Aquest any sembla l’any de Londres … no parem de trobar ofertes, o sigui que … ja hi hem tornat a fer cap pel pont de l’1 de maig! Aquest cop, però, amb un altre temps (no va parar de … Continua llegint →
L’últim dia que teníem vam decidir començar a anar cap al nord per no haver de fer-ho tot d’una tirada. Vam passar per Pisa a fer la típica foto aguantant la torre inclinada, tot i que he de dir que … Continua llegint →
Arezzo és coneguda per ser la ciutat on es va rodar La vida és bella, del Roberto Benigni, i a tots els racons t’ho recorden, però també és un important centre etrusc i el lloc on van néixer importants artistes … Continua llegint →
Després de Siena vam decidir conduir per les “carreteres amb encant” del sud de Siena, impressionants els paisatges, són tot allò que t’esperes: grans extensions de turons verds inacabables amb alguns xiprers a les entrades de les masies (que diuen … Continua llegint →
Recórrer la Toscana en aquesta època és tota una experiència inoblidable, els paisatges estan verdíssims i no fa massa calor per perdre’s pels carrers dels pobles que vas trobant. Sense un recorregut inicial, només amb algunes idees al cap, la … Continua llegint →
Puedes leer la versión inglesa de este post aquí: Learn to remember everything: the memory palace method
En este post os voy a enseñar cómo recordar a la perfección una lista. No importa la longitud de la lista: puede ser tu lista de la compra de 10 artículos, o una lista con 50, 100 o incluso 1000 cosas. Y en un próximo post, cómo aplicar este método para aprender idiomas. Suena bien, verdad?
La técnica que vamos a aprender se llama el palacio de la memoria, también conocido en inglés como "method of loci" (por la palabra latina locus, que quiere decir lugar,) aunque en ingles lo más habitual es memory palace o mind palace. Este método es una herramienta fantástica de la que disponer!
El palacio de la memoria
El método del palacio de la memoria tiene sus origines en el siglo 5º A.C., cuando Simonides de Ceos, poeta, atendía un (poco afortunado) banquete en Tesalia. Mientras iba a la puerta a atender a un correo que preguntaba por él, el techo del comedor se derrumbó, matando a todos los comensales. No había manera de reconocer los cadáveres (aplastados por un techo...,) las técnicas de CSI no estaban tan avanzadas como en la tele. Pero Simonides se dio cuenta que no tenía ningún problema en recordar quien estaba dónde, sin prácticamente ningún esfuerzo.
Piénsalo por un momento: es fácil recordar quien se sienta al lado del anfitrión, dónde estaban tus amigos, quien estaba a su lado. Y así, llenas una cena. A Simonides "se le encendió la bombilla," y gracias a esto está considerado como el inventor del método del palacio de la memoria. Aunque usado ampliamente en la antigüedad, no hay prácticamente registros escritos del método: aparece en la obra anónima Rhetorica ad Herrenium y en la obra de Cicerón De Oratore. Pero no es extraño que no haya registro escrito, para ellos sería tan normal escribir un libro sobre el palacio de la memoria como para nosotros escribir un libro sobre cómo ponerse unos pantalones. Todo el mundo saber hacerlo.
El palacio de la memoria es un método cercano a cómo nuestro cerebro funciona. En nuestros días de nómadas cazadores-recolectores necesitábamos saber cómo llegar a algún sitio (lago, llanura) y recordar qué había ahí (agua fresca, fruta, caza). Aprovechando este hecho podemos construir una gran cantidad de métodos de memorización, para listas ordenadas o desordenadas.
Recordar listas puede sonar estúpido, quien quiere memorizar una lista? Pero en el fondo, una lista es un conjunto de conocimientos ordenados! Lo que estudias para un examen de historia es una lista de fechas (ordenada) conectada con hechos (que son sub-listas de la lista principal). Cuando aprendes una nueva receta, es una lista. Un número de teléfono es una lista de números. Un poema es una lista de frases.
Tu primer palacio de la memoria: construcción y llenado
Empecemos a crear nuestro primer palacio de la memoria. El hecho que se le llame palacio no tiene que hacernos pensar en Sissy o películas de Walt Disney, no tiene porqué ser un palacio. De hecho, para empezar, podrías usar tu casa, y como ejemplo imaginaremos una casa muy pequeña. Entrando por la puerta llegamos a un pequeño recibidor, que nos lleva a un comedor con 3 puertas. Del comedor podemos llegar a la cocina, al WC y a la habitación, que tiene un balcón. Este es un ejemplo de casa que vamos a utilizar, para usar el método correctamente deberíamos usar nuestras casas, o otros sitios reales que conozcamos bien.
Ahora memoricemos algo. Una lista de la compra: lechuga, bacon, aros de cebolla, una tarjeta SD y naranjas. He usado una lista corta para hacer el post más corto y para que quepa bien en la casa imaginaria que hemos construido un poco más arriba: prueba con una lista más larga después de esta si no crees que el método funciona!
Para recordar la lista, tenemos que colocar cada elemento en algún sitio de nuestro palacio de la memoria. Esto quiere decir un elemento por habitación o varios elementos por habitación, cada uno en un sitio especial que podamos recordar fácilmente. La manera más simple es poner cada objeto en una habitación diferente. Así, nuestra pequeña casa de 5 habitaciones podría contener una lista de 5, 10 o 15 elementos.
Para colocar un elemento de la lista, tenemos que visualizarlo en la habitación, para asegurar que lo memorizamos, tiene que ser una imagen extremadamente rara. Tiene que dejar una impresión clara, para hacerlo tiene que ser sorprendente, surrealista o sexual, entre otras opciones. Si la imagen es insulsa, recordarla será prácticamente imposible.
Empecemos con la lista. Cuando entramos por la puerta principal, nos saluda la Rana Gustavo, pero un Gustavo especial, hecho de lechuga, como una lechuga parlante. Puedes imaginarlo? Notar el frescor de las hojas de la rana Lechugo? En el comedor hay una estampida de cerdos... perseguidos por Kevin Bacon armado con un tenedor y cara de hambre. Lo bastante raro como para recordarlo? En la cocina, Scarlett Johansson juega con un hoola-hop que es en realidad un aro de cebolla gigante. Entras en la habitación, y te sorprende darte cuenta que la cama es una tarjeta SD gigante, que puedes esconder contra la pared como cuando pones una tarjeta en una cámara. Para acabar, abres el balcón y te encuentras una naranja gigante y brillante haciendo de sol, goteando zumo de naranja sobre el desierto que se abre bajo tu ventana.
Las imágenes debes ponerlas en un sitio que conozcas como la palma de tu mano: tu casa, la casa donde creciste, tu oficina. Esto es muy importante. En este ejemplo he usado una casa imaginaria porque es más fácil, pero en las listas que quieras memorizar, usa sitios conocidos.
Quizá creas que el método no funciona, pero te sorprendería. Escribí la primera parte de este post al empezar la tarde, y ahora, más de 3 horas más tarde al ponerme con la segunda parte aún veo claramente las imágenes. Evidentemente esta es una lista muy corta... Pero no importa: te sería igual de fácil recordar una lista 5 veces más larga.
Encontrar un conjunto de palacios de la memoria
Para recordar una gran cantidad de cosas necesitas una gran cantidad de sitios para poner todos esos recuerdos. Necesitarás encontrar tu propio conjunto de palacios de la memoria. La primera vez que me encontré con este problema, pensé en crear sitios imaginarios (como el pequeño piso que hemos usado más arriba,) conectados de alguna manera con pasillos. El problema? Los palacios artificiales se desdibujan con mucha facilidad, y tiendes a olvidarte de ellos. Es mucho, mucho mejor usar sitios habituales, o que al menos puedes comprobar de nuevo en la vida real, como fotos de un libro, niveles de un juego de ordenador o algún edificio al que puedes volver.
Una vez me di cuenta de esto, empecé a pensar en casas y sitios que pudiera usar... Y me di cuenta que tenía una gran cantidad. Aún recuerdo (y seguro que tu también!) las casas de compañeros de clase de hace 15 años, hoteles en los que he estado, edificios que he visitado. Estoy seguro que podrás encontrar una gran cantidad de sitios que te sirvan de palacios de la memoria. Para empezar, usa sitios muy habituales, como tu casa o oficina, y a medida que cojas práctica podrás usar otros sitios más antiguos.
Puedes leer más sobre encontrar sitios que usar en este post en inglés: Building Your Memory Palace Collection
Palabras finales
Tienes que encontrarle el truco al método. Consigue experiencia convirtiendo objetos habituales (como una lechuga) en imágenes que puedas recordar durante mucho tiempo (como Gustavo el cabeza-lechuga). Cogerle el ritmo es solo cuestión de práctica, igual que pasear por tus palacios en tu cabeza. Práctica, práctica, práctica.
Por cierto, puedes recordar todavía la lista de la compra?
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The Mind Palace Memory Technique (or: what I'm watching on TV lately)
Wednesday 21 March 2012 - 20:01
Wednesday 21 March 2012 - 20:01
Lately I've been watching an interesting TV series. Sherlock, the modern version of Conan Doyle's stories and novels. It is written by Steven Moffat, one of the writers of the new incarnations of Doctor Who, another series I enjoy a lot. Two seasons have come and go (they only have 3 chapters each,) so far both excellent. But I'm not writing this post to (just) praise a TV series, after all I'm not a TV fan whatsoever. What I want to highlight is the appearance of the "mind palace" (as Sherlock named it) in some chapters, another way to put the more widely used memory palace. I have already written a post about how to use the memory palace technique, working as quite an introduction to the subject. But I want to retake it again, since some popular occurrences of the memory palace are pretty... odd.
Setting aside classical titles on memory or memory techniques, and the (somewhat) known book The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci, the first best-seller book I know giving some hints about the method is Harris' Hannibal, the prequel to Silence of the Lamb. In it, Hannibal Lecter explains how he stores all his memories and knowledge in an intricate memory palace. Anything from poems to maps. In Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes is also depicted as using this method to remember a London map, before chasing a cab using his knowledge of one-way routes and construction sites. In another chapter, he is also shown deep in search of data in his mental library. But is it really like this how it works?
First, for newcomers who don't want to read my lengthy article about the memory palace method, let's make a thought experiment to realise how powerful the method is. Close your eyes. Can you picture your parents (or grandparents) house? Mentally walk from room to room? I bet you can, even if your parents have moved since then. Can you walk mentally the route from your parents' home to your school, or high school? I'm sure you can do it without any problem. Your brain is hardwired for this: finding routes. After all, a hunter-gatherer unable to remember where the plants or the water lay was doomed to die.
The memory palace method aims to take advantage of this ability, paired with our visual memory and linking memory to remember... lists. In fact, you don't need to remember lists, but the method is best suited to listed knowledge, since you can remember it ordered. The simplest example would be a shopping list. If you want to go shopping and need milk, onions and some tasty dressing (making some onion rings, maybe?) you can place each item in... your grandparents home. Or along the route to your high school. Problem is, done plainly forgetting it's too easy. You are likely to walk over the 3 onions you placed in the middle of your parents living room. To remember, you have to make everything bigger, noisier and bizarre. Cleopatra (the Egyptian pharaoh of old) bathing in milk in the bathroom (in case you didn't know, Cleopatra is said to bathe in donkey milk). A giant onion-man eating sliced humans in the living room. A bride (well dressed with her wedding dress) covered in ketchup. Far easier to remember, don't you think?
On the other hand, the fictional cases of memory palaces showin in Hannibal and Sherlock are far more abstract. How are you supposed to remember poems or a map? Well, all you need is a code. To memorise a poem you need to remember its verse and rhythm. For Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn, you'd start (again) with a bride, dressed in white with a finger to his lips, ordering silence. Then a boy appears out of nowhere, carrying a huge golden pocket clock in his neck, also gesturing for silence. And so on and so forth. One (or two) images for each verse are almost all you need. Pair it with some repetitions of the poem to get the hang of the rythhm and you'll never be able to forget it.
And how are you supposed to remember a full map? Well, this one is trickier and I still don't know how to remember a plain map. Remembering directions is somehow easy: just store a direction in each room of your palace: turn left, go straight and right on the 3rd is just "1 left" "straight 3 right", which are easier to encode in rooms in a palace. For a map, I don't know and I don't think Sherlock or Hannibal could help us.
Of course if you have a good enough visual memory (or even eidetic memory like Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory) you could remember the full map. But this is just being born with the right genes, and I'd rather know how to do it myself.
Londres és d’aquelles ciutats que no et canses mai d’anar-hi, i sempre hi ha coses per fer i descobrir, i amb un cap de setmana ben aprofitat pots veure moltes coses. Aquest cop el primer dia el vam dedicar a … Continua llegint →
Just in case you don't know, vi is an advanced text editor, drting back from the same era as emacs was developed (emacs started slightly earlier). Sort of the Jekyll to emacs' Dr Hyde. Emacs users despise vi users, and vi users mock emacs users. This is what the editor wars are all about: "Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping" versus "vi has two modes: writing and beeping". If you have been long enough in this blog, you know I'm in the emacs side, but you also know I'm curious enough to delve into the other side.
My first contact with vi was in our first programming class at the University, Informatica (Computer Science). Vi was the editor of choice for the course, so much that you did not have any other option given. Along with a Linux cheatsheet and a short C manual came a vi cheatsheet. A lot of people came to hate vi, a lot of people came to love it. I was more in the hating side, but it wasn't that bad. After a while I just started using a "normal" Linux editor (it was Kate, maybe?) and kept using it (or UltraEdit when I was in Windows) until the end of my degree.
When I finished my degree I had to be a teacher of Calcul Numeric (Numerical Analysis), the third (and last) programming class in the degree. At home I was still using Windows, because the wifi card in my notebook had no Linux drivers and in my office we were using Ubuntu. I needed a cross-platform editor that was quick, versatile and could last for a lifetime. I tried vi (again) and emacs, emacs won the war for two reasons. First was the fact that it was extensible programming in Lisp, and I had already a decent knowledge of Lisp. The second was AucTeX and its "preview" option for LaTeX editing. Nothing can beat pressing C-p C-p C-d and seeing your formulae come to life in your editor. I became an emacs advocate for this reason, then after 5 or 6 years I've found many more reasons why this is the editor. Or, the operating system, if you prefer.
But advocacy is nice, but knowing all the players in the field is better. My department pals used vi (at least most of them), and it was impossible to convince them to switch. I decided learning vi (or vim, vi iMproved) was something I had to do some day, to learn what was there. After all, if I liked it so much I could set viper-mode in emacs and use vi keys in emacs. The best of two worlds, if that world is so nice.
Then the guys at Applidium released a Vim port for iOS devices. Whoah! Even if I'm an emacs guy to the bone, a modal editor is way better than anything else available in the app store, at least for raw editing power. And I say with knowledge, because I've tried most writing apps for iOS devices (see this post).
As an additional reason, Matt Might posted a New Year's post detailing several resolutions for programmers. Among them was breaking your comfort zone to keep your mind sharp. The first example? Switching to vi from emacs or vice-versa. He used to be an emacs user before getting to use Vi. I don't think I could go that far, but these were enough reasons: advocacy (from me, not against me), iPad+bluetooth keyboard and breaking my comfort zone.
How is the experience so far?
Well, I'm writing this post in my sofa, with my iPad
and my bluetooth keyboard sitting in my lap. I'm still getting used to having to exit editing mode to move around: I'm very used to pressing C-a or C-e to go to the beginning of end of line. An additional problem is that even with the bluetooth keyboard, Esc can't be mapped to the Esc event, and I needed something to do it. I have jk (pressed together) for it. It was a suggestiond I saw in Hacker News' comment thread for the release of the app, and it's quite handy. Not so much with the on-screen keyboard, but for now it's okay. To remap this, press backslash (the current mapping for Esc) and then :imap jk
and my bluetooth keyboard sitting in my lap. I'm still getting used to having to exit editing mode to move around: I'm very used to pressing C-a or C-e to go to the beginning of end of line. An additional problem is that even with the bluetooth keyboard, Esc can't be mapped to the Esc event, and I needed something to do it. I have jk (pressed together) for it. It was a suggestiond I saw in Hacker News' comment thread for the release of the app, and it's quite handy. Not so much with the on-screen keyboard, but for now it's okay. To remap this, press backslash (the current mapping for Esc) and then :imap jk
I found out also how to change the font size, at least for now this works (maybe there will be more fonts available in the future), type :set guifont=Courier:h24 (for 24 pixels)
To round everything, I just installed the famous solarized color theme, dark in vim for iPad. Until now I had just thought it was an overhyped color scheme: I had tried in my emacs and didn't enjoy it that much. But in my iPad it shines with a distinct colour, it's so much easier on my eyes that it hurts to get out and write an email! To install it in your vim for iOS, first download solarized.vim from the git repository, then plug your iDevice and use iTunes File Sharing to copy this file to the vim app. Then open vim, :e solarized.vim and :call mkdir(.vim/colors/) (to create the directory needed for it) :w .vim/colors/solarized.vim This is just because I didn't seem to get iTunes File Sharing to work with hidden files (a file starting with a dot is hidden). Then you have to add the following to your .vimrc:
it shines with a distinct colour, it's so much easier on my eyes that it hurts to get out and write an email! To install it in your vim for iOS, first download solarized.vim from the git repository, then plug your iDevice and use iTunes File Sharing to copy this file to the vim app. Then open vim, :e solarized.vim and :call mkdir(.vim/colors/) (to create the directory needed for it) :w .vim/colors/solarized.vim This is just because I didn't seem to get iTunes File Sharing to work with hidden files (a file starting with a dot is hidden). Then you have to add the following to your .vimrc:syntax enable
set background=dark
colorscheme solarized
I recommend using this app for any emacs lover out there with an iPad. Of course, it is not emacs, but vim is a pretty awesome text editor, and it's always handy to learn to use it.
To have a useful list of vim commands at hand I installed the Vimmy app, a universal app with the most common vi commands. I can switch to it via the multitasking gestures in my iPad, or use it in my iPod Touch while I'm using it in the iPad.
Conclusion
I don't think I'll ever switch from emacs to vim any time in the future, as I said AucTeX is definitely too good. Of course since then I've found many more things I love: having a REPL for Python, Clojure or Lisp inside my editor. There's even a REPL for PostScript! Also local remote editing with tramp... There are too many things I use on a daily basis and I can't barely remember, they are so entrenched in my .emacs file I can't even realise what they are. But for my iPad it is an awesome addition to write text on the go.
Again, if you have never used vim before and are interested, give it a try. Of course the first time you open it it will be... a jump into the unknown. Tap the screen, press :e filename and start editing happily. Esc (well, jk or backslash, as the initial mapping) :w to save. And you can even :q to exit to springboard!
Hoy le da por terminar su singladura al 2011, este fantástico año en el que tantos hemos descubierto tantas cosas, y al que deberíamos estar eternamente agradecidos.
