

Ask HN: Why can't we write down something in our head? - dothis

I always scribble down a short note or sentence so I don&#x27;t forget to think of it tomorrow. Why is this function not a built in in humans?
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informatimago
It is built in. But since we learned writing and reading, we're underutilizing
it, so it's decaying.

Plato, putting words in the mouth of Socrates in Phaedrus _wrote_ :

...for this discovery of yours [writing] will create forgetfulness in the
learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to
the external written characters and not remember of themselves.

[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Phaedrus#On_the_decline_of_Gre...](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Phaedrus#On_the_decline_of_Greek_Literature).

Chess players can play without the chess board.

Some writers prisonners wrote books in their head.

Similarly, if you were separated from your computer you could still write
programs, in your head. You would have to be very carefull, but you could
reach a stage where the program is debugged well enough that you could just
type it out (once you've left out the the prison), and have it run on the
first time.

Just avoid TV and its brainwashing (cf. Fahrenheit 451,
[http://www.laweekly.com/news/ray-bradbury-
fahrenheit-451-mis...](http://www.laweekly.com/news/ray-bradbury-
fahrenheit-451-misinterpreted-2149125) ).

~~~
coldtea
> _Similarly, if you were separated from your computer you could still write
> programs, in your head. You would have to be very carefull, but you could
> reach a stage where the program is debugged well enough that you could just
> type it out (once you 've left out the the prison), and have it run on the
> first time._

Which while exaggerated a little in your version, is more or less what earlier
programmers (without monitors or even terminals and with expensive test-runs)
did. Of course they also used paper, but it's interesting how much of the
program they could keep in their head.

Heck, even something like "ex" (the editor, which only showed the line you
operate on), needs some of that capability to note stuff in your head to ever
work.

~~~
wglb
_Heck, even something like "ex"_ not to mention TECO or ed.

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dragonwriter
It's a function humans can develop, and in the past did. Once writing was
common, it was less necessary, and the effort to develop it more often went
elsewhere, though people still memorize short things frequently, and longer
things occasionally. (Interestingly, many find that the act of writing notes
aid memory even when the notes are not later consulted.)

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auganov
How short are we talking about? Pretty sure most people can remember a
sentence? I very rarely make notes tbh. The "don't forget to think of it" part
is a bit trickier IMO. You have to have some kind of a trigger. With an odd,
rare thought it could be tough without a non-mental trigger.

