Archives for July 27, 2007

I’m almost finished with the theme for this week – just one more concept to flesh out.

Too often we simplify to an extent that’s beyond the reach of the supporting reality. It’s a normal part of the process of assimilating what we can from our environment. We don’t remember every stark detail of every conversation (unless we are my wife, and I am saying something that has the potential to be hugely embarrassing when recalled in 20 months or so.) We don’t memorize every rock along the side of the road. We do tend to watch for patterns that interest us, or are at odds with entropy. “Rocks don’t just naturally trace the outline of an arrow on the ground” we say to ourselves, and we impart some meaning or message from that.

This is the process of encoding – packing in the essential information in as few memory chunks as possible. If there is a need for us to remember things in more detail, we can focus and do so.

The two errors we have in encoding are encoding too much (like when I remember that my wife looked happy on Wednesday, but forgot the list of things she wanted for her birthday); and encoding too little (remembering to packs five shirts, five pants, and no socks – because we weren’t thinking of “full outfits.”) It’s a delicate dance between the two. If you never end up over-encoding, then maybe you’re remembering too many facts and letting some slip by. Or more importantly, maybe you’re missing the big picture entirely. If you always over-encode, you are making decisions today about the things you will never ever need to remember again. [Read more…]