As promised, here’s some blog two-sense on the subject of memory as it pertains to stupidity & intelligence.
According to our book of absolute truths (Wikipedia), memory is “an organism’s ability to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information”. There’s three types of it. Sensory, short and long-term. We care about the one where you remember for 100 years if we ever called you fat. That’s the long-term one.
So imagine this now. Joe, Bob, and John have different memorization capabilities. All three can memorize anything given enough time for repetition. Remembering bits and pieces on the spot though and connecting them throughout time is a different story.
Over a period of 3+ months there were 7 bits of information each person heard :
Bit 1: Something needs to be done about these cockroaches. Assume cockroach = some abstract concept like six sigma procedures.
Bit 2: We should burn them with torches.
Bit 3: Cleaning issues might come into play.
Bit 4: We should blow them away.
Bit 5: Effort predictions are worrying.
Bit 6: Exterminators would solve all these issues.
Bit 7: I hear you can book a good one at 1800 234 569.
The moment of truth: Can you take care of the cockroaches?
Joe: Ehm yeah I gueeess? But I don’t have a lighter.
Bob: I can make an appointment with the exterminators today. Don’t remember the number but I know how to get it [free number + 2 add 1, 4 times and then add 2]
John: Yep. 1800 234 569 was it?
John has great memory and good analytical skills. [2 percent to the extreme right of the distribution]
Bob knows his memory is not so great and he chooses to leave clues along the way. The good thing about clues is that they stick fast to things already remembered or easy to remember for the person. [right half]
Joe digs trenches. If bit 1 was confusing Joe’s chances of tweaking the trench for further bits are close to none. Efforts skyrocket to commit bit 2 to memory. [left half of the distribution]
[cockroach torch cockroach torch cockroach torch cockroach fire cockroach fire]
Enough time passes and things start to “hazy out”. With new information arriving again and again Joe gets frustrated and starts optimizing for spending less and less time and effort to commit to memory this annoying ongoing problem. The last thing he remembers on the issue is the one he committed the most time to. And amazingly enough he thinks he is smart for making the analytical leap to deducing he could use a lighter to solve the burning of the cockroaches. At this point take a deep breath and say to him “You do that Joe, you do that.” As of yet I have not been able to learn a better way of dealing with this specific issue. I am open to any and all suggestions.
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Tags: abstractions, humour, intelligence, lack of intelligence, life, memory, stupidity, thought
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