Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Memory Aid

Want to Remember Everything You'll Ever Learn?
Surrender to This Algorithm



Piotr Wozniak's quest for anonymity has been successful. Nobody along this string of little beach resorts recognizes him as the inventor of a technique to turn people into geniuses. A portion of this technique, embodied in a software program called SuperMemo, has enthusiastic users around the world. They apply it mainly to learning languages, and it's popular among people for whom fluency is a necessity — students from Poland or other poor countries aiming to score well enough on English-language exams to study abroad. A substantial number of them do not pay for it, and pirated copies are ubiquitous on software bulletin boards in China, where it competes with knockoffs like SugarMemo.

SuperMemo is based on the insight that there is an ideal moment to practice what you've learned. Practice too soon and you waste your time. Practice too late and you've forgotten the material and have to relearn it. The right time to practice is just at the moment you're about to forget. Unfortunately, this moment is different for every person and each bit of information. Imagine a pile of thousands of flash cards. Somewhere in this pile are the ones you should be practicing right now. Which are they?




Wired Magazine- Full

6 comments:

Timbeaux said...

Maybe a silly question, but do you use this Rodge? Looks like it takes a lot of time to use effectively, and that's one thing I don't have very much of right now. It would be very helpful to me with all that I have going on, the language portion really interests me, I'm trying to learn a little Portuguese since it looks like I'll be checking in from Brazil off and on for a little while. Anyway, I'd love to hear your experience if you have it.

guinspen said...

Which are what?

Kim du Toit said...

What was the middle bit again?

If I improved my memory, maybe I'd be able to recall the final orgy scene in Marilyn Chambers's Up & Coming movie.

Kim du Toit said...

By the way: before I forget, I'm stealing that pic for future use.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Tim: Do I use this? Hell no. I spend most of the day trying to forget things.

Anonymous said...

Hey Rodger...Drinking to forget might work...just don't forget to drink,but if you do, after a while you'll start remembering to imbibe again...See what I mean?

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