While reading this, a few thoughts came in. First, about the difference between episodic memory and semantic memory. Without being able to "forget", we are constantly stuck with episodic memories and cannot form any meaning (semantic memories).
Another one was from NLP (Neuro Linguistic Program) concept. I know NLP sounds scammy but some concepts are helpful. Like, the idea of how our brain goes through Deletion, Distortion, and Generalization of our experiences. As a result, everyone has a different maps or mental models of the same territory.
This was a great read. This one "Memory isn't a passive storage system but an active, intelligent filter that responds to our changing environment and goals. When we stop using certain information, the system interprets this as a signal that the information is no longer relevant and allows it to fade." makes so much sense.
"Of all the techniques invented or discovered for making the complex lore of a social group securely memorable, by far the greatest and most important was the story."
and
"The influence of what is commonly called a technocratic approach to education has tended to depreciate the role of the imagination in learning and has instead encouraged us to think of learning as in significant part involving technical problems to which technical solutions may be found."
Egan, K. (1989). Memory, Imagination, And Learning: Connected by the Story. Phi Delta Kappan, 70(6), 455–459.
Thanks for sharing Egan article. Makes so much sense. He brilliantly explains the similarities and differences between human memory and computer memory.
Yes. The computer is an overused metaphor for the mind, but it fits nicely with "science of learning" as historical Taylorism, as "scientific management," as controlling people in the name of "efficiency." We should all be skeptical of it. We are not machines to be fine-tuned for someone else's purposes.
I see you’ve been peeking into my classroom during my summary writing lessons, where students fail to generalize, packing everything into their summaries and understanding nothing. This is why I appreciate ‘paragraph shrinking’, asking students to provide a 15-word summary of a paragraph. When we analyze their sentences together, we can see which students fixate on details and are unable to generalize. You say:
“The irony is that the methods that produce the most immediate fluency such as re-reading, highlighting, immediate review, often create the illusion of learning without building lasting retention.”
This is why Steve Graham’s research into ‘writing to read’ is so important because it shows the importance of writing for building lasting retention of the most important information read.
Thank you for a piece that is so engaging as it educates—taking us down every possible avenue available to recognize and retain your point.
I made the exact same point in my article from May: "Remember more by forgetting better." I also quoted a short story by Borges! It's a great example of a dialectical relationship in which two opposing parts are intertwined.
This is related to the eternal question: did Google make us dumber?
It feels like outsourcing memory to search engines and second brains means we’ve lost something. We don’t memorize phone numbers anymore, we don’t keep maps in our heads, and trivia escapes us unless we ask the algorithm. But this isn’t dumbing down, and it helped us in shifting roles.
Your brain was never designed to be a warehouse of facts. It was designed to make sense of patterns, to connect meaning, to adapt. When Google holds the data, your mind can drop the clutter and work on synthesis instead. Forgetting details is a strategy. The risk isn’t that Google makes us dumber, it’s that without reflection we stop turning information into wisdom.
I love this! This concept applies beyond memory and learning, as I'm sure you are aware, to the way that some (probably a majority, but not all) people experience the world and operate in it: "nothing but details, almost contiguous details." This is compatible with having a static vs dynamic worldview. Context is replaced by rules. Some of the people I work with have been able to recognize they live in a "context-free zone" and are beginning to develop an understanding of context, distinctions, abstraction, and generalization. Thank you so much for your contributions to our understanding of being human.
This makes forgetting now seen as necessary editing, and celebratory to free up mental space for adding new observations and experiences, yet still through that lens of past retention unrecalled.
I have two friends who recall everything. One is an accomplished pianist fluent in six languages, the other is a former builder of structures, and their precise recall abilities are daunting! And yet they are as fun and personable as they can be.
Small Q re "That is why the temporary forgetting we experience between practice sessions actually enhances learning.": My understanding was that *actual* failure to recall *does not* enhance learning, it is only when recall is successful is the learning 'enhanced', and the degree to which it is enhanced is dependant upon the difficulty of the recall.
SRS algorithms (should, but rarely do) then leverage this and delay the recall as long as possible to fully leverage.
This is such a superb piece. Clear, nuanced, and beautifully written. One of the best treatments of memory and forgetting I've come across!
While reading this, a few thoughts came in. First, about the difference between episodic memory and semantic memory. Without being able to "forget", we are constantly stuck with episodic memories and cannot form any meaning (semantic memories).
Another one was from NLP (Neuro Linguistic Program) concept. I know NLP sounds scammy but some concepts are helpful. Like, the idea of how our brain goes through Deletion, Distortion, and Generalization of our experiences. As a result, everyone has a different maps or mental models of the same territory.
This was a great read. This one "Memory isn't a passive storage system but an active, intelligent filter that responds to our changing environment and goals. When we stop using certain information, the system interprets this as a signal that the information is no longer relevant and allows it to fade." makes so much sense.
"Of all the techniques invented or discovered for making the complex lore of a social group securely memorable, by far the greatest and most important was the story."
and
"The influence of what is commonly called a technocratic approach to education has tended to depreciate the role of the imagination in learning and has instead encouraged us to think of learning as in significant part involving technical problems to which technical solutions may be found."
Egan, K. (1989). Memory, Imagination, And Learning: Connected by the Story. Phi Delta Kappan, 70(6), 455–459.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234763056_Memory_Imagination_and_Learning_Connected_by_the_Story
Thanks for sharing Egan article. Makes so much sense. He brilliantly explains the similarities and differences between human memory and computer memory.
Yes. The computer is an overused metaphor for the mind, but it fits nicely with "science of learning" as historical Taylorism, as "scientific management," as controlling people in the name of "efficiency." We should all be skeptical of it. We are not machines to be fine-tuned for someone else's purposes.
https://archive.org/details/educationcultofe0000unse
I see you’ve been peeking into my classroom during my summary writing lessons, where students fail to generalize, packing everything into their summaries and understanding nothing. This is why I appreciate ‘paragraph shrinking’, asking students to provide a 15-word summary of a paragraph. When we analyze their sentences together, we can see which students fixate on details and are unable to generalize. You say:
“The irony is that the methods that produce the most immediate fluency such as re-reading, highlighting, immediate review, often create the illusion of learning without building lasting retention.”
This is why Steve Graham’s research into ‘writing to read’ is so important because it shows the importance of writing for building lasting retention of the most important information read.
Thank you for a piece that is so engaging as it educates—taking us down every possible avenue available to recognize and retain your point.
What a beautiful essay! I love the way you thread Borges through this entire reflection on memory, abstraction, and learning.
I made the exact same point in my article from May: "Remember more by forgetting better." I also quoted a short story by Borges! It's a great example of a dialectical relationship in which two opposing parts are intertwined.
https://www.kognitivo.net/p/spaced-repetition
This is related to the eternal question: did Google make us dumber?
It feels like outsourcing memory to search engines and second brains means we’ve lost something. We don’t memorize phone numbers anymore, we don’t keep maps in our heads, and trivia escapes us unless we ask the algorithm. But this isn’t dumbing down, and it helped us in shifting roles.
Your brain was never designed to be a warehouse of facts. It was designed to make sense of patterns, to connect meaning, to adapt. When Google holds the data, your mind can drop the clutter and work on synthesis instead. Forgetting details is a strategy. The risk isn’t that Google makes us dumber, it’s that without reflection we stop turning information into wisdom.
I love this! This concept applies beyond memory and learning, as I'm sure you are aware, to the way that some (probably a majority, but not all) people experience the world and operate in it: "nothing but details, almost contiguous details." This is compatible with having a static vs dynamic worldview. Context is replaced by rules. Some of the people I work with have been able to recognize they live in a "context-free zone" and are beginning to develop an understanding of context, distinctions, abstraction, and generalization. Thank you so much for your contributions to our understanding of being human.
Very interesting point. How would that be of help in addressing dementia?
Yes. That sounds like mere wishful thinking to me, and a question better put to a medical doctor who specializes in dementia patients.
This makes forgetting now seen as necessary editing, and celebratory to free up mental space for adding new observations and experiences, yet still through that lens of past retention unrecalled.
I have two friends who recall everything. One is an accomplished pianist fluent in six languages, the other is a former builder of structures, and their precise recall abilities are daunting! And yet they are as fun and personable as they can be.
Really interesting piece Carl, going to reflect more on this in next upcoming days
Brilliant.
Small Q re "That is why the temporary forgetting we experience between practice sessions actually enhances learning.": My understanding was that *actual* failure to recall *does not* enhance learning, it is only when recall is successful is the learning 'enhanced', and the degree to which it is enhanced is dependant upon the difficulty of the recall.
SRS algorithms (should, but rarely do) then leverage this and delay the recall as long as possible to fully leverage.
Thank you for your great knowledge!
Fantastic article, thanks.