[HN Gopher] Incremental Learning
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Incremental Learning
        
       Author : Tomte
       Score  : 65 points
       Date   : 2022-04-26 15:31 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.super-memory.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.super-memory.com)
        
       | henry_pulver wrote:
       | What actually is incremental learning?
       | 
       | The 'What is Incremental Learning?' section seems deliberately
       | poorly written.                   Incremental learning is the
       | fastest and the most comprehensive way of learning available to
       | students at the moment of writing (2013).
       | Incremental learning is a consolidation of computer-based
       | techniques that accelerate and optimize the process of learning
       | from all conceivable material available in electronic form, and
       | not only.              Currently, SuperMemo is the only software
       | that implements incremental learning. In SuperMemo, the student
       | feeds the program with all forms of learning material and/or data
       | (texts, pictures, videos, sounds, etc.). Those learning materials
       | are then gradually converted into durable knowledge that can last
       | a lifetime.
        
         | caslon wrote:
         | It's a system for automating learning.
         | 
         | You have thirty books. Instead of taking a month for each book,
         | getting value sequentially, you read all thirty books at the
         | same time, with the software splitting it up for you into tiny
         | pieces, so you can soak them all in and get lots of knowledge
         | simultaneously, rather than the sort of limited, controlled
         | drip of knowledge from an individual work.
         | 
         | It's surprisingly useful for things like language learning,
         | where you don't really start with much understanding but books
         | intend for your ability to change while reading; that said, the
         | author uses it for _everything_ he consumes, even email.
         | 
         | It's pretty interesting, if you're of the belief that knowledge
         | compounds, or if you just don't really have the patience or
         | attention span for individual works. Certainly isn't for
         | everyone, and if you aren't willing to make your own tooling,
         | the existing tooling is pretty bad.
        
           | sva_ wrote:
           | This made me wonder, which languages would be best learned
           | together. Probably a pairing like Italian, French, Spanish
           | would work well, as they're all Latin languages.
           | 
           | Or perhaps it would be better to pair some languages which
           | have defining differences.
        
             | harperlee wrote:
             | I think similar languages such as the ones you mention
             | would be great; as a native spanish speaker I continue to
             | find joyful coincidences and contrasts that help even
             | better understanding my native tongue. For example, neither
             | guardare (italian), nor regarder (french), have a direct
             | reflection in spanish (guardar in spanish is to keep, or to
             | look after, but not literally to look, which is mirar
             | instead), but it is what a guardia does.
        
         | rocketbop wrote:
         | I'm not sure, but learning is certainly more than remembering
         | things. Years ago I spent a lot of time typing CS things into
         | Anki and practicing their recall. Eventually I realised that I
         | didn't really have a good understanding of half the things I
         | was memorising.
        
       | Hakeemmidan wrote:
       | Add some horizontal padding to the page: 1. Right-click,
       | 'inspect'
       | 
       | 2. Click on the 'console' tab in the newly opened inspection pane
       | 
       | 3. Paste the following into the input field:
       | 
       | document.getElementById('bodyContent').style = 'margin: 0 15%;'
       | 
       | 4. Click 'Enter' or 'Return'
       | 
       | PS: This isn't permanent. Doing a page refresh gets rid of it.
        
       | layer8 wrote:
       | The wiki version may have more readable formatting:
       | https://help.supermemo.org/index.php?title=Incremental_learn...
        
       | supertofu wrote:
       | Useful website, in principle. HORRIBLE READING EXPERIENCE. My
       | eyes gave up after a couple seconds.
        
         | bluedays wrote:
         | They're still incrementally developing the website.
        
       | bluedays wrote:
       | Or as I like to call it "learning".
        
       | imperistan wrote:
       | I use the supermemo software. It works great for learning but the
       | software itself is a bloated mess
        
       | pfkurtz wrote:
       | I keep a few math books and a variety of dual-language paperbacks
       | in the bathroom. It's become a really important part of my
       | intellectual diet.
        
       | Der_Einzige wrote:
       | Seems to not be all that related to
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incremental_learning
       | 
       | also known as "Online learning"
       | 
       | Any model that can be continuously trained (this includes neural
       | networks) is an "incremental learner".
        
       | qumpis wrote:
       | I never heard people advocating for this approach (people like
       | Michael Nielsen and alike). Anyone is in reseach and had a
       | positive experience with it?
       | 
       | It makes sense that context-independent SRS are not suited for
       | incremental reading, so I wonder what's stopping from this
       | approach filling the gap. Is it solely pricing issue?
        
         | jayde2767 wrote:
         | Books I have read [1,2,3] have all discussed the "incremental
         | learning" approach without calling it that. They frame it in
         | the context of daily repetitions of the material in order to
         | gradually solidify it in your mind and commit it to longer-term
         | memory. However, their approach goes well beyond that and
         | explores many additional factors that play into the learning
         | process as well.
         | 
         | The fact remains, in order to learn ANYTHING, there are no
         | "tricks" for most of us. It takes effort, engagement, focus,
         | self-discipline, commitment, and consistent application of the
         | material, call it repetition whatever.
         | 
         | I have not found any short-cuts and while there may be
         | techniques that might help with memorization (mnemonics and
         | phonetics etc) your brain is dependent upon the amount of rest
         | you get, the quality of your diet, the degree to which your
         | brain is not under external stress while it is engaged in
         | learning and a desire and willingness to be engaged with your
         | topic, IMO.
         | 
         | [1] The Science of Self-learning, Hollins, Peter ISBN:
         | 978-1731416735 (Although Hollins goes into more detail around
         | how to read, self-discipline etc.)
         | 
         | [2] The Self-Learning Blueprint, Hollins, Peter ISBN:
         | 978-1077241275 (This book, from the same author in [1] is
         | completely different in that he addresses the 4 pillars of
         | learning: Transform and Synthesize Knowledge, Combine the New
         | with the Familiar, Self-testing and Retrieval, and Absorption)
         | 
         | [3] Teach Yourself How to Learn, MacGuire et al, ISBN:
         | 978-1620367568 (This book treats metacognition, positive
         | emotions and motivation as the cornerstones of Learning)
        
       | meristohm wrote:
       | Anki (http://ankisrs.net/ and https://ankiweb.net/about) is what
       | I'm familiar with. All versions are freely available except the
       | iOS version ($25). I use it to memorize all sorts of things,
       | including phone numbers (something I used to do as a kid before
       | mobile phones), birthdays, vocabulary (English and other
       | languages), and poetry.
       | 
       | Reading a book and then taking a walk is a form of incremental
       | learning. Reading a page and pausing to question yourself about
       | what you just read is incremental learning (see Make It Stick:
       | the science of successful learning, by Brown, Roediger, and
       | McDaniel, 2014).
       | 
       | SuperMemo is one way to go about it, but it seems like icing on a
       | readily-available cake.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-04-26 23:01 UTC)