Crazy Wisdom
Episode #407: Transhumanism Lite: Using Urbit and Spaced Repetition to Hack Your Brain, Not Replace It
- Consciousness & Philosophy
- Money & Sovereignty
- Crypto & Decentralization
- Urbit
- spaced repetition
- memory algorithms
- exponential forgetting curve
- SuperMemo
- Anki
- incremental reading
- flashcards
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Timestamps
Key Insights
- The Power and Paradox of Spaced Repetition: Stewart and ~littel-wolfur discuss spaced repetition as an ingenious blend of laziness and persistence. By setting reminders to review information just before it's forgotten, spaced repetition acts as an effortless yet powerful memory tool. Although the practice demands daily discipline, it becomes an invaluable mechanism for retaining knowledge across vast timescales.
- SuperMemo and Incremental Reading: ~littel-wolfur shares his experience with SuperMemo, the original spaced repetition software that takes the method even further. SuperMemo’s “incremental reading” allows users to gradually extract information from lengthy texts, breaking down complex learning into manageable, spaced chunks. For ~littel-wolfur, this approach goes beyond mere memorization; it turns learning into an immersive, long-term commitment.
- The Urbit Experiment: Urbit, a decentralized peer-to-peer network and OS, represents a radical rethinking of the internet. Stewart and ~littel-wolfur examine Urbit’s potential as a platform where users truly own and control their data, echoing ideals of early Web 1.0. As the “long-haul project” of the tech world, Urbit cultivates an almost timeless ethos, making it as much a social experiment as a computing system.
- Shrubbery and Namespace Innovation: A core element of Urbit, “shrubbery” introduces a namespace that enables users to organize, connect, and retrieve information from across their digital universe. ~littel-wolfur explains how shrubbery allows users to link pieces of data like conversation notes, wikis, and documents, making it a versatile learning platform on Urbit. The elegance of this integration hints at a future internet where information can be personalized and seamlessly connected.
- Craftsmanship and Digital Resilience: ~littel-wolfur and Stewart touch on the fading art of craftsmanship in tech, which often gets lost in the layers of abstractions that modern software relies on. For ~littel-wolfur, coding on Urbit feels like working in a digital woodshop, where the focus is on intentionality and precision rather than flashy or disposable tech. This philosophy of craftsmanship offers a refreshing take on the art of creation in software, hinting at the durability and authenticity Urbit hopes to embody.
- AI’s Limitations and Overconfidence Trap: The episode also highlights the limitations of AI, especially when it encourages laziness or over-reliance. While AI can help automate routine tasks, ~littel-wolfur warns of its tendency to produce fragile, overly complex solutions that unravel under scrutiny. They caution that true understanding comes not from shortcuts, but from engaging deeply with the work—a point that resonates with their belief in disciplined learning practices like spaced repetition.
- The Value of Optimism and Long Time Horizons: Amid a society obsessed with quick wins and rapid monetization, Stewart and ~littel-wolfur see Urbit’s culture as a refreshing outlier, filled with builders who value curiosity and long-term thinking. This “thousand-year mindset” stands in contrast to much of the tech industry, where projects are often driven by immediate financial returns. By embracing a philosophy that resists the pressure for instant success, Urbit aligns itself with a vision of digital infrastructure that, rather than fueling transient trends, aims to be a lasting foundation for generations to come.
Episode transcript
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Welcome to the Crazy Wisdom podcast. My guest today is Little Wolfer on Urbit. That's his Urbit handle and he is building a spaced repetition app. And that's how we originally connected. And so we're gonna have a good conversation about Urbit and what it is and spaced repetition and what that is and whatever else comes up. So welcome to the show. So, spaced repetition, when did you start? First start using spaced repetition? Actually, before we get into that, I'll give my audience a little intro into what space repetition is. It's basically we have a memory, and that memory used to be organized based off of an oral tradition. So we'd have to memorize things, words, songs, things like that. And they had memory palaces and such. And then we invented the written word. And then people figured out that if you write something down, it both helps you memorize it and creates a staple record. And then computers came along and some scientists, I can't remember, who realized that there was an exponential forgetting curve. So whatever happens in a day, we lose 90% of it within four days, unless there's a timely reminder on the third or fourth day. And so the absolute nerds, one of which I am, realized that this could be really helpful to extend our natural working memory. And it's really helpful as long as you do it every day. And you. It's like the ultimate mix between being really lazy on a long term scale, timeline and then, but also being sort of like you have to do it persistently in order for it to work. So it's this strange mixture of persistence and laziness. So with that, what is your experience with spaced repetition?
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