Hmm. Now heres an in6teresting idea. In the same way that there ar simple machines for translating mechanical work between different forms and gaining mechanical advantage - Screw, pully, lever, inclined plane, etc - are there ways of translating mental effort between forms and gaining mental advantage? :/
@gaditb @nev I'm thinking even more basic than that. I know in programming there are various ways of trading processor time for disk space for ram for whatever else. I mean things like that. Like, "this technique makes math take twice as long but be half as difficult, similar to how a pulley affects ones ability to lift stuff". Or more complicated tradeoffs, for other tasks.
@gaditb @nev Well yeah, the brain is obviously a lot different from a computer, but physical bodies are even more different, and yet the analogy still holds true. There are all sorts or ways to trade one thing for another. Time for difficulty, processing power for disk space, distance of rope pulled versus distance of load lifted, etc, etc. Really, this is a nearly universal principle - things can be exchanged for other things, often on terms that are subjectively favorable. Why shouldn't it apply to Human minds? It's just a question of how, and how useful those tradeoffs might be.
@nev @gaditb I guess really, my question is so banal it's a little silly. Examples of said "Simple mental machines" include writing lists instead of trying to remember everything on the spot, writing out your math a bit at a time instead of trying to do it all in your head, etc. Really, these are both variants of "make a task easier by breaking it into smaller tasks and writing them out, thereby trading time and a whole lot of simple tasks versus a single complicated gask."
Though, banal or not, I kinda want to write out an article on said "Simple mental machines". Just to see where it takes me. :/
@Angle @nev @gaditb a shitty way to look at this is "lifehacks"