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This hack was used to deliver long speeches from memory in ancient Greece, was referenced in the fictional tales of Sherlo ...
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Certe, nisi voluptatem tanti aestimaretis. Eorum enim est haec querela, qui sibi cari sunt seseque diligunt. Mihi quidem Antiochum, quem audis, satis belle videris attendere. Hoc dixerit potius Ennius: Nimium boni est, cui nihil est mali. Si longus, levis. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Sed emolumenta communia esse dicuntur, recte autem facta et peccata non habentur communia. Dulce amarum, leve asperum, prope longe, stare movere, quadratum rotundum. Nam, ut sint illa vendibiliora, haec uberiora certe sunt.
Sed quid sentiat, non videtis. Apparet statim, quae sint officia, quae actiones. Qui enim voluptatem ipsam contemnunt, iis licet dicere se acupenserem maenae non anteponere. Post enim Chrysippum eum non sane est disputatum. Virtutibus igitur rectissime mihi videris et ad consuetudinem nostrae orationis vitia posuisse contraria. Piso, familiaris noster, et alia multa et hoc loco Stoicos irridebat: Quid enim?
Respondent extrema primis, media utrisque, omnia omnibus. Si enim ita est, vide ne facinus facias, cum mori suadeas. Quid in isto egregio tuo officio et tanta fide-sic enim existimo-ad corpus refers? Intrandum est igitur in rerum naturam et penitus quid ea postulet pervidendum; Nec vero sum nescius esse utilitatem in historia, non modo voluptatem. Quod idem cum vestri faciant, non satis magnam tribuunt inventoribus gratiam. Est, ut dicis, inquit; Bork Utrum igitur tibi litteram videor an totas paginas commovere?
- Identify a familiar place and key locations in it.
Use a familiar place with m ...
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Virtutis, magnitudinis animi, patientiae, fortitudinis fomentis dolor mitigari solet. Illum mallem levares, quo optimum atque humanissimum virum, Cn. Quod si ita se habeat, non possit beatam praestare vitam sapientia. Quid igitur dubitamus in tota eius natura quaerere quid sit effectum? Sin te auctoritas commovebat, nobisne omnibus et Platoni ipsi nescio quem illum anteponebas? Hoc enim identidem dicitis, non intellegere nos quam dicatis voluptatem. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Quas enim kakaw Graeci appellant, vitia malo quam malitias nominare. At hoc in eo M. Qualem igitur hominem natura inchoavit?
Sed id ne cogitari quidem potest quale sit, ut non repugnet ipsum sibi. Equidem etiam Epicurum, in physicis quidem, Democriteum puto. Portenta haec esse dicit, neque ea ratione ullo modo posse vivi; Quod autem in homine praestantissimum atque optimum est, id deseruit. Quae quo sunt excelsiores, eo dant clariora indicia naturae. Sed quid minus probandum quam esse aliquem beatum nec satis beatum? Hoc loco discipulos quaerere videtur, ut, qui asoti esse velint, philosophi ante fiant. Hanc ergo intuens debet institutum illud quasi signum absolvere.
Cuius ad naturam apta ratio vera illa et summa lex a philosophis dicitur. Neque enim disputari sine reprehensione nec cum iracundia aut pertinacia recte disputari potest. At quicum ioca seria, ut dicitur, quicum arcana, quicum occulta omnia? Res tota, Torquate, non doctorum hominum, velle post mortem epulis celebrari memoriam sui nominis.
The Method of Loci definitely works as a memory hack to remember specific lists or sets of information as the technique has been repeatedly born out in numerous studies. Along with Spaced Retrieval, the Method of Loci is considered to be highly evidence-based approach. One of its limitations then is, 'so what?'
Do you really need to remember an order of a pack of playing cards or the numbers in pi to the nth degree? Sure, that’s all useful if you want to compete in Memory Championships, but how transferable is it beyond that? Need to remember a grocery list? Why not write it down or capture it on your phone? The point is, in today's digital world, one might argue that there is less need to simply remember lists of information.
Beyond that, another limitation is that the Method of Loci is the effort it involves and the limited transferability it offers when it is not being specifically and deliberately applied. So yes, memory champions can quickly memorise a pack of cards if they invest the effort into it, but will still forget to buy the milk or misplace their car keys as this is not a broader cognitive fix.
Remembering Moby Dick.
This Vox reporter who admits to having a terrible memory applied the Memory Palace to memorise an entire chapter of Moby Dick.
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According to stories, the origins of the Method of Loci can be traced back to a truly disastrous party in ancient Greece. The legend tells of Simonides of Ceos, a poet, attending a banquet around 500 BC. Simonides left the banquet, stepping outside to meet someone, only to see the building collapse behind him killing everyone inside. The remains of the dead were unidentifiable, but Simonides was able to remember who had attended the banquet by remembering where they were sitting in the hall.
The story goes on to say that Simonides translated this experience into the Method of Loci, realising that he didn’t just have to place the guests around the banquet hall but could replace them with lines of his poetry, or every Greek dramatist seated in order of birth, or anything. The memory hack caught on and was commonly used by ancient Greek and Roman orators to memorise and deliver long speeches without requiring notes. The concept and associated techniques were later captured in the textbook Rhetorica ad Herennium, which has been attributed to Cicero.
The approach fell out of vogue with the development of the printing press and the rise of alternative ways to capture and recall information. Indeed, historians such as Robert Darnton have pointed out that before the printing press reading was an intense activity — with limited books often read and reread and a greater need to memorise the contents because of the limited availability of such treasured texts. However, with the proliferation of books, reading expanded to be more of an ‘extensive’ experience, using them as ongoing references.
In terms of the research behind the approach, the study exploring the impact of mnemonic and Method of Loci training at Rabound University can be found here. This additional study showed that most people with superior memory do not have structural differences in their brain, but instead use spatial forms of memory.
My Notes
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