Remembering is fundamentally important

Why would we need to remember as much as possible?

Why remember anything when we can just look it up, or ask google, or ask ai?

I have been a prolific user of an application called Anki. Anki helps you remember everything. At one point whilst playing with it I memorized 600 areas and parts of the brain and peripheral nervous system. I didn’t even need it for university, I just thought it was a cool thing to know. Everyone who uses it realises that they could actually remember anything, something vital for their professions, such as facts memorized by world class jeopordy contestants, or something ridicioulous such as my memorisation of the anatomy of the brain.

This is because of a very nifty algorithm called a spaced repetition system. It works by showing you a concept several times the first day, until you remember it. It then shows it again the next day, and if you still remember it, it spaces the next repetition until 2 days later. Then 4 days. Reviewing material in this way when you are just about to forget it, strengthens it into a long term memory.

There is a very popular and reoccuring criticism of this approach, which is why remember these things, when you can just look them up. There is validity to this argument, I don’t support people memorizing arcane and redundant information, such as memorizing the full documentation for a tool the love.

But fundamentally mastery involves remembering. I could never call myself a master chef if I don’t remember what a brioche is. And once you reach mastery in something, you do remember it. And going from not knowing to knowing involves spaced repetitions of concepts. Over time I have at somewhat random intervals come across brioches. Enough for me to be able to recall that a loaf with a soft interior, golden brown and delicious outside with loads of butter emulsified into the dough is called a brioch. Going from A to B could be more effective.

Having a skill involves knowledge. Knowing how to tell the time on a clock involves knowing that quarter past is when the longer hand points straight to the right. Would you be able to tell the time if you forgot this? Sure you could look it up, or ask google, or ask chatgpt, but internalising it makes it vastly more effect. Keeping some knowledge internal allows you to manipulate it in your own mind (working memory), which isn’t afforded to external knowledge. Even if you remind yourself with the concept just before, it’s representation is to fluid to work with, since you haven’t internalised it properly.

What can we use this for? We can use our knowledge to see relationships between things, to see the essence of a new situation faster, to be aware of the limitations of something. If a designer needs to look up what screen size a mobile is everytime they need it rather than memorizing it, they will need to open their notepad or reference many many times during a working day.