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richard_reitz comments on Learning Optimization - Less Wrong Discussion

11 Post author: Bound_up 28 April 2015 01:26AM

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Comment author: richard_reitz 01 May 2015 12:23:32AM 3 points [-]

As another person who's used Anki for quite some time (~ 2 years), my experience agrees with eeuuah. I would also add exceptions to "just Google it."

  1. It's easier to maintain knowledge than to reacquire it. The prototypical example here is tying a tie. Having a card that says "tie a four-in-hand knot", and having to do that occasionally, turns out to be a lot easier than Googling how to tie a tie, especially if you do it infrequently enough that you need to re-learn it every time.

  2. You need to maintain working memory. The prototypical example here is math. Sure, I can look up the definition of an affine subset, but if I'm in the middle of a proof and I need to prove X is an affine subset of V and then need to look up the definition of affine subset, then I suffer a break in my working memory, which sets me back quite a bit.

  3. You need to remember that the fact exists. The prototypical example here is theorems. Being able to Google the Law of Total Probability doesn't help if I don't remember that it exists, and it doesn't tell me when I can apply it. Having an Anki card for Law of Total Probability does both these things.

  4. You need knowledge in a context where you can't use Google. The prototypical example here is school. Even outside of school, though, there's situations where it just won't do to pull out your phone to Google something.