In the age of Google, Siri, and Alexa, memory and knowledge can feel like relics of humanity — something AI and machine learning have made obsolete. With the world’s knowledge in the palm of our hands, shouldn’t we skip learning facts in favor of applied skills and creativity? That may be precisely the wrong lesson to learn. Instead, science is increasingly helping us to appreciate just how vital memory and prior knowledge really are. With memory, we can learn and understand faster, and reason more effectively. Without it, we risk being overwhelmed by information faster than we can comprehend it.…

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