12 ms·

With how often I've seen spaced repetition mentioned online recently, I'm starting to assume there's a grand conspiracy that's trying to use spaced repetition t

With how often I've seen spaced repetition mentioned online recently, I'm starting to assume there's a grand conspiracy that's trying to use spaced repetition to trick me into remembering about spaced repetition.

ben509 7y ago
If you forgot about it recently and it's coming up a great deal now, then I think the Illuminati have competition.
jsty 7y ago
[Warning: attempt at taking joke seriously] Surely if this were so, it would mean you'd see fewer mentions of spaced repetition over time, rather than more? (assuming your comment implies having seen more than usual recently)
- asdkhadsj 7y ago
  > [Warning: attempt at taking joke seriously] As an aside, I love doing this sort of thing. In conversation, someone makes a joke about X doing something impossible, and then all of us who analyze everything to death start playing the scenario in our head to understand ramifications or limitations in the fictional and often impossible scenario. Drives my wife nuts, but I enjoy it so much :)
  - flomble 7y ago
    Sounds like Yes-And (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and...), accepting the premise and expanding on the joke. Tell your wife you're using a proven comedic technique.
    - hombre_fatal 7y ago
      > Tell your wife you're using a proven comedic technique. "You see, I'm actually being funny right now. It's comedy, trust me."
  - the_watcher 7y ago
    I also enjoy this and have found that a good heuristic for whether or not someone else will is essentially "how much do you enjoy Seinfeld?"
    - asdkhadsj 7y ago
      Your theory holds true with my wife and I. I love Seinfeld, she hates it :D I should note that I actually don't find what I do comedic, nor am I doing it for comedic effect - I'm analyzing the scenario in a similar way that I find myself programming. It seems to feel.. similar to me. Eg, if we're discussing superman I might start thinking about all the normal scenarios Superman must find himself in. How he deals with those normal scenarios with abnormal abilities, and such. Regardless, she still hates obsessing about that in the way I love haha. Similar to your statement, Seinfeld seems to take the same approach to analyzing things but for the target of comedy. Interesting all around. Well, except to my wife. :)
      - the_watcher 7y ago
        I enjoy analyzing in the same way, it's just that Seinfeld takes the same tendency and turns them into jokes, which seem to be much funnier to people who enjoy breaking down trivial things. My version of your Superman example is thinking about mutants from the X-Men universe with trivial mutations: there must be countless useless X-gene mutations, right? What might those be? Invisible skin, but not organs?
        asdkhadsj 7y ago
        Invisible organs, not skin. Poor guy went in for a minor surgery and the doc couldn't find anything. Literally. D:
- DennisP 7y ago
  This assumes everybody started learning at the same time. Since they didn't, there have to be compromises on timing. But just seeing the answer repeatedly isn't sufficient, you also need the effort to recall the answer. That's why so many headlines take the form of a question.
- hobofan 7y ago
  > you'd see fewer mentions of spaced repetition over time, rather than more Only if they start learning the meaning behind it by using it ;) As long as they ignore it, it will just reappear in a fixed interval.
winchling 7y ago
Spaced repetition is how learning naturally works. In real life, if something is interesting, or it just keeps cropping up, you'll remember it. The fact that spaced repetition is proving valuable now is because people in general are confused about their motives for learning stuff. Anyhow, when it comes to learning, motivation is primary, not method.
doc_gunthrop 7y ago
Joke aside, what you're describing sounds more like the Baader-Meinhof effect[0]. [0]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_effect
- dmix 7y ago
  “X big website is down” just hit HN the last few weeks and people on our normally highly rational news site were convinced it was a connected conspiracy.

ben509 7y ago

If you forgot about it recently and it's coming up a great deal now, then I think the Illuminati have competition.

jsty 7y ago

[Warning: attempt at taking joke seriously] Surely if this were so, it would mean you'd see fewer mentions of spaced repetition over time, rather than more? (assuming your comment implies having seen more than usual recently)

asdkhadsj 7y ago
> [Warning: attempt at taking joke seriously] As an aside, I love doing this sort of thing. In conversation, someone makes a joke about X doing something impossible, and then all of us who analyze everything to death start playing the scenario in our head to understand ramifications or limitations in the fictional and often impossible scenario. Drives my wife nuts, but I enjoy it so much :)
- flomble 7y ago
  Sounds like Yes-And (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and...), accepting the premise and expanding on the joke. Tell your wife you're using a proven comedic technique.
  - hombre_fatal 7y ago
    > Tell your wife you're using a proven comedic technique. "You see, I'm actually being funny right now. It's comedy, trust me."
- the_watcher 7y ago
  I also enjoy this and have found that a good heuristic for whether or not someone else will is essentially "how much do you enjoy Seinfeld?"
  - asdkhadsj 7y ago
    Your theory holds true with my wife and I. I love Seinfeld, she hates it :D I should note that I actually don't find what I do comedic, nor am I doing it for comedic effect - I'm analyzing the scenario in a similar way that I find myself programming. It seems to feel.. similar to me. Eg, if we're discussing superman I might start thinking about all the normal scenarios Superman must find himself in. How he deals with those normal scenarios with abnormal abilities, and such. Regardless, she still hates obsessing about that in the way I love haha. Similar to your statement, Seinfeld seems to take the same approach to analyzing things but for the target of comedy. Interesting all around. Well, except to my wife. :)
    - the_watcher 7y ago
      I enjoy analyzing in the same way, it's just that Seinfeld takes the same tendency and turns them into jokes, which seem to be much funnier to people who enjoy breaking down trivial things. My version of your Superman example is thinking about mutants from the X-Men universe with trivial mutations: there must be countless useless X-gene mutations, right? What might those be? Invisible skin, but not organs?
      - asdkhadsj 7y ago
        Invisible organs, not skin. Poor guy went in for a minor surgery and the doc couldn't find anything. Literally. D:
DennisP 7y ago
This assumes everybody started learning at the same time. Since they didn't, there have to be compromises on timing. But just seeing the answer repeatedly isn't sufficient, you also need the effort to recall the answer. That's why so many headlines take the form of a question.
hobofan 7y ago
> you'd see fewer mentions of spaced repetition over time, rather than more Only if they start learning the meaning behind it by using it ;) As long as they ignore it, it will just reappear in a fixed interval.

winchling 7y ago

Spaced repetition is how learning naturally works. In real life, if something is interesting, or it just keeps cropping up, you'll remember it. The fact that spaced repetition is proving valuable now is because people in general are confused about their motives for learning stuff. Anyhow, when it comes to learning, motivation is primary, not method.

doc_gunthrop 7y ago

Joke aside, what you're describing sounds more like the Baader-Meinhof effect[0]. [0]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baader%E2%80%93Meinhof_effect

dmix 7y ago
“X big website is down” just hit HN the last few weeks and people on our normally highly rational news site were convinced it was a connected conspiracy.