Ok, so the title is a bit clickbaity. If you are appearing for an exam you of course need to remember what you read. But not everything that you read needs to be remembered.

Mo talking about how he reads and then forgets.

I read to forget. Even when studying or working on papers for a PhD, I approach texts with the same mindset: I’m not a storage device that needs to save all bits of information. I am more of a system of Bayesian beliefs, constantly evolving and updating in small, incremental steps.

[…]

From most texts, I only want two things: First, I want it to subtly alter my thinking, an incremental update that moves me towards a refined world model. Second, I want to pull out a few key pieces of information that I might use later in my writing.

This comment on Hacker News succinctly describes what Mo is talking about.

I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.

From Systemantics: How Systems Really Work and How They Fail by John Gall

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system.

If you think about it, this is also applicable for evolution. Nature never creates new species. It evolves the existing ones. Single cell organisms to multi cell organisms. Leopard to snow leopard. Apes to humans.

This Hacker News comment by Spooky23 on the news that immunotherapy drug eliminated aggressive cancers in clinical trial.

I’m both sad and incredibly happy to read this. I lost my wife recently to a recurring metastatic melanoma. She was treated at MSK by an amazing team.

It was a terrifying diagnosis and literally would have been a guaranteed death sentence in 2017. In 2023, she had a very real chance of pulling through due to immunotherapy. Unfortunately some complications led to the worst outcome and we lost an amazing woman.

I remember that my wife said once that the everything she had on that journey was on the shoulders of those before. So maybe in some small way she helped with the research and a future mother, sister, wife, husband, son, dad will have hope where there was none.

Profound.

This post from Sustainable Views reflecting on the commenting culture.

Broadly speaking, the online platforms we use are not built for connection; they are built for engagement. This is universally true for all internet spaces, from stories to newsfeeds, for the intellectual and the plebian alike. And in the relentless optimization of user engagement, our social engagement is captured and rerouted from its original purpose. Instead of making friends, we are all performing for one collective internet stranger—a being that is sometimes brilliant, sometimes cruel, but always waiting to be impressed.

It somehow feels like interactions that might have grown a friendship have instead ended up growing ad impressions. This is not strictly true, but I can’t shake the feeling that it isn’t wrong either.

Some times I find tiny gems on Hacker News. Today was one of those days. This comment by a user going by the name lordnacho.

It’s the internet. When you talk to people online, it often descends into pettiness. When you talk to people in the real world, that rarely happens. But it’s much easier to talk online, so people get the wrong impression.

You should talk to strangers. It’s never gone wrong for me. Most people have a warmth and agreeableness that comes out when you are there with them, talking about stuff. There’s also the interesting effect that people will give you their innermost secrets, knowing you won’t tell anyone (I actually met a serial killer who did this, heh). For instance I was on a long haul flight earlier this year, and my neighbour told me everything about her divorce. Like a kind of therapy.

I also find when I have a real disagreement with someone, it’s a lot easier when you’re face-to-face. For instance, I have friends who are religious, in a real way, ie they actually think there’s a god who created the earth and wants us to live a certain way. Being there in person keeps me from ridiculing them like I might on an internet forum, but it also keeps them from condemning me to hell.

So folks, practice talking to people. Much of what’s wrong in the current world is actually loneliness, having no outlet for your expressions.