January Links

A running list of great essays, papers, and videos I've seen this month.

Using spaced repetition systems to see through a piece of mathematics, by Michael Nielsen. An excerpt: "People inexperienced at mathematics sometimes memorize proofs as linear lists of statements. A more useful way is to think of proofs is as interconnected networks of simple observations. Things are rarely true for just one reason; finding multiple explanations for things gives you an improved understanding. This is in some sense "inefficient", but it's also a way of deepening understanding and improving intuition. You're building out the network of the proof, making more connections between nodes."

A Strange Argument for the Commonplace, a summary/review of Tyler Cowen's Stubborn Attachments by Agnes Callard.

Enlightenment Wars: Some Reflections on 'Enlightenment Now,' One Year Later, by Steven Pinker