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Warrigal comments on Open Thread, November 8 - 14, 2013 - Less Wrong Discussion

1 Post author: witzvo 08 November 2013 08:13PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 11 November 2013 06:18:00AM 6 points [-]

Personally, I estimate the value of learning to type faster at approximately zero, because I can type faster (about 70 WPM) than I can decide what I want to type. How much time do you spend wishing you were able to type faster, because your fingers aren't keeping up with your brain?

Comment author: ThrustVectoring 11 November 2013 02:26:21PM *  3 points [-]

It's less a question of average composition (deciding what to write) speed, and more a question of how much I'm keeping in memory. With a slower typing speed, I have to keep more in memory about how I want to finish the thoughts I'm having, and have more difficulty and frustration involved in the process.

In other words, composition isn't a marathon, but a series of sprints. Each sprint is a race to get the thoughts you have out of short term memory and into storage. You'd probaply find your composition speed increase with your typing speed, as you can focus on the next thing to write rather than remembering what you have decided to write.

And I just thought of another way to estimate it - think of the difference in your willingness and ability to write things on a phone or tablet (40 wpm) versus a keyboard (80 wpm) and extrapolate.