It came to me that I spend every day of my life reading copiously because I am looking for little nuggets that move me in one direction or another - either to feel or to think outside the box. I've decided to record them here so that others can be spared the work.
Today was a good day - there were two. Both came from American Scholar magazine which I cannot recommend enough.
1) There are six "types of memory: procedural (how to sweep the floor); semantic (facts , words, the word broom and what it refers to); working (being used at this moment to consider the concept of a broom); episodic (personal memories, the time you swept up your diamond with the dirt); declarative (remembering facts and events that become available for later conscious reflection)." Priscilla Long
I think this may have some vital clues in it into how to approach software design from a different angle and perhaps other designs as well. No matter how we map it, we don't have this many types of memory in computation today and we need to consider how to expand our approach as a result of this information. Also, no matter what we try to achieve in art, it must jog memory to create an effect in others (other than astonishment.) So perhaps it is time for us as artists, advertisers, communicators etc. to ask what memory center(s) we are aiming for before we shoot.
2) John Lukacs remarks that "nationalism is the illegitimate marriage of patriotism with a habitual inferiority complex." That's just a cunning definition in a beautifully crafted sentence.
The use of 'illegitimate' is exquisite.
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