{"id":8312,"date":"2013-11-26T15:37:16","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T20:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=8312"},"modified":"2013-11-26T15:37:16","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T20:37:16","slug":"keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
What my brain feels like while I\u2019m reading<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

My friend Brienne is working on extending and teaching memory techniques. \u00a0Think\u00a0Moonwalking with Einstein<\/em><\/a>, on steroids. \u00a0In a recent blog post, she addresses the question most people have about memory feats: How important is this kind of thing when I can carry the internet in my pocket? \u00a0I\u2019ve been known to interrupt people by saying \u201cHang on, let me put that in my\u00a0real<\/em> brain,\u201d when they\u2019re trying to give me book recommendations or schedule something, and my phone isn\u2019t in my hand. \u00a0It\u2019s second nature for me to store important information outside me head. \u00a0But there\u2019s a cost to that, Brienne writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

After all, there\u2019s no reason for most of us to know that a mole of carbon atoms is 6.022*10^23 atoms of carbon: In the unlikely event that you need to do stoichiometry, Wolfram Alpha will answer all of your questions. This much is certainly true. But in the context of a discussion of mnemonics, something about it feels off. \u201cWe don\u2019t need internal memory because our external memory is so much better\u201d misframes the relationship between memory and learning.<\/p>\n

If you take a 400 level college course, it probably has prerequisites. You must first have taken a related 300 or 200 level course. Why?<\/p>\n

Because often, in order to learn things you first must know things. Human memory is a massive network of associations, and recognizing relationships among concepts requires each concept be located somewhere in that network. Without well-traveled pathways, the memories will get lost. They will find neither conscious awareness nor each other.<\/p>\n

You cannot innovate, you cannot invent, and you cannot seamlessly integrate information stored only externally. Creativity is not a magical spell for creating something out of nothing. It\u2019s the ability to make new associations among old ideas and new data. To be creative, the raw materials must reside in internal memory. Wikipedia is simply not available to the subtle workings of fluid intelligence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is how I feel when I\u2019m reading. \u00a0It\u2019s true that I often need to look up quotations from books, but I get a clear sense when some idea or scene has slipped into my my internal vocabulary (in the sense of yesterday\u2019s Hofstadter post<\/a>). \u00a0To be able to make connections between ideas or to test or extend them, I need to be fluent in them to begin with.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t easily express myself in French when I need to keep looking up the differences between \u201cconna\u00eetre\u201d and \u201csavoir.\u201d \u00a0Both mean to know, but the former is closer to \u201cto be familliar with\u201d (as in a neighborhood) and the second is closer to \u201cto know a fact\u201d (as in an address). \u00a0And I won\u2019t end up\u00a0conna\u00eetre<\/em>-ing a chartacter or a thinker whose subtleties pass below my level of awareness.<\/p>\n

Sometime, when I\u2019m preparing a post (or, in college, a debate speech) I basically feel as though everything I hear and read passes within reach of large grabber-arms attached to various concepts. \u00a0There are a family of arms belonging to the \u201cphilosophy of medicine\u201d neighborhood which may be specifically attached to proprioception (or, within that, prosthetic limbs, sense augmentation, borders between my fingers and my keyboard as instruments of my will) or the sin-eating\/drone warfare\/PTSD cluster, etc.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t be able to flag and play with these ideas without some seed information stored in\u00a0my<\/em> memory, not my google docs, that the new readings compliment or clash with. \u00a0I\u2019m interested in Brienne\u2019s ongoing series on memory, not so much because I need to memorize a lot of data, but because I\u2019m curious about\u00a0how<\/em> some ideas end up with grabby-arms, and how I can consciously promote other interests to that status, if I want.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend Brienne is working on extending and teaching memory techniques. \u00a0Think\u00a0Moonwalking with Einstein, on steroids. \u00a0In a recent blog post, she addresses the question most people have about memory feats: How important is this kind of thing when I can carry the internet in my pocket? \u00a0I\u2019ve been known to interrupt people by saying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":8344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nKeeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My friend Brienne is working on extending and teaching memory techniques. \u00a0Think\u00a0Moonwalking with Einstein, on steroids. \u00a0In a recent blog post, she\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My friend Brienne is working on extending and teaching memory techniques. \u00a0Think\u00a0Moonwalking with Einstein, on steroids. \u00a0In a recent blog post, she\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-26T20:37:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2013\/11\/clever-girl.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html\",\"name\":\"Keeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-26T20:37:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-11-26T20:37:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"My friend Brienne is working on extending and teaching memory techniques. \u00a0Think\u00a0Moonwalking with Einstein, on steroids. \u00a0In a recent blog post, she\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Keeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Keeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With","description":"My friend Brienne is working on extending and teaching memory techniques. \u00a0Think\u00a0Moonwalking with Einstein, on steroids. \u00a0In a recent blog post, she","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Keeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With","og_description":"My friend Brienne is working on extending and teaching memory techniques. \u00a0Think\u00a0Moonwalking with Einstein, on steroids. \u00a0In a recent blog post, she","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html","og_site_name":"Unequally Yoked","article_published_time":"2013-11-26T20:37:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"550","height":"550","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2013\/11\/clever-girl.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Leah Libresco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leah Libresco","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html","name":"Keeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-11-26T20:37:16+00:00","dateModified":"2013-11-26T20:37:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464"},"description":"My friend Brienne is working on extending and teaching memory techniques. \u00a0Think\u00a0Moonwalking with Einstein, on steroids. \u00a0In a recent blog post, she","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2013\/11\/keeping-ideas-close-enough-to-play-with.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Keeping Ideas Close Enough to Play With"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/","name":"Unequally Yoked","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464","name":"Leah Libresco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Leah Libresco"},"description":"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. Her further writing can be found at leahlibresco.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/author\/leahlibresco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}