reflections on spaced repetition

There have been a lot of posts recently about using spaced repetition tools like Anki to fully utlise our "unlimited long term memory". Some folks have taken this to the extreme and memorise details about their entire life, this includes their relationships and interactions with others. I think this is definitely possible, but almost certainly misguided. Spaced repetition is not a magic bullet for understanding and injecting all the facts of life. You need to carefully craft and tend to the flashcards. This takes a lot of time and effort. When I have experimented with "ankifying my life" I have ended up with a big pile of nothing. Knowledge that I thought would be useful never came up again. There was also an ineffable impedance between the anki world of facts and reality. It's like the anki prompts were shortcuts to a snippet of a concept but I couldn't connect the knowledge to the outside world.

I think we are missing a crucial link between anki and integrating with our mind's web of knowledge. Most of the the time when we use spaced repetition we don't want to just know the facts etc we want to be able to use that knowledge simple and easily. We also want to know how to navigate and build on the knowledge we are remembering. With spaced repetition I practice responding to the prompt but I don't practice application. In the narrow cases where we need to memorise concepts verbatim, like foreign language vocabulary and biology concepts for a biology test, Anki is exceptionally useful. This boils down to when the flashcard prompt matches the world where you will use that knowledge. A prompt like "What does big O notation represent?" directly maps to what might be asked on a computer science test. Anki lets me create a shortcut from a question that will be on the test to the answer. But in real life rarely will I be asked that question. It does however give me a shortcut to a bank of first order knowledge, but we need to know when/how to draw on that knowledge. Some tools like Supermemo) intersperse flashcards while you are just working or reading an article. You can also create cards while you read and browse the web. Alongside with the flashcard it will display the source material from where the card was created. I think something like this would contextualise flashcards a bit better.

I have evolved a fairly laissez faire way of managing my long term memory, well as much as a person who says they have a long term memory management strategy can have. Basically, I don't need all the information about my life accessible instantly. For example, at one point in my life the knowledge of how photolithography works really mattered to me, but now I don't need that information and I don't see myself needing it for a while. The information is is at my fingertips in a way - in that the imprint of the memory is there so I can orient myself around the terms and concepts if I need.

I treat spaced repetition not as a way to indefinitely augment my long term memory, but temporarily so. In small bits and bites I'll use Anki to fully memorise facts, figures and concepts. The act of making the cards is the most important part for me - to physically map out and concretely put down in words how concept x related to concept y.

In part I think this all relates to the fact that we are in constant trial and error, understanding how our body and brain works. I've come to know that I have an inherently strong memory - when I understand something I won't forget it for a long time. So for me making the connections and the cards is the most important step.