"The effectiveness of our memory banks is determined not by the total number of facts we take in, but the number we wish to reject"
About this Quote
A sly reversal sits at the heart of the line: the mind works not as a warehouse but as an editor. We usually boast about how much we can store, yet effectiveness depends on filtration, on the courage and clarity to say no. Calling memory our "banks" borrows a mid-20th-century computing metaphor, and Jon Wynne-Tyson uses it to expose a misconception fostered by that very metaphor. If the mind were simply a machine for accumulation, more would always be better. But minds are living systems with limits. Selectivity, not volume, preserves coherence.
Cognitive reality backs the intuition. Attention is scarce, working memory small, and long-term retention is strengthened by meaningful structure and weakened by clutter. Forgetting is not just a failure; it is a feature that prevents interference and allows salient patterns to stand out. Deliberate rejection of noise conserves energy for understanding, not mere recall, and makes room for the kind of connections that turn information into knowledge.
There is also a moral and cultural dimension. Wynne-Tyson, a British publisher and humanist known for anthologies of humane thought, often stressed discernment in a crowded marketplace of ideas. To wish to reject is to exercise judgment: to refuse propaganda, trivia, and fashionable certainty, and to withhold assent until a fact earns its place. The verb wish matters. Rejection here is not reflexive cynicism; it is an intentional standard grounded in values and evidence. What we decline to admit shapes what we can remember well, because it shapes the environment in which memory is formed.
In an attention economy, this becomes a survival skill. Reading less but better, pruning ruthlessly, choosing sources with care, and rehearsing what aligns with purpose make memory more reliable and more humane. Effectiveness is not the heft of the archive but the sharpness of the catalog. The mind, like any good library, is great not by the piles it holds but by the quality of its exclusions.
Cognitive reality backs the intuition. Attention is scarce, working memory small, and long-term retention is strengthened by meaningful structure and weakened by clutter. Forgetting is not just a failure; it is a feature that prevents interference and allows salient patterns to stand out. Deliberate rejection of noise conserves energy for understanding, not mere recall, and makes room for the kind of connections that turn information into knowledge.
There is also a moral and cultural dimension. Wynne-Tyson, a British publisher and humanist known for anthologies of humane thought, often stressed discernment in a crowded marketplace of ideas. To wish to reject is to exercise judgment: to refuse propaganda, trivia, and fashionable certainty, and to withhold assent until a fact earns its place. The verb wish matters. Rejection here is not reflexive cynicism; it is an intentional standard grounded in values and evidence. What we decline to admit shapes what we can remember well, because it shapes the environment in which memory is formed.
In an attention economy, this becomes a survival skill. Reading less but better, pruning ruthlessly, choosing sources with care, and rehearsing what aligns with purpose make memory more reliable and more humane. Effectiveness is not the heft of the archive but the sharpness of the catalog. The mind, like any good library, is great not by the piles it holds but by the quality of its exclusions.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|
More Quotes by Jon
Add to List
