Memory Palace CoLab
From CloudPad
Secondlife Notes Rokkitz and AvaD brainstorms for NMConnect (http://www.nmc.org/campus/NMConnect) We'll have to pare it down I think....let's try to establish what is the LEAST we want to get across and also our ideal 'result' and take it from there...
What's our objective with this talk?MP Outline
- have people become familiar with and comfortable with the concept/term of memory palaces, brief understanding of the history and more importantly the implications/possibilities in SL
- encourage/inspire new explorations in SL with embedded and organized content
- collect info from participants on the most innovative and intuitive persistent content displays/presentations/arenas they have come across to date in SL. I wish there to be a wiki inworld that we can make notes on together darmit..that's what Croquet was pretty much about....easier collab..maybe it exists in SL...don't know..
Maybe let's try starting to break things up/down, moving them around until they settle into a simpler, clearer powerpoint-like outline presentation for sharing...?
| Table of contents |
"In the First Place"
is there any connection between 'topic' and 'topology' or is it just a coincidence?
MEMORY PALACES: we'll take the title of this forum as our starting point. symbol manipulation pervades the whole web of memory, so let's break these words into images. Let us propose that one cannot easily decouple Memory from Metaphor
THOUGHT-EXPERIMENT: memory is so very intimate and personal. we all have one, some seem sharper than others. we all use it differently. as a culture, we regard memory differently through time. perhaps there exist some techniques that help us train our memory. Mnemomic Techniques, also known as Mnemotechnics.
- Memory: If an "ARMORY" is a place for storing ARMS, consider that "MEMORY" has something to do with MEMES (a unit of cultural evolution with similarity to GENE)
- Palace: Why do we use the word Palace? Let us try a short thought-experiment. In your mind's eye, picture the words that follow:
- CITY
- ISLAND / CAMPUS / NEIGHBOURHOOD
- PALACE / MANDALA
- HOUSE / APPARTMENT
NESTING STRUCTURES: Roughly, each of the above groups represents a PHYSICAL LOCATION that envelops an AREA/VOLUME of space. The experiment procedes in order of decreasing size. The details of the City are hard to envision, a small house as we all know is hard to keep organized. The Palace is, as Goldilocks might have it, "just right." In fact, there is a loose but definite natural hierarchy implied by scale in which a structure can comfortably nest inside a "higher" structure, alongside others. To carry through the example, within a City are numerous (but ill-defined) Neighbourhoods; within the Neighbourhood might be several Palaces, Mansions. A palace contains within its walls many smaller Appartment.
PARTITIONS: A popular trick to jog memory is to partition the information that is to be remembered into smaller compartments. For example, a 15-digit serial number as a string of numerals is "harder" to retain in memory than is the same number, broken in to five 3-digit groups. Consider for the moment that a "Palace" is uniquely suited, in terms of size, as a place to house a number of "memory sites." (LOCI... more later?) Personal, bit-sized bits are more easily apprehended by memory.
Architecture and Infoesthetics
The metaphor of the Memory Palace merits a short discussion on the salient/relevant points about architecture, extending to some thoughts on the structure of information in general. We need to examine things from a relative standpoint.
- PHENOMENOLOGY: The phenomenological philosopher Gaston Bachelard said in The Poetics of Space: "In its countless alveoli space contains compressed time. That is what space is for." Let us conside that space, time, story and memory are intertwined. What stories do buildings tell to us? Can they speak on their own accord or do they require a human intermediary to act as messanger?
- VERNACULAR vs INSTITUIONAL: Architecture is a vast discipline that, in the broaded sweeps, encapsulates the design of any kind of structure. Engineering and Applied Sciences, Materials, etc. But can we not build without the education of an architect? The truth is that architecture developed first from basic needs for shelter and basic means to achieve those dreams; next, along a tortuous route of trial-and-error, architecture became the craft of building whose knowledge was passed down through tradition and increasingly formalized. designs that improvized or replicated a successful trial. Much of the built-up world that we experience every day is a product of this "Vernacular" architecture, to contrast with "Institutional" architecture. For every patrician, there must be many more plebes. To sum up, regular folks are "qualified" architects of memory structures.
- POSSIBLE vs IMPOSSIBLE STUCTURES: another dialectic that arises from this. should a memory structure be selected from a real building, or will an imaginary place work? For our purposes, any "structure" can be used. of course a "Memory Palace" might be any kind of real construct, a TEMPLE, or a GARDEN, or a MARKETPLACE, or a FOREST, or the human BODY. But what about architectures that feature unusual geometries? Such places might be "impossible" in the real world, but the nature of mind is to be able to imagine freely in abstract spaces.
- VASTY HOUSE: a house that is larger on the inside than on the outside
- MOEBIUS EXPANSION: a twisted line (1D) that occupies 2D Space
- RAMYFING UNIVERSE: a structure that keeps growing, eternally inflating
- HYPERCUBES: a construct that occupies 4 dimensions of space, one of which we cannot perceive directly. more later.
- ESSENCE of INFORMATION: let us then consider, for the purposes of this forum, that STRUCTURE and PATTERN are synonymous. Patterns are comprised of information. Information, defined by Gregory Bateson, is a difference that makes a difference. Homogeneity erases differences, erasing memory of origin. Information cannot be easily destroyed; but happens to information when light passes the event horizon of a black hole? More often than physical destruction, a message becomes meaningless when the cipher, the key to decoding it, is lost. In the broadest sense, information is a mask of order floating on a sea of disorder.
A Brief History of the Art of Memory
- Ancient Greece
- oral poets, wandering rhapsodists, bards
- SIMONIDES
PALACE: Came into usage around in the 16-17th century.
The Method
"Man cannot understand without images; the image is a similitude of a corporeal thing, but understanding is of universals which are to be abstracted from particulars." - St. Thomas Aquinas
ART of MEMORY = MEMORY PALACE = METHOD of LOCI
- MNEMONIC PEGS: a brief breakdown of various mnemomic systems, as gleaned from mnemotechnic manuals. | mnemomic peg system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemonic_peg_system)
- PARTITIONS PART 2: if information is defined as a difference that makes a difference, and we wish to recall a piece of information, from both it follows that SPACE must be PARTIONED / COMPARTMENTALIZED to ensure that difference exists. the SPATIALIZATION of MEMORY can be achieved in a lot of ways.
- Categories and folders, an increasingly outdated method of sorting. The Dewey Decimel system works well in a traditional library, but is ultimately INFLEXIBLE.
- Tags are one-word descriptors that are assigned to information. like library keywords but non-hierarchical. many tags can be assigned to a particular piece of information, and they can be easily renamed or deleted later. tagging can be easier and more friendly than forcing your information to fit into pidgeonholes.
- NARRATIVE PACING: How do these partitions fit into the overall scheme of the Memory Palace? By forming a route. The spacing between loci, provided by the internal dimension of the memory palace, sets the pace of recall / learning. a Memory palace utilizes both static and dynamic components of visualization.
- STATIC: The loci/compartments represent an image of the parts, the internal structure.
- DYNAMIC: the interiorization of the path. allows you to LEARN BY WALKING.
- CRITERIA of PALACE SELECTION: How does one choose a structure to site a memory palace?
In all mnemonic arts, advice is given that the mental places should be well lit, clearly set out in a particular order, at moderate intervals apart. The more architectural elaborations of rooms, passages and niches it has the better — in the sixteenth century, the sequence of architectural loci was sometimes called a "Memory Palace." But the loci were also to be grouped or "chunked" in "brief" sets of items, no more than what the mind's eye can encompass in one glance: this is the medieval equivalent of we now call "working memory" (from Francis Yates, wikipedia)
- CRITERIA of LOCI SELECTION:
- SYMBOLIC ASSOCIATION: Associating the words or ideas to remember with the loci, you should create surprising images. More striking is the created image, more easily you will remember the thing. According to St. Thomas, the arts of memory and of placing verse on images is the very essence of remembering
The Future of Memory
It might be said that PALACE is an outdated metaphor. When the Art of Memory was so named in the Middle Ages, perhaps the people that used such techniques (lawyers, orators, sermonizing priests, etc) sat within the walls of a comparable structure, and contemplation naturally fills out the contours of the space. We perhaps need to change our perspectives, accept that the places we often find ourselves in TRANSITIVE SPACES in the contemporary modern era, subway stations and bridge underpasses; buildings not designed for continuous occupancy...
- ABSTRACT SCIENCE: the method works for scientific visualization of the abstract mathematical and/or invisble spaces. for example we may choose a molecule, the components of which are atoms, and the bonds that hold them are the roads by which we might walk to better understand/remember/reconstruct the structure.
- COMPUTER INTERFACE: yep, that's something. it is a misnomer to compare the brain to a computer, but in many ways the computer can be compared to our brains. in both cases (analogue memory and digital memory?), we have learned that memory is not a repository but a stage that showcases the interactions between ideas. bringing the WEB into 3D.
- ETERNAL RECONSTRUCTION: the traditional art of memory one had to retain the whole structure of the palace. to be easily recalled, the technique has to be practised (especially for a structure that contains 100s or 1000s of loci). in a sense, when we visit the Memory Palace, we cannot find its custodian. someone i picture to be an elderly janitor. as we wander the halls looking for him, we aimlessly pass all the places where information and memory are stored. frustrated we cannot find the custodian (i suspect he is sleeping in a broom closet, or died a long time ago and no one can find him), we spend a lifetime wandering these halls of memory. in other words, if you're not careful, you'll end up with his job. but the truth is that this happens every time we bring to recall these memories, searching these hallways...
- CREATIVE PRINCIPLE: the interplay of symbols is what drives the creative process. generating novel symbols from new combinations of structure. sermonizing priest; a meditation inspired by a book of sayings,
Keys to the Palace: The Hypercube
"Or my favourite example...,
- brief what is)
- There are many 3D projections of this 4D hyperobject.(show some)
- animated tesseract-free to use (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tesseract.gif)
- Using those 3D visualized images, can you transform a hypercube's shadow into one of those alternate projections?" explain?
i was thinking of those as a trainer i had conceived of those as a way to peer into hyperspace the idea is that each of those hypercubes is EQUIVALENT if you can train your brain to SEE THAT EQUALITY (like training your brain to see a GEODESIC DOME in full perspective) then you have discovered a way of NAVIGATING through a non-ordinary space without clicking links, even. what a memory palace a Tesseract would make! (Robert Heinlein's And He Built a Crooked House) but simply that if we can learn new ways of conceiving weird geometry that must be valuable, in context, yes/no? also reminds me, in Museum at Purgatory, he mentions somewhere that the folios are stored by some kind of spacetrick... dammit can't remember oh yeah! based on "moebius technology" or something, the only way all those exhibits and collections could fit in the Museum
- demonstrate that every space has a virtual component, but not every space has a real component. for example, historicity, i.e. the personal memories of a place.
- if only i could find this quote by Rabbi Kushner about the Memory of Places, about passing the same place every day and a place having memories of its own... that you can use the familiarity and the everydayness a portal to magic, the magic of the ordinary.
- does this count for anything? Memories of a Place versus Memory Palace?
- TOOLS for ACCESS (i.e. KEYS?), the Hypercube Enfoldment, Moebius Expansions, hidden dimensions in virtual spaces...
Temples, Libraries, Homes, Stores, Gardens
gradual transition to information embedded objects/realms each 'home' is an interface to shareable files and links
Can an everyday structure stand-in for a memory palace, or should it be a special construct with a special purpose? temples, libraries, homes, stores...?
RL structures vs/in addition to SL and web structures...
The Public Library does not replace the need/desire for your own bookshelf and photo albums....how to convey/archive the memories that you find personally relevant to the way you view the world, who you are in this incarnation (difficult word..better one?). Spiritually- the development of Empathy/COmpassion...as one may 'enter into' the life experiences/thoughts/memories of another.
SL 'homes' become 3d navigable scrapbooks of memories....how to incorporate FLickr albums...myspace pages into virtual structures...
Virtual clickable bookshelves/file cabinets/tvs which play selected youtube videos...ways to share information we've gathered in a 3d navigable space...some of these things must already exist...maybe important to find examples and encourage the distribution of such tools...
Memory Palaces as realms for Collaboration
Also collaborative 'projects' become a 3d space in which collaborators meet and are able to access and manipulate the working materials, files and information.
Can a space become infested with unwanted memories? How does one cleanse the loci of a place - can a palace ever be "reused" or recycled? good question...
I think one of the important considerations in our postmodern art of memory is that we do not have to "memorize" the whole structure. We use hyperlinks as memory prompts. One does not "hold" the whole structure in one's mind. Through return visits and navigation the memories become 'etched' and intuitive...How do we best use this tool to teach ourselves and others things we would like to remember??
Mandalas and Labyrinths
Virtual Memory Palaces as StorySharing
How can a space tell a story when there is no avatar present?
- well placed signs
- notecards embedded with clues and parts
- Alice in Wonderland-ish objects (Drink me, Eat me)
- photo albums
- clickable bookshelves
- books left open to special pages
- scripted messenger birds (drops envelope/note when sensor triggers?)
Stories as places....Does sequence matter? How do you convey or influence/suggest sequence for a random visitor? Next Object becomes highlighted...aura? what is attention...
How can we present puzzles or problems to be solved...and allow the visitor to solve it/contribute to the solution? (video game basics used for meaningful issues)
- Mirrors and Portals...the game is played simultaneously in parallel realms...interesting thought...to be able to SEE a fractal structure in which when your avatar does something...the projections of your avatar each do something slightly different and the consequences are visible...entanglement
Reference
NMConnect Info
- link to pdf about virtual presentations (http://www.holymeatballs.org/2006/11/sl_the_global_kids_guide_to_pr.html)
- Please join the NMC Guests group by first visiting http://www.nmc.org/sl/join/ and signing up as an NMC Guest. This will allow you access to the sims prior to our public opening on the 11th.
- Getting Started in SecondLife (http://www.nmc.org/campuswiki/index.php/Getting_Started)
visuals
- Self-Assembling Memory Palace (http://www.flickr.com/photos/avadarlene/335475885/in/set-72157594432599653)
- MemoryPalace-Green (http://www.flickr.com/photos/avadarlene/353576780/in/set-72157594432599653/)
Writings
- Memory palaces
- Memory Palaces 2
- Loopy Loci
- Something and Nothing
- Cloudpad Poetics of Space (http://www.cloudpad.org/bitweaver/wiki/index.php?page=Poetics+of+Space&highlight=memory)
- Self-Assembling Memory Palace
External Links
- Leilani/memorypalace (http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/~leilani/memorypalace.html)
- WikiHow/How to Build a Memory Palace (http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Memory-Palace)
