So interesting and validating to realize that information gathering with my neurodivergent brain is actually helpful! I love to be in the state of curiosity and wonder as much as I possibly can. I appreciate you and your articles very much Mike!
Cheers, Parker! And yes, different way of seeing and experiencing the world should always be seen as treasure-troves of revelations about ways to be human, with something to teach everyone, ND or not.
Military training relies heavily on the concept of muscle memory for weapons handling and other repetitive motions. I’m also a believer in the theory that we can incorporate memories of traumatic events experienced by our direct ancestors.
Thanks, Robert! Such an interesting topic - I don't know anywhere near enough about it (yet), but I know that it's a hot topic regarding exercise training, where the bodies of those who have trained before seem to be much better at regaining their former shape: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37154489/
"So this way of getting a deeper, specific understanding is about finding lots of different but interconnecting things about whatever it is you want to be interested in.” > This nudges something in me. It makes sense, of course, but I feel my brain going in the direction of "How can I be deliberate about this with the things I'm working on?"
Yes - there's a kind of paradox here. The standard way of thinking about developing a skill is that you have to apply epistemic (academic) curiosity, drilling down and down until you're deeper into it than almost anyone else has got. You narrow down, and in some ways that makes it easier to be deliberate, because you're mostly mono-focused and specific in the things you're learning.
But this seems to be contrary to the way our brains form memories. They make multiple pathways and huge, sprawling numbers of connections, not just a single super-highway of thought. And as chaotic as it can feel, we almost benefit from learning in a similar way: by building many, many routes to the same conclusion, to reinforce it and make it "a fact". (I mean, this is science, really! Any enduring hypothesis has been attacked from thousands of different angles by umpteen very, very smart scientists wanting to make a name for themselves. And in the process, the hypothesis has been reinforced by all those different arguments.)
How this works in practice....is, I guess, tricky. How can you be intentional about embracing what looks like the chaos of "distractions" (ie. things that *might* be completely irrelevant to what you're working on)? Super hard. But I think we can be intentional about having intellectually omnivorous diets. eg. If you find yourself mostly reading one genre, make an effort to sample others that you mostly don't read. Anywhere you realise you don't know anything about a thing (maybe because you've convinced yourself you don't care and will never care), maybe sample a bit of it, just for the sheer novelty of doing so!
Also - and this is an exercise I've had a lot of fun with - write down a bunch of random things you learned this week/month/year, write them on a big sheet of paper, and then try to draw lines between them, to see how they might connect in some way. An exercise for the imagination - but also, maybe, a source of revelation. Those things are only "random" until those connections between them exist and are found to be interesting and meaningful!
"Anywhere you realise you don't know anything about a thing (maybe because you've convinced yourself you don't care and will never care), maybe sample a bit of it, just for the sheer novelty of doing so!"
> Hm, I don't know if I'd approach it as such. Yes to an intellectually omnivorous diet but I think for me it would work better to have curiosity as the driver more than not knowing something. While I'm certain there are cases in which I could be surprised, I am also certain that there are plenty of things I know nothing of because I truly don't care :D
What I like when I'm reading or listening to something is when my brain instinctively goes: "How can I link that to x?"
A more conscious creative exercise would be to ask that question about pretty much anything and see where you land. I clearly wrote this without having read your last paragraph first - sorry :) As to your exercise: the really hard part is actually realizing what you've learned. When it's factual bits or a skill, that's easier than when it's more of a small life lesson.
The difference with science might be that it's trying to solve a problem, whereas with this multi-topical way of learning, it's probably more beneficial to not focus on an end goal.
Then again, there have been plenty of scientific discoveries that came about because scientists stumbled upon something while studying something else.
You never need to apologize for a long comment as far as I'm concerned :)
Just getting back into your newsletters and had to comment on this one as one of my fave wartime paintings is by Group of Seven artist Arthur Lismer, who lived about a kilometer and a half from where I live now during the Halifax Explosion. The painting is of the sister ship to the titanic - the Olympic. I can't post it in the comment box, but definitely google it to see the dazzle pattern painted on it.
Agreed, absolutely stunning on a ship that big. Putting aside the countermeasures warfare side of things - it doesn't look too far away from the boldest graphic designs seen on modern cruise ships?
These neurological deficit case studies and stories are really fascinating. Definitely a highlight of med school. Not only do they illuminate the incredible complexity of human consciousness and cognition, but they also drive a kind of reverence for me in terms of appreciating the miracle of existence and the sentience to know about it. Thanks for sharing this! 🤯😊
Thanks, Ryan! As a complete amateur with no medical training, I'm in total awe as I learn about this stuff - so I'm rather envious of your time at med school (although, my other half also went through med school, so I know how gruelling it can be as well, so maybe I have no clue what I'm missing in both cases)...
If you don't mind me asking - does writing your newsletter make you use it a bit like a personal med school, to have the excuse to take deeper dives into topics you've always wanted to know a bit more about, as well as passing along the wealth of things you've already learned as a practicing physician?
There is a lovely novel by Yoko Ogawa called The Housekeeper and the Professor, where the prof has I think 80 sec of memory. He pins notes to his clothes. Fascinating book.
Thank you, Tobias! Sounds right up my street - I've just grabbed a copy. I'm intrigued by this bit from the Wikipedia overview:
>>"He has a talent for reading things backwards and finding the first star in the sky."
That sounds a bit like the Professor has working procedural (embodied) memory - he can read things backwards because he's honed that skill hundreds of times without remembering he's done so? I see that memory is a theme Yoko Ogawa keeps returning to (eg. with "The Memory Police" (1994): "The Memory Police is about a group of islanders who gradually forget the existence of certain things, such as birds or flowers"), so I bet she's done a lot of research into the real-life science...
The Memory Police is a very weird book. While parts of it are evocative, magical, moving, as a whole it didn't work for me. Maybe because the premise is just so outlandish. But the kind of long term memory loss in the The Housekeeper and the Professor is all too real. Enjoy!
The budding psychology researcher in me loved this Mike! Neuroscience, plasticity, and memory has been so fascinating to me, like how London cab drivers memorize and learn routes.
A fascinating read. I remember (irony not intended) learning about Henry’s story, and memory in general, when I studied psychology. It’s a fascinating subject – and one I also found bewildering.
This was very relatable:
“…the software of our minds might not be designed to imagine the complexity of the hardware it runs on - which is very peculiar indeed, if you think about it long enough.”
I thought about that a lot when I was studying. I still do!
So interesting and validating to realize that information gathering with my neurodivergent brain is actually helpful! I love to be in the state of curiosity and wonder as much as I possibly can. I appreciate you and your articles very much Mike!
That's so kind of you to say, Nancy. Thank you! :)
Same! The ND ‘perk’ and also loving these newsletters. Thank you 🤩
Cheers, Parker! And yes, different way of seeing and experiencing the world should always be seen as treasure-troves of revelations about ways to be human, with something to teach everyone, ND or not.
Military training relies heavily on the concept of muscle memory for weapons handling and other repetitive motions. I’m also a believer in the theory that we can incorporate memories of traumatic events experienced by our direct ancestors.
Thanks, Robert! Such an interesting topic - I don't know anywhere near enough about it (yet), but I know that it's a hot topic regarding exercise training, where the bodies of those who have trained before seem to be much better at regaining their former shape: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37154489/
"So this way of getting a deeper, specific understanding is about finding lots of different but interconnecting things about whatever it is you want to be interested in.” > This nudges something in me. It makes sense, of course, but I feel my brain going in the direction of "How can I be deliberate about this with the things I'm working on?"
Yes - there's a kind of paradox here. The standard way of thinking about developing a skill is that you have to apply epistemic (academic) curiosity, drilling down and down until you're deeper into it than almost anyone else has got. You narrow down, and in some ways that makes it easier to be deliberate, because you're mostly mono-focused and specific in the things you're learning.
But this seems to be contrary to the way our brains form memories. They make multiple pathways and huge, sprawling numbers of connections, not just a single super-highway of thought. And as chaotic as it can feel, we almost benefit from learning in a similar way: by building many, many routes to the same conclusion, to reinforce it and make it "a fact". (I mean, this is science, really! Any enduring hypothesis has been attacked from thousands of different angles by umpteen very, very smart scientists wanting to make a name for themselves. And in the process, the hypothesis has been reinforced by all those different arguments.)
How this works in practice....is, I guess, tricky. How can you be intentional about embracing what looks like the chaos of "distractions" (ie. things that *might* be completely irrelevant to what you're working on)? Super hard. But I think we can be intentional about having intellectually omnivorous diets. eg. If you find yourself mostly reading one genre, make an effort to sample others that you mostly don't read. Anywhere you realise you don't know anything about a thing (maybe because you've convinced yourself you don't care and will never care), maybe sample a bit of it, just for the sheer novelty of doing so!
Also - and this is an exercise I've had a lot of fun with - write down a bunch of random things you learned this week/month/year, write them on a big sheet of paper, and then try to draw lines between them, to see how they might connect in some way. An exercise for the imagination - but also, maybe, a source of revelation. Those things are only "random" until those connections between them exist and are found to be interesting and meaningful!
Sorry, Sofie. This comment is endless. 😁
"Anywhere you realise you don't know anything about a thing (maybe because you've convinced yourself you don't care and will never care), maybe sample a bit of it, just for the sheer novelty of doing so!"
> Hm, I don't know if I'd approach it as such. Yes to an intellectually omnivorous diet but I think for me it would work better to have curiosity as the driver more than not knowing something. While I'm certain there are cases in which I could be surprised, I am also certain that there are plenty of things I know nothing of because I truly don't care :D
What I like when I'm reading or listening to something is when my brain instinctively goes: "How can I link that to x?"
A more conscious creative exercise would be to ask that question about pretty much anything and see where you land. I clearly wrote this without having read your last paragraph first - sorry :) As to your exercise: the really hard part is actually realizing what you've learned. When it's factual bits or a skill, that's easier than when it's more of a small life lesson.
The difference with science might be that it's trying to solve a problem, whereas with this multi-topical way of learning, it's probably more beneficial to not focus on an end goal.
Then again, there have been plenty of scientific discoveries that came about because scientists stumbled upon something while studying something else.
You never need to apologize for a long comment as far as I'm concerned :)
Just getting back into your newsletters and had to comment on this one as one of my fave wartime paintings is by Group of Seven artist Arthur Lismer, who lived about a kilometer and a half from where I live now during the Halifax Explosion. The painting is of the sister ship to the titanic - the Olympic. I can't post it in the comment box, but definitely google it to see the dazzle pattern painted on it.
Thank you, Shauna - I didn't know this. But I see the Canadian War Museum has it covered! https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/objects-and-photos/art-and-culture/official-art/olympic-with-returned-soldiers/ (And the real thing via reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/titanic/comments/x8lyob/olympic_in_her_dazzle_paint/ )
Agreed, absolutely stunning on a ship that big. Putting aside the countermeasures warfare side of things - it doesn't look too far away from the boldest graphic designs seen on modern cruise ships?
Dazzle has been known to to disrupt facial recognition software.
Yes! I'd forgotten that - thanks, Richard. It has its own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_vision_dazzle
These neurological deficit case studies and stories are really fascinating. Definitely a highlight of med school. Not only do they illuminate the incredible complexity of human consciousness and cognition, but they also drive a kind of reverence for me in terms of appreciating the miracle of existence and the sentience to know about it. Thanks for sharing this! 🤯😊
Thanks, Ryan! As a complete amateur with no medical training, I'm in total awe as I learn about this stuff - so I'm rather envious of your time at med school (although, my other half also went through med school, so I know how gruelling it can be as well, so maybe I have no clue what I'm missing in both cases)...
If you don't mind me asking - does writing your newsletter make you use it a bit like a personal med school, to have the excuse to take deeper dives into topics you've always wanted to know a bit more about, as well as passing along the wealth of things you've already learned as a practicing physician?
There is a lovely novel by Yoko Ogawa called The Housekeeper and the Professor, where the prof has I think 80 sec of memory. He pins notes to his clothes. Fascinating book.
Thank you, Tobias! Sounds right up my street - I've just grabbed a copy. I'm intrigued by this bit from the Wikipedia overview:
>>"He has a talent for reading things backwards and finding the first star in the sky."
That sounds a bit like the Professor has working procedural (embodied) memory - he can read things backwards because he's honed that skill hundreds of times without remembering he's done so? I see that memory is a theme Yoko Ogawa keeps returning to (eg. with "The Memory Police" (1994): "The Memory Police is about a group of islanders who gradually forget the existence of certain things, such as birds or flowers"), so I bet she's done a lot of research into the real-life science...
The Memory Police is a very weird book. While parts of it are evocative, magical, moving, as a whole it didn't work for me. Maybe because the premise is just so outlandish. But the kind of long term memory loss in the The Housekeeper and the Professor is all too real. Enjoy!
The budding psychology researcher in me loved this Mike! Neuroscience, plasticity, and memory has been so fascinating to me, like how London cab drivers memorize and learn routes.
A fascinating read. I remember (irony not intended) learning about Henry’s story, and memory in general, when I studied psychology. It’s a fascinating subject – and one I also found bewildering.
This was very relatable:
“…the software of our minds might not be designed to imagine the complexity of the hardware it runs on - which is very peculiar indeed, if you think about it long enough.”
I thought about that a lot when I was studying. I still do!