John_Maxwell_IV comments on You don't need Kant - Less Wrong
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I actually think that math teaching might work better if people spent time learning who though what as a result of asking what questions and how they first conceptualized their insights by building on what else.
Memorizing anything anywhere ever except as practice for understanding how memory works is always an indication that something has gone wrong however.
Can you imagine a successful computer programmer who was constantly looking up the syntax of the language they were programming in? Memorization is damn near essential.
I expect a good computer programmer to be effective in a language he has not seen before by looking up the syntax as he needs it, and to increase his effectiveness over time by learning the syntax through use, without any specific effort of memorization. At least, provided the novel language is good.
Good point. Now that you frame things in terms of how knowledge is acquired, the only thing I'm glad to have memorized is math facts in elementary school. But they have been pretty helpful!