Memory Is the Substrate of Learning

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Everyone tells you not to memorize.

But that’s backwards.

At the end of the day, all learning

comes down to memory.

Memory is the substrate of learning.

Even deep understanding is memory.

It’s deeply ingrained memory.

The difference between memorizing vs. understanding is not about whether you use memory.

Instead…

Understanding is about how much memory you have stored and how well it’s connected.

Facts connect into concepts.

Procedures become skills.

And all sorts of new ideas come from combining things that you already know.

You can’t connect the dots if you’ve got no dots.

You can’t cook with ingredients that you don’t have.

So memory is not the enemy of understanding.

It’s the foundation of it.

Further reading: Learning is Memory .

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