https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/2MD3NMLBPCqPfnfre/cached-thoughts
We have massively parallel, but extremely slow hardware 10-200Hz.
In modern civilization particularly, no one can think fast enough to think their own thoughts. If I’d been abandoned in the woods as an infant, raised by wolves or silent robots, I would scarcely be recognizable as human. No one can think fast enough to recapitulate the wisdom of a hunter-gatherer tribe in one lifetime, starting from scratch. As for the wisdom of a literate civilization, forget it.
So we rely heavily on cached thoughts. Things we picked up somehow somewhere, that allow our brains to quickly complete the pattern…
Try to keep your mind from completing the pattern in the standard, unsurprising, already-known way. It may be that there is no better answer than the standard one, but you can’t think about the answer until you can stop your brain from filling in the answer automatically.
Now that you’ve read this, the next time you hear someone unhesitatingly repeating a meme you think is silly or false, you’ll think, “Cached thoughts.” My belief is now there in your mind, waiting to complete the pattern. But is it true? Don’t let your mind complete the pattern! Think!
That’s why I like outsourcing my cache. More headspace for keeping track of what’s relevant / obsolete / needs updating / needs deeper thought.