1 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julia Class and 4 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: Julie I don't have the best memory in the world. Um, 5 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: I mean, maybe it's an average memory. I'm not saying 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: I'm I have problems with my brain or anything, but 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: I often forget that. I think everybody has this where 8 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: the really boring stuff you need to remember sometimes uh, 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: you don't remember. I can have a simple list to 10 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: go to the grocery with, and if I don't have 11 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: it written like in the notes section of my iPhone, 12 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: then I'm not gonna remember everything. Even if it's something vital, 13 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: like something the thing that I need to eat that night, 14 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: an important component in the in then the meal, I 15 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: still will forget to pick it up. I'm sorry, what 16 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: were you just saying? Now, that's just uh, you know, 17 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: I have a horrible memory. Actually, I've read something in 18 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: our research that compared memory to a Wikipedia entry. Yeah, 19 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: and they were saying, it's like it's your memory is 20 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:12,119 Speaker 1: constantly being altered and augmented and then sometimes pared away. Yeah, 21 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: and sometimes the stuff that it's being updated with is 22 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 1: completely uh, not true. It's horse manure sometimes turns out. Yeah, 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,839 Speaker 1: and that's not necessarily what we're gonna talk about today, 24 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:24,839 Speaker 1: but you could actually talk to me about that before, 25 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: and I thought it was fascinating. Were you saying that 26 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,759 Speaker 1: when you have a memory, each time you bring it up, 27 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: you're revising it in some way? Oh yeah, yeah, Um 28 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: well we'll we'll definitely have to cover that in an 29 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: upcoming episode in more detail. But yeah, every time you 30 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: you bring up a memory, you're not just removing it 31 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: pristine from the vault and then returning it pristine to 32 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: the vault, but you're updating at each time because your 33 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: brain needs updated information because we live in a world us, 34 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: as we discussed in our Math podcast, we live in 35 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: a world and don't have to navigate a world of 36 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: multiple movable objects and symbols. So we have to be 37 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: able to fly with that yep. And then hence the 38 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: horsemen who are sometimes right right. So people have had 39 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: horrible memories for as long as we've had to remember 40 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: things because uh, just as math, as we discussed in 41 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: the Math podcast, we develop mathematics to do the things 42 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: that we're not naturally inclined to be able to do 43 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: with our normal mental faculties. We have to develop systems. 44 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: But what to do if you're in the Roman Empire, 45 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: for for instance, just hanging out and you don't necessarily 46 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,519 Speaker 1: have a ton of books around you or your your 47 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: iPhone there? Yeah, well, in this case you turn to 48 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: something called the memory palace, also known as the method 49 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: of Loki. Right, that's right, and the the origins of 50 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: this go back to a particular back to the fifth 51 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 1: century BC and a Greek poet by the name of 52 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: Somonodes of CEOs. And uh, he was attending a party, 53 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: you know, in the dining hall, having fun around a 54 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: table with a bunch of a bunch of buddies, and 55 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: he uh walked out for a few minutes, and the 56 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: whole entire place collapsed behind him. Oh, he walked out. 57 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: I wondered how he survived. Okay, yeah, maybe he went 58 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: up for smoke or something else. But but he went outside, uh, 59 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,639 Speaker 1: and everything collapsed. He survives everybody else that's just crushed 60 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: to just mush, just a smucker's jam. There's no identifying 61 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: these people. But he was, yeah, with a name like Smuckers. Um, 62 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: so he goes back in you know, he doesn't go 63 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: back in, but they dig everything up again. Smucker's jam everywhere, 64 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: and they're like, all right, who were each of these people? 65 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: And he says, well, let me think about it. And 66 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: he's able to identify each puddle uh as as he's 67 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: able to that was, and he's able to identify them 68 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: based on their seating position at the table. He's able 69 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: to remember where they were spatially and and therefore remember 70 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: who they were identified these remains. And this was a 71 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: big moment for him, right yeah, because then he realized, hey, 72 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: I could apply this to other things in my life. 73 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: If I have a list I need to remember, if 74 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: there's a long list of facts I need to get down, 75 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: this is how I could do it. And uh and 76 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: and so this survived for ages. Uh you know, well, 77 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: you know, for centuries and centuries and on up through today. Um. 78 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,799 Speaker 1: One big proponent of this was Dominican monk uh Giordano Bruno, 79 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: who was actually he was burned at the stake in 80 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: UH sixteen hundred for heresy, but it wasn't the memory 81 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 1: palace method that they got him there though I think 82 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: some people found it kind of creepy, but his whole 83 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: thing had to do with he believed that God was 84 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: president nature and the universe in life was infinite. Therefore 85 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: that you know, there might be aliens or something and uh, 86 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: and so that got him into the hot water. Yeah. 87 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: The Roman Catholic Church wasn't big on that at the time, 88 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: though today they have a statue where he where he 89 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: was burned, and and he's more revered these days. It's 90 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: nice at least later on. Yeah. So the basically the 91 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: the idea here, Uh, if you want to look at 92 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: just sort of a simple version, if you take these 93 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:08,000 Speaker 1: mundane facts and you position them in a spatial framework 94 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 1: and you make and you make them interesting, all right, 95 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: So that the idea of the memory palaces to create 96 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: a mental house in which to house and organize symbolic images, 97 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: which then could serve as a queue for information retrieval, 98 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: right right, Like, for instance, our good friend um, um 99 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: simonities here could easily populate this this banquet table with um, 100 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: you know, a list of addresses he needs to remember 101 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 1: if he can come up with a unique way to 102 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: remember each one and then remember them in order based 103 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: on where they are at the table. Okay, and um, 104 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 1: just a little side fact to Thomas Harris's novel Hannibal. Actually, 105 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: Hannibal Lecter uses memory palaces for his patients records. He does, 106 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: I've forgotten about that. I've read that. Yeah, he even 107 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: includes music too for the rooms that he's going into. Um. Well, hey, 108 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: if it's good enough for Hannibal Lecter, you know, it's 109 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,599 Speaker 1: it's good enough for me, which is why I actually 110 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: tried this out yesterday. Uh and and I'm going to 111 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 1: repeat everything that I imagined the way I built and 112 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,599 Speaker 1: populated my memory palace so that I could remember a 113 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: list of five things to get from the grocery store 114 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: in the way home. Okay, you didn't write a thing down. No, 115 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: did not write a thing down. It didn't put anything 116 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: in my in my phone and uh and so these 117 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: were the things. Just it was a soy creamer, ingle 118 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: Hoffer's mustard, aunt traps, frozen fruit, and toilet paper. So, um, 119 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: you know, just this is a standard run for me. Um, alright, 120 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: what what does your memory palace look like? So I 121 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: decided to for the space. I decided to use the 122 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: space that I'm occupying right now, the house, stuff works, 123 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: podcast room, slash podcast chamber. Okay, so this is the 124 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: way I pictured it all right over here behind you 125 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: is our sound booth, and inside it I pictured a 126 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: robot cow drinking coffee for my soy milk, all right. 127 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: And then seated where you are, you're not here, but 128 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:07,480 Speaker 1: instead there's a large German man uh in in a 129 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: later hosen, big mustache going on, and he's got big 130 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: clumps of of of spicy hot mustard in his mustache. 131 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: And that's the the engle Hoffers mustache, because it has 132 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:20,160 Speaker 1: a little German man on the lap. Uh. Then in 133 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: this seat between us, because the table that we record 134 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: at has a third chair that is never occupied by 135 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: an actual person. Um. But in in my memory palace, 136 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: it is occupied by a large pile, like a human 137 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: sized pile of frozen fruit. And it's just gleaming in 138 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: the light, smelting a little bit, smelling sweet and uh. 139 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: And you know I can see strawberry and mango and all. 140 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: And because this is an important part of the memory, 141 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: cost to add some details to it. You know, you're 142 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: not just thinking the word um. You know, you're not 143 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: just thinking the word frozen fruit. You're picturing it. Uh. 144 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: It is existing in space and not just a concept, 145 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: all right. And then if I were to poke my 146 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: head out through these curtains where Jerry is setting uh 147 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: our producer, I would see a giant ant and that 148 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: Aunt is dressed in Maria von Trapps dress from the 149 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: Sound of Music, because I need to remember Aunt Traps. Yeah. 150 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: And then the fifth item, standing at the green screen 151 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: behind Jerry's seat, there is a toilet paper mummy going 152 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: through a number of sexy poses for the camera. They're 153 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,559 Speaker 1: sexy poses. Yeah, yeah, so and I So anyway, it worked. 154 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: I was able to remember I know only five things. 155 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: That's kind of puny, but I was able to remember 156 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: these five things. Now you can also say that while 157 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: I was doing this for the podcast, I was applying 158 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: more thought to this than I would normally apply to 159 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: the list that I of things I need to pick up. 160 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: And it's also worth noting that even though this is 161 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: an abbreviated version, one can use use people use this 162 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: for hundreds of items, right and in fact, in each 163 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: room you could have five ten different items that are 164 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: living there. It's just a matter of placing the object, right. Yeah. Well, 165 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: how about you, do you have a memory pale constructed? 166 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: I do, and I'm not going to actually share it 167 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: um because I don't think it's I'll share one on 168 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: my on my list, And basically I need to mail 169 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: my f S a reimbursement right flexible spending account. So 170 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: at my front door, I just pictured angry chirups with 171 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: wings made out of dollar bills greeting me at the 172 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:24,079 Speaker 1: front door with a pile of mail. That's good, right, 173 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: like you, And they're angry because they're like, you don't 174 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:27,719 Speaker 1: send the stuff in my wings are going to fall 175 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:29,640 Speaker 1: off or whatever. I don't know, but I do have 176 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:32,800 Speaker 1: other rooms, but just for brevity's sake, I won't I 177 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,079 Speaker 1: won't tell. But what I love about this is that 178 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:40,320 Speaker 1: it quickly becomes very similar to the surrealism that I 179 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: don't know about you, but for me, that I experienced 180 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: in my dreams. Yeah, right, like all of a sudden, 181 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:49,120 Speaker 1: there's these incongruent things going on and they're they're wild 182 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 1: and they're fantastic. And that's I think why we remember 183 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: our dreams sometimes, right, because they're so extraordinary. Yeah, we 184 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: were honest at least, Yeah exactly, I mean we were. 185 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 1: We were talking about about this, how we make something 186 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,559 Speaker 1: mundane and we turn it into something crazy and memorable. 187 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 1: In the same way that on this trip from New York. 188 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: We we both just came back from attending the World 189 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: Science Festival in New York City two thousand eleven. It's 190 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: gonna be back in two thousand twelve. Highly recommend anybody's 191 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:17,079 Speaker 1: big into science and lives in New York to give 192 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: it a go. And and that's actually where I attended 193 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,439 Speaker 1: uh A. I was an audience for a panel on 194 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: memory and that's where I get really excited about the 195 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: concept of the Memory Palace. But while I was waiting 196 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: to go into one of these events, my wife and 197 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,480 Speaker 1: I we were waiting out in this little courtyard area 198 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:36,960 Speaker 1: and we saw this man walk up with a box, 199 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 1: like cardboard box under his arm that said Trout on 200 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: the side, like I don't know, like a beer cart, 201 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: like a box that like beer would come in or something, 202 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:46,120 Speaker 1: but he just said Trout. I don't know what the 203 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 1: brand was. But anyway, he he's standing there there, puts 204 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,720 Speaker 1: his box down on the ground and he gets a 205 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: handful of of like bread or crackers out, and he 206 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: starts feeding the pigeons, which I don't think it's technically illegal, 207 00:10:57,800 --> 00:10:59,520 Speaker 1: but he's doing it anyway. So he's feeding the pigeons. 208 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: Three of them end there and they're just standing there eating, 209 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,080 Speaker 1: and then slowly he starts raising his hand up, moving 210 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: his hand forward, and then he reaches down, snatches one 211 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:10,200 Speaker 1: of the pigeons, stuffs it into the cardboard box, and 212 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 1: then walks off with the cardboard box full of a pigeon. 213 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: And so you told me that, And I don't think 214 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 1: I'll ever be able to look at a pigeon without 215 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: thinking of that poor pigeon's fate. Yeah, or or or 216 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:26,800 Speaker 1: wondering again why the side of the the the cooler 217 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: said trout. Yeah, yeah, so that it's Yeah. I have 218 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:32,640 Speaker 1: no idea what he was doing with it, what the 219 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: purpose was, if he was an official pigeon catcher, if 220 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: he was gonna eat it for dinner, Uh, you know 221 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: who knows. But it was memorable because it was so weird. 222 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: And so the memory palace is is kind of like, 223 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: let's make the mundane fact, let's make the soy creamer 224 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,439 Speaker 1: that I will inevitably forget. Let's make that into something 225 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: memorable so that I can't forget it, at least for 226 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: a short term. Um, and then you can you can 227 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: use this this uh, this memory palace and you can 228 00:11:57,559 --> 00:12:00,200 Speaker 1: populate it with hundreds of items, so you can we 229 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: can remember a list in order of hundreds of items, 230 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: and that's what mental athletes do. They're called mental athletes, 231 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: and we'll get to them in a bit. Um. Yeah, 232 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 1: after this quick break. Yeah, this presentation is brought to 233 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: you by Intel Sponsors of Tomorrow and we're back. Do 234 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: you remember what we were talking about everyone memory palace 235 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 1: at Robotic Cows. Yeah, yeah, well that that was part 236 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: of it. That was how we remember that. Yeah. Well, 237 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,080 Speaker 1: let's just walk this really quickly, just like sort of 238 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: four easy steps on how you can create your own 239 00:12:37,559 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: memory palace. Um. So we've already talked about the first step, 240 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: which is create a physical location that you can clearly 241 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: visualize right now. And that's why I went with the 242 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: podcast chamber for me because I see it all the time. 243 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:52,200 Speaker 1: I'm very familiar with the with the locations, and I 244 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,560 Speaker 1: can can imagine it instantly, right And you can make 245 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: up your own palace, you know, just as long as 246 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: you can, um get a clear beat on on the 247 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: detail of it. Might I recommend like maybe the command 248 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 1: deck from one of the Star Trek shows. There you go, 249 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: that's a good example. Um. And step two is to 250 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:11,720 Speaker 1: establish a memory route through the location. Right, So if 251 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:14,719 Speaker 1: you're gonna use say your childhood home, then you want 252 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: to go through the front door, and you know, pick 253 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: a route that say you go left to the kitchen 254 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 1: and then down the hallway or so on and so forth. Um, 255 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:23,920 Speaker 1: you want to keep that same route all the time? 256 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:27,319 Speaker 1: Am I right about that? Yes? Okay? Yeah. Joshua four 257 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: who wrote a book about all this called The moon 258 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: Walking with Einstein, he actually did a short video for 259 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: the World Science Festival and uh, and it was shown 260 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: during this memory panel that I attended, and uh and 261 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: he he was he actually did it in a garden, 262 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: like in a like an' really garden. It was more 263 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 1: like a gardenery of a park or something. And he 264 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: was he actually, you know, he's like, all right, here 265 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 1: is going to be And it was something crazy like 266 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: you know, Einstein moonwalking, that's the title. And then he 267 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:56,680 Speaker 1: walked through it and he was able to do like 268 00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 1: a list of a hundred and ten thing. Yeah. And 269 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:00,319 Speaker 1: as he's walking through it, he's placing the checks. So 270 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,200 Speaker 1: this is really important. So once you're you establish your route, 271 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:04,880 Speaker 1: you want to put your objects that you want to 272 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,080 Speaker 1: remember your things or your concepts they want to remember 273 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: in that room. And the reason why you want to 274 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 1: do this is because it becomes what's called a memory peg. Okay, 275 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 1: so that's important for step three is you need to 276 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: now peg the memory to the object. So that's when 277 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: you start to think about these really bizarre associations. Right, 278 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: the more bizarre the better. If you want to remember 279 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: to pick up bananas, then can visualize your front door 280 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: as a banana dacary portal with Carmen Miranda greeting you 281 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: or something along those lines. It helps if you're kind 282 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: of silly. I think silliness definitely. Yeah, And you can 283 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 1: add a song or a set to the memory, especially 284 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: if you're Hannibal elector right. And then step for is 285 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: just to repeat the visualization until you've cemented the objects 286 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: to memories. You really pick those memories, right. So it's 287 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,000 Speaker 1: a fairly simple process. So we should probably talked about 288 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: the research part of this, which is pretty cool, and 289 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 1: and actually talk about these mental athletes. So there are 290 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: many types of memory. We don't just have memory in 291 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: the human brain. We have just to give you a 292 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: brief idea, we have sensory memory. We have short term, 293 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: long term, explicit, implicit, procedural, declarative, episodic, semantic, and uh. 294 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:20,360 Speaker 1: And we also have spatial memory. And the spatial context 295 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: is extremely important. Like it because again at a at 296 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: a very basic level, we are navigating a world, a 297 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: physical world of movable, numerous objects and simples. That's right. 298 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: And now I've talked about this before that when you 299 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: walk into a room, that what you're perceiving isn't necessarily 300 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:41,760 Speaker 1: coming through your eyes, is coming from the associations that 301 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: your brain is making spatially. So you're whether or not 302 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: you realize that you're you're judging the height of the 303 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: ceiling or the doors, and so on and so forth. Yeah, 304 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: I mean, and if you look back at our evolutionary history, 305 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:54,360 Speaker 1: you know there's a time where you need to remember 306 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: the field where you you know, killed the monkey that 307 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: you're gonna eat or something of that nature. You know, 308 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:02,200 Speaker 1: where does it laying? The field? Has it moved? So 309 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: every we end up having this spatial scaffolding upon which 310 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: we make sense of our entire lives. Just think of 311 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:13,240 Speaker 1: a calendar or think of a timeline like these are 312 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:17,360 Speaker 1: these are spatial scaffolding systems. That we use to understand 313 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: what's going on in the world around us. Yeah, and 314 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: I especially like the evolutionary example because if you and 315 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: why you would need the spatial memories because again, think 316 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: about like trying to find food sources and mapping that 317 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: out in your brain, or trying to figure out where 318 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: that dentif lions are, how past to avoid them. Yeah, 319 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 1: so it's really important to stress here that the memory 320 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 1: palace is not a trick. It's not really a trick. 321 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: It's not something and when you have people who can 322 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 1: who can use it and use it to impressive degrees, 323 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: not just for five items at the grocery store that uh, 324 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 1: they're they're not doing anything out of the ordinary. Like 325 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,640 Speaker 1: the spatial way in the way that we use spatial 326 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: memory in the memory palace is just how we think. 327 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,359 Speaker 1: It's how the brain works well. And also these mental 328 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:08,440 Speaker 1: athletes that compete, right, they actually have very average memories. 329 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: They've tested them. Yeah, these are not superpowered brains here, 330 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: these are normal brains. They're using um just to tie 331 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: down what's happening in the brain. And there's a lot 332 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 1: going on in the brain with memory. But uh, spatial 333 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: memory is tied in the hippocampus, which is located in 334 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,639 Speaker 1: the temporal lobe, and it kind of looks like a long, 335 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: gummy worm kind of thing in your brain. And it's 336 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: also worth noting that at the head of this worm 337 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: you have the amigala, which is tied to emotional memory, 338 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: which again kind of look at the head of the worm, 339 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: and underneath that you have the pair hippocamp bulk, which 340 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: is tied into details, memory recoding, and memory retrieval. But 341 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:48,879 Speaker 1: the hippocampus that's spatial, and that's the area that really 342 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 1: fires up when these mental athletes start using the memory 343 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:56,560 Speaker 1: palates to exceptional degrees. That's right. In a study of 344 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,640 Speaker 1: eight top ranking mental athletes, they are asked to memorize 345 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: three numbers and black and white photographs of people's faces 346 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,040 Speaker 1: and magnified images of snowflakes. Researchers found that in comparison 347 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:10,639 Speaker 1: to the control group of non mental athletes, the mental 348 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: athletes were using a lot more of their spatial memory 349 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: in that himple campus region that you talked about, um 350 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: and again, it's because they're using that spatial reasoning to 351 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:22,919 Speaker 1: peg a blueprint of all the objects that they're memorizing. 352 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: So UM so we're talking about these mental athletes. Let's 353 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:29,359 Speaker 1: talk specifically about one of the more famous ones. I 354 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 1: suppose by now, um Joshua four. Yeah, this is the 355 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: guy who wrote Moon's Moonwalking with Einstein then I mentioned earlier. Um, Yeah, 356 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: he became interested in these individuals, um, and and he's 357 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: just a journalist, right, I want to find out more 358 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 1: about this. I mean, he became interested in the US 359 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: Memory Championship and he went there expecting to interview a 360 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 1: bunch of savants and uh and just you know, mental giants. 361 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,399 Speaker 1: And and they they kind of laughed at the notion 362 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:56,919 Speaker 1: when he when he asked them the questions because they're like, no, 363 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:58,639 Speaker 1: I'm just you know, a normal dude, and this is 364 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: not that complicated at it. And so he kind of 365 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:02,960 Speaker 1: took it on as a challenge to like, well, let 366 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:04,440 Speaker 1: me see what I can do. Let me try out 367 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:06,639 Speaker 1: the memory palace, let me let me see what I 368 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:10,080 Speaker 1: can do with the method of Loki. Yeah, and he 369 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:12,920 Speaker 1: spent a whole year, this was just pretty incredible with 370 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: memory champ ed Cook um literally just so he could 371 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,720 Speaker 1: improve his mental acuity, right that that was his the 372 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:21,919 Speaker 1: first thing that he wanted to try to do. But 373 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: he became really obsessed with becoming a mental athlete himself, 374 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: and he went on to compete in and win the 375 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,280 Speaker 1: US Memory Championship, and each morning during this year, he 376 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,400 Speaker 1: would spend fifteen minutes memorizing a new poem or memorizing 377 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: the names in an old yearbook for instance. Um, but 378 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 1: that's not that's not where it stopped. And he again 379 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:43,879 Speaker 1: he was obsessed with us. So on the subway he 380 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,000 Speaker 1: would start to memorize random numbers, or he would keep 381 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: a deck of playing cards with him and memorize those. 382 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: And he began to catalog everything in his existence and 383 00:19:54,119 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 1: constructing like basically like condominiums of mental palaces. Cook the 384 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: guy that he he interviewed, he actually did a like 385 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,480 Speaker 1: a Ted talk or Ted x talk or something, And 386 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: I'll have to embed that in the blog post that 387 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 1: we do to ac company this, uh, this particular episode, 388 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:14,240 Speaker 1: because he goes into how he would he uses the 389 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:18,679 Speaker 1: memory pal system. He's memorized things like Chinese characters, you know, 390 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: basically learning bits of another language via the memory palace. Yeah, 391 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:27,400 Speaker 1: and he has some really good visual representations in that video. Yeah, 392 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 1: super silly Joshua for yeah, completely obsessed. He even bought 393 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: a pair of goggles and spray painted them black, and 394 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,120 Speaker 1: then he cut out eye holes in them. And this 395 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:38,920 Speaker 1: is all in an effort so that he could better 396 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: concentrate on his memory skills. Yeah, so it looks like 397 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: that part of it sounds like, you know, Jedi master training, 398 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: some sort of you know, far Eastern like thing. But 399 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:51,960 Speaker 1: then in his mind he's thinking about goofy things like, uh, 400 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: you know, like Katherine Hepburn juggling frogs or something I 401 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah. Yeah, And there's a great New York 402 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: Times article called Secrets of a Mind Gamer, and in it, 403 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: uh Cook says to the reporter there that photographic memory 404 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: because because the reporter brings up, well, isn't this just 405 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: photographic memory? And yeah, and he says, no, photographic memory 406 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,679 Speaker 1: is a despicable myth. It doesn't exist. In fact, my 407 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: memory is quite average. All of us here have quite 408 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,880 Speaker 1: average memories. Okay, So this is coming from the guy 409 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 1: who could recite most of Paradise Lost by Heart as 410 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: well as like two fifty two random digits he could 411 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,160 Speaker 1: commit to memory in like five minutes. So I mean, 412 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 1: these really are incredible feats that these guys are doing. 413 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: And indeed, and actually, um, you know, this is a 414 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: competition that they have among themselves. But Cook says that 415 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: it's also an attempt for them to rescue a long 416 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: lost tradition of memory training, because again, we don't necessarily 417 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: need it these days, right, except that we still have 418 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,399 Speaker 1: these crazy, failing memories. All right, Um, just for the 419 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: most mundane things, like I've mentioned to you that, um, 420 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: I think a lot for some reason about Quentin Tarantino movie, 421 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: but inevitably always forget his name. And yet it's something 422 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,520 Speaker 1: that you know, I reference a lot. How would you 423 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: use the memory palace to remember? Okay, The reason why 424 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,360 Speaker 1: I can even say Quentin Tarantino now is because now 425 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: I think about going to San Quentin and going to 426 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: the Commissary, and in the Commissary Mario b Tali is 427 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: fixing ten thousand plates of Tarantino pasta. We'll see that, well, see, 428 00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,880 Speaker 1: and that makes perfect sense within the architecture of your mind. 429 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 1: But I would have to use quent Quentin Tarantino to 430 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:33,239 Speaker 1: remember that other stuff you were talking about. I mean, 431 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 1: Quentin sat Sam Quentin. I know. But who's the guy 432 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:39,399 Speaker 1: Mario Batali? Who's that? Oh man, he's this great Italian chef. 433 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,080 Speaker 1: And and you don't have to see the red headed dude. Yeah. Yeah, 434 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: he's pretty outrageous in and of up, so if you 435 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:45,719 Speaker 1: don't really have to do much to him, like you know, 436 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: you don't want to gild the lily there, Okay, yeah, 437 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:51,639 Speaker 1: but yeah, anyway, I mean, this is this is stuff 438 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: that you can do. Um, but it's pretty amazing to 439 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,400 Speaker 1: look at this, uh Joshua for character and Ed Cook 440 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,919 Speaker 1: and see them in acttion and um. In that video 441 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:07,199 Speaker 1: that Ed Cook has um from the ted X, he 442 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: says that you should use your memory in a playful 443 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: and enjoyable way, and you should experience it as a 444 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,960 Speaker 1: gift rather than a boring an annoying thing you'd rather 445 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:17,439 Speaker 1: park away in your iPhone. Yeah, because that's the thing 446 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:19,360 Speaker 1: they're enjoying, these memory games. And I have to say 447 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: learning that little list was kind of it was kind 448 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,159 Speaker 1: of fun. So the five measly five things I had 449 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: to remember the grocery store. But I don't know, Maybe 450 00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: I should play with it more and and see how 451 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,439 Speaker 1: it goes. And I certainly encourage anyone listening to to 452 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 1: give the Memory Palace a go to to try using it, 453 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: even if It's just like, you know, the next time 454 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: you need to do a grocery list of just a 455 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: few items, don't write it down, don't put it in 456 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,400 Speaker 1: your cell phone. Try constructing a memory palace out of it, 457 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: and I think you'll be surprised at how well it works. Yeah, 458 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 1: and I would love to hear too if if you 459 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,400 Speaker 1: have any other emnemonic devices that you use. Yeah, yeah, 460 00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: because I think we've all, like I used like poems 461 00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 1: at one point, like when I was in junior high. 462 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: In fact, I believe I Yeah, I got kicked out 463 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,920 Speaker 1: of ap history for writing a raunchy poem to memorize 464 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: something about the the original thirteen Colonies. I love it. 465 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:13,840 Speaker 1: What a tawdry pass, I know it was. It was 466 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:17,920 Speaker 1: quite the scandal at the time. Uh. But but yeah, 467 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: if you have any other weird methods or or you 468 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,919 Speaker 1: know that you employ to uh to sort of tweak 469 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: your brain into uh doing things it wouldn't normally do, 470 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:31,440 Speaker 1: like remembering cinsul statu let us know. Indeed, well, hey, 471 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: I have some listener mail here, let me you know, 472 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: bag here and see what we have. Ah, here we go. 473 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: Here's a good one. Uh. This was from Katie and 474 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: Katie's were responding to our cyber immortality podcast that we 475 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: did uh about a month back. She says, Hey, guys, 476 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,399 Speaker 1: love the podcast. Sorry this response is a little delayed 477 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,320 Speaker 1: to the podcast day um and by all means don't 478 00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: ever worry about that sending us mail we'd love to 479 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:01,200 Speaker 1: hear about. So you know, anything you have to say 480 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:05,199 Speaker 1: about past or currently, time is relative, she says. But 481 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,399 Speaker 1: I don't get them every weekend. I have to listen 482 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 1: to them in blocks as you will. I was listening 483 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,160 Speaker 1: to the podcast on cyber immortality and heard the comments 484 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 1: of the thirty year olds about the thirty year old 485 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,719 Speaker 1: self meeting another's thirty year old self, and the idea 486 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,360 Speaker 1: of living on by downloading your consciousness into a robot. 487 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:25,040 Speaker 1: I was just wondering if either of you guys had 488 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: heard of a television series called Dollhouse that aired a 489 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:29,439 Speaker 1: couple of years ago. It was on for two seasons 490 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,880 Speaker 1: and was a Jaw Sweden creation. If not, you can 491 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: netflix it on in streaming. In that series, a group 492 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: of people voluntarily signed their bodies away for five years 493 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: for neurological experiments. The Dollhouse is a place where they 494 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 1: download your consciousness onto a hard disk and stick it 495 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: in the self in the self shelf. They then use 496 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 1: that person's body as an empty shell called dolls, where 497 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: they imprint or download personalities into these bodies and send 498 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: them out on engagements missions that range from prostitution to 499 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,720 Speaker 1: bank robbery to surrogate mommies, et cetera. Then, as the 500 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: series progresses, the powers that be in the corporation get 501 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 1: greedy and decided to start giving away the bodies down 502 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: loaded with a paying customer's consciousness to be to be 503 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: the now dead customer's new body. Uh So it becomes 504 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,680 Speaker 1: a kind of immortality, and uh, of course all sorts 505 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: of chadek things ensued on the civilized life, security, and 506 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:21,720 Speaker 1: personal liberties. I thought you guys might want to check 507 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,199 Speaker 1: it out since it follows that awful eyed chain of 508 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: thought as to what could happen. All of these things 509 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: start out as noble little steps for the betterment of man, 510 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,080 Speaker 1: but become monstrous terrors in and of themselves. Thanks for 511 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,919 Speaker 1: the podcast, m all right, I'm gonna check it out. Yeah, well, 512 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 1: I've actually seen all the episodes that I should I 513 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: should have mentioned in that in that episode, I guess 514 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 1: because even though I'm I was. I think, like a 515 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:52,399 Speaker 1: lot of people, was less than satisfied with the show 516 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,359 Speaker 1: as it actually come together. It was they tried to 517 00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: do some interesting things that they really did tackle a 518 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:01,879 Speaker 1: lot of these ideas that arrived from cyber immortality. You know, 519 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: what if you could what if you could store human 520 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:07,399 Speaker 1: human's mind, human's identity on a on a disk. What 521 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: if you could switch them around? Um, you know, could 522 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: we live forever? What would happen in personal freedoms? So 523 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: it does explore a lot of those ideas and uh, 524 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: and it does get your brain going. But but I 525 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: wasn't completely pleased with But yeah, check it out. Yeah, 526 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:28,239 Speaker 1: Well Weed is great. I love Firefly. You just had 527 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: high standards. That's all which you can do. Well, Hey, 528 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 1: if you guys have any thing to share with us, 529 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,720 Speaker 1: If there is there any bits of science fiction or 530 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: pop culture that tie into something we've talked about that 531 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: we haven't mentioned or are not aware, I'll let us 532 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,520 Speaker 1: know because we'd love to hear about them. And you 533 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,199 Speaker 1: can find us on both Facebook and Twitter as Below 534 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,440 Speaker 1: the Mind, and those are great ways to interact with us, 535 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: and you can also email us at blow the Mind 536 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:59,360 Speaker 1: at how Stuff works dot com. Be sure to check 537 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join 538 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: Houstaff Work Staff as we explore the most promising and 539 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. M