Hacker News Reader

Comment by devindotcom | Hacker News Reader

I'm happy you have this ability, but suggesting that everyone else just isn't living up to their potential because of some mental block that you have supposedly (and accidentally) overcome is, perhaps, limiting your compassion. You are very lucky to have an exceptional memory; others are not so lucky, and must work hard to do what costs you no effort. Supposing they just aren't trying hard enough or are succumbing to some crippling lack of self-faith is belittling and people will rightfully resent it.

View on HN

I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it.

Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed.

Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effort". When I originally memorized pi to 50 digits it took about 15 minutes which is what I could consider "almost no effort" but that's more than 15 seconds which is what I would consider "no effort".

And I'm sorry my comment made you resentful. Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar.

> "I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it."

That post didn't read to me like he was in the slightest bit offended.

It's simply making the point that if you view the world through a lens of "you can do anything if you just try" then there's a downside of becoming less compassionate as one might ascribe to laziness what may (more correctly) be ascribed to a genuine physical or mental inability.

That post didn't read to me like he was in the slightest bit offended.

He said that my post was belittling and he was resentful of it.

That seems to be a textbook definition of offended. Please tell me how I misunderstood.

I am not offended. I wrote that the sentiment I described was belittling and people would resent it.

I am not offended. I wrote that the sentiment I described was belittling and people would resent it.

Sorry, I don't believe you. You were either directly speaking for yourself or you were using weasel words a la, "people would resent it."

In either case, you should man up to the fact that you were truly speaking for yourself. There were three people that voiced their offense at what I said. Two appeared to not be able to avoid petty insults and name-calling. One of those two ended up deleting the dozen or so responses they had in here, apparently ashamed of what they wrote.

I'm still hoping that you'll own your words more than the other two.

You are very much mistaken, and are making a fool of yourself.

What an absurd thing to say. I feel sorry for any kids you may have if this is how you speak to people.

Someone worthwhile would just admit they were offended at what I said and move on with their life. I'm sorry you aren't such a person.

I'm quoting you:

> I'm convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it.

It's not a matter of taking offense. It's a matter of your assumption. It took you little effort. And it might take many people little effort. But by saying "anyone" and "their belief that they can't do it" in the same sentence you disenfranchise people who, you know, might actually have tried this and failed.

This type of statement tends to irk some people (and I'm here assuming sillysaurus is part of this group) because the same structure is present in all kinds of victim-blaming statements ("oh, you don't work hard enough, that's why you're poor. You have to believe in prosperity").

Let me be clear, I'm not saying that you'd actually use the more horrible versions of the pattern. I'm simply hoping to explain sillysaurus's strong reaction to your original post.

Personally, I would rather have a mediocre memory and mediocre emotional intelligence, than an exceptional memory and the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here.

Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar.

Nope, I wouldn't. But if they then concluded from their own lack of effort that I should also be able to jump higher and play the guitar with similar ease, then they should expect it.

the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here.

I would think someone with even a mediocre EQ would have more tact than telling someone they have a complete lack of EQ.

I underwent a formal psychological evaluation a few years ago, my shrink informed me that I have incredibly bad memory (I was ranking in at 1-2 percentile for two or three different memory tests). But yet, I've also been able to memorize pi to about 50 digits, I've memorized the entire periodic table, and I've memorized whole poems in Latin (despite knowing very little Latin).

The thing I've found to be true in my case is that I do have bad memory in general -- but this is because of the unique childhood I had: I was never forced to memorize anything. I've a habit of referencing my smartphone when I need to know what someone's phonenumber is, I've a habit of looking at address books and maps to know where someone is, instead of making a concerted effort to think where they live beforehand. My brother-in-law is the opposite of me: he purposely avoids using his smartphone/GPS, and instead looks at Google Maps directions before taking off for the trip... and relies on it with memory. I asked him why he did that instead of just using the GPS that he does have and he straight up told me he does these things for memory exercises. So now, at least for the past few months, I've also been making a concerted effort in improving my memory and I've found that I can do these incredible things... I can memorize pi to 100 digit, I can memorize pages of books that are in a language I barely understand -- despite my shrink telling me that I have terrible memory.

So I don't think 300bps's comment was offensive at all. Memory is very much a skill that can be improved with dedicated effort. I'm someone who long believed until recently that I had bad memory and I had to deal with it... but this is not true, I can do mental exercises to improve it. Research has proved time and again that learning new languages, new musical instruments, etc. are great exercises to keep the mind/memory sharp. I implore you to look into the idea: use little tricks, read the book "Moonwalking with Einstein" (it's about memorizing things in fun ways), take about a week to memorize digits of pi (spend about 10 hours, I'd say -- use various techniques (which you can read up on online)), and get back to us. See if you truly can or can't memorize pi to the 50th (or even 100th) digit if you really put the effort to it. The more you do it, the more your ability will improve. If it takes you 5 hours the first time around to remember some 50 digits, it'll take you just one hour the next 50th time you do it.

What mental exercises do you find effective at improving memorization, and what would you recommend to a beginner?

There is likely an element of truth to OP's general point.

For example, journalist and author, Joshua Foer[1], talks about the astonishing feats of memory by average people. It becomes more persuasive, when it turns personal. While he starts out by writing a story on memory championships, he decides to take it further and delves deep into learning the techniques himself. Some time later, he ends up becoming the USA Champion!

"In 2006, Foer won the U.S.A. Memory Championship, and set a new USA record in the "speed cards" event by memorizing a deck of 52 cards in 1 minute and 40 seconds"[1]

The Ted Talk provides more detail [2].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Foer

[2] http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_foer_feats_of_memory_anyone_...

I suspect your concept of memory is incorrect. Outside of rare people with deep automatic synaesthesia or other sever mental differences, I don't think there's much variation in different peoples' inherent "ability to remember". People aren't generally better or worse at remembering things by some innate property of their brain. It is a skill, and one can practice and improve at it, and there are lots of very powerful memory techniques, especially including specific problems like "memorizing digits".

I strongly recommend the book "Moonwalking with Einstein" which was very enlightening for me.

It does not take exceptional memory to memorize pi to 100 places--for context, that is only 10 phone numbers worth of digits.

The research is on the parent's side: most people can improve their memory performance with focused practice.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/20/magazine/mind-...

This should not seem that surprising; we easily accept that most people can improve their physical fitness with exercise, for example.

If this response by devindotcom was really "irrelevant nitpicking", then there is an easy solution to that: correct yourself immediately and be very explicit about it. The remainder of this branch could have been avoided completely.

300bps didn't do that though. So did he/she actually mean what was said? Well no, because 10 minutes later your criticisms will be dismissed as [strikethrough]pedantry[/strikethrough] silliness.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com