so easily represented as A=B.

More cards. You can think of of such knowledge as simply having more facts - this is the old code/data tradeoff. (For example, multiplication can be an algorithm - or, it's an infinitely large category of facts, such as 1x1=1, 1x2=2, 1x3=3...)

In practice, right now you would have to generate a large set of cards, but in the future SRS software will support cards which are programs; then it would be much easier to learn multiplication, say, or anything you could program (like Go life and death problems); see my comment on Reddit or look through mnemosyne-proj-users for my musings on the subject.

Comment author: Peter_de_Blanc 26 June 2010 06:26:04AM 1 point [-]

Any ideas for things to do while listening to audio books on a laptop? I can't concentrate on reading and listening at the same time.

Comment author: Bongo 26 June 2010 09:08:22AM *  3 points [-]

Video games. My choice is roguelikes like Nethack.

For me the combination is extremely immersive and a big time sink.

Comment author: wedrifid 26 June 2010 11:39:53AM 2 points [-]

Video games. My choice is roguelikes like Nethack.

Tell me you have played ADOM. Love that game. Still play it a couple of times a year. I've Nethack a few times.

Comment author: Bongo 26 June 2010 02:59:25PM 1 point [-]

Tell me you have played ADOM

Sorry. I always had the impression that ADOM requires too much planning and skill system study. These days I like to play Nethack forks and Crawl. Currently attempting a 10-conduct tourist in Sporkhack.

Comment author: KatjaGrace 13 January 2011 05:13:59PM 0 points [-]

I find simple spacial games can make it easier to absorb information than when listening with no other activity. Speeding the audio up also helps.

Comment author: djcb 27 June 2010 06:04:17PM 2 points [-]

Personally, when I'm having access to a laptop, I'd like to do stuff that I can only with a computer, such as reading (web or just pdfs) or watch some videos. Those kind of activities do not go well together with listening to audio books...

So, I'd say it's best to fill the time where there is little need to use the brain for other intellectual activities, such as when working out or doing the dishes. I do turn it off now and then though; it's nice to have all that knowledge being force-fed to you, but of course we also need some time to do some actual thinking without any such distractions. Personally, when I'm having access to a laptop, I'd like to do stuff that I can only with a computer, such as reading (web or just pdfs) or watch some videos. Those kind of activities do not go well together with listening to audio books...

So, I'd say it's best to get some portable audio player, and fill the time where there is little need to use the brain for other intellectual activities, such as when working out or doing the dishes. I do turn it off now and then though; it's nice to have all that knowledge being force-fed to you, but of course we also need some time to do some actual thinking without any such distractions.

For the narrow field of knowledge where it applies, audio books are as close as it gets to a (slowly-working) knowledge pill, I suppose...

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