2 state mnemonics for To-Do lists

beau2am · November 17, 2024, 3:29am

I’m doing some cleaning,
made a checklist,
then thought:

A checkbox has 2 states: ( unchecked, checked )
Hmm…

So, I start thinking:

a To-Do list of checkboxes
a ToDo list of 2 state entities / situations
isomorphisms?
like…grenades?: ( fine, )
…
and then I thought:

Guillotined() : ( "headed", "beheaded" ),
Pregnant(): ( "belly", "baby"),
( "Dr.Jekyll", "Mr Hyde" ),
( "alive", "dead"),
Carrie: ( "white-dress", "bloody" )
Fired: ( "unburned", "burned" )
Hypnotized🐸: ( 
  "Fine", "Thinks they're a dying whale" 
)

So… 2 state mnemonics for task lists.

Got any you particularly like to use?

cedar · November 17, 2024, 9:45am

Are normal destructive actions fair game?
(Or transformations)

Burned, frozen, blown up, stuck by lightning, petrified, flooded, blown away by wind, etc.

erikfromholland · November 17, 2024, 11:33am

I like the idea, but in my estimation you are opening a Pandora’s box of problems.

If the checking had an actual materialistic nature like checking with a pen on a piece of paper, the anticipation of that checking in a conditional way (if the task is completed I will do the checking) would not cause the actual checking. However if the anticipation of the checking and the checking itself are imaginary, the anticipation may be confused with the actual but equally imaginary checking. Put another way, if you already know what you are going to imagine if a task has been done, then in a way you have already done that.

I have written a long and in my humble opinion very good post about this very phenomenon on this forum. However, because nobody had reacted to it I removed it. In this post I proposed a way to always remember that you have placed your keys in their proper location after coming home.

My idea was to use a huge collection of keychains and randomly select one everytime you come home and attach it to your keys and create a story on the fly connecting the unique keychain with the location (and possibly the date also). This solves the above described anticipation problem.

So my advice would be to use a huge collection of unchecked representations and an equally huge collection of checked representations. So whenever some task is done you take out a random “checked” representation from for example a random picker program or device.

You don’t have to memorize the lists beforehand, you just have to make sure that you recognise the meaning. So for example unchecked is 3 syllable words, checked is 2 syllable words.

In another post (that I also removed for the same reason as the previously mentioned one) I explained how the anticipation of doing something actually creates a prototype memory before the event has taken place. So if for example you go to the supermarket to buy fries, but the fries are sold out, it is possible that when you come home you have the actual memory of having bought fries even though obviously that never happened.

So if for example taking out the trash is on your to-do list, it is possible that you plan to do that and something prevents it like an unexpected phone call. Your mind however possibly has not just already created a prototype memory, but one with a temporal based conditional aspect to it. So the condition for the prototype memory to become a “real” memory may not be the actual doing of the task, but (like in the supermarket example) any affirmation of having arrived at the time at which you anticipated having done the task.

If a temporal based conditional prototype memory can become a false memory then that false memory can in turn trigger the memory of having checked the task on the to-do list if that “checking” memory is also conditional (I am going to check the task on the list if it is done).

beau2am · November 17, 2024, 9:15pm

I agree with you @erikfromholland. The prototype memory point is particularly helpful to think about.

So, now I’ll throw a wrench in your wrench throwing.

I suggest a dance:

We have our 2 state mnemonics checklist.
We know in advance both states.
But the “checked” state is not activated…
…until you do the dance.

Fire for buying bread?

The task isn’t done until you strike and throw the match onto the grocery aisle’s bread, and put your sunglasses on walking away as it all goes up in flames. Yes. You have to do that. Rules are rules.

Let the dance begin.

Edit: I also really liked this idea:

use a huge collection of unchecked representations and an equally huge collection of checked representations. So whenever some task is done you take out a random “checked” representation from for example a random picker program or device.

erikfromholland · November 17, 2024, 10:31pm

Now pretend if you will that you are unpacking your groceries and it occurs to you that you forgot to “check” the buying bread task, so you start your imaginary fire ceremony. But after all the bags are unpacked it becomes also clear that in fact you have not bought any bread at all, you just thought you did because you are home remembering going to the supermarket. It is my educated guess that the actual going to the supermarket and the experiences in that supermarket episode are of little relevance for the perceived memory of that. The archetypical going to the supermarket story is simply being relabeled with a new timestamp.

If the memory of going to the supermarket possibly isn’t real then that raises the question if perhaps the actual experience of going to the supermarket isn’t real either. In a fun experiment that’s part of a “let’s see if reality is real” exploration I decided to actively remember all the persons I meet on my way to and in the supermarket. It appeared that 5 times in a row I entered the supermarket together with the same man (with long gray hair). It turned out he lives 3 blocks away from me in the same type of flat that I live in and his apartment is in the exact same position in that flat as mine.

One of the many theories in part explaining the above described weirdness is that the expected sameness of the supermarket experience and the not supposed to happen testing of reality have met each other in a dance of retrocausality with infinite regression. The first accidental meeting of mr. Gray in combination with the conscious effort to memorize him could have altered the archetypical going to the supermarket story in that he is now a to be expected part of that story. So in the 4 times supermarket adventures after meeting him he is not just included in the memory, but so is my logically to be expected reaction to that inclusion.

beau2am · November 18, 2024, 12:44am

I’m going to read the rest of your comment, but before I do I intend to clarify the part of my method that makes this particular situation you’re predicting very difficult:
When we are visualizing out “dance” in the grocery store, which brands of bread catch fire first? Does it start from the bottom? Which brands are down there ? Does it start from the top, like someone poured gasoline and flicked the match up top? Where exactly does the match land? Where exactly are we standing when we do our dance?
Which loaf of bread catches fire?
What is the bread next to? Is there anyone else in the aisle? Do we, the badasses that we are, care that others are around?

These are simple questions that cannot be answered without being there, in the store, at the bread aisle.

If you grab the bread and forget to check it off, it won’t matter. You have the bread. Leave the matches for another day.

Okay, on to the rest.

Edit:

you wrote:

The first accidental meeting of mr. Gray in combination with the conscious effort to memorize him could have altered the archetypical going to the supermarket story in that he is now a to be expected part of that story. So in the 4 times supermarket adventures after meeting him he is not just included in the memory, but so is my logically to be expected reaction to that inclusion.

This makes sense.

Perhaps I don’t see “is this real” as a particular issue because I have memorized and reorganized and rememorized/overwritten a lot of information.

The distinguishing feature of which imagery is the “real” imagery is to incorporate a unique identifier that simply cannot be purely-imagined.

Maybe it’s just me, but I find this task very simple and closing in on nigh automatic.

Also, I specifically limit myself from certain forms of “previsualizing” purposely to avoid confusing myself later. Because I really agree with you. I think we can totally “previsualize” and believe it as reality.

My recommendation is: Don’t do that.

Edit #2:

I really like your points, @erikfromholland as they’re good clarifying questions for me to think about.

After some more thought, I recognized a “rule” I have for To-do lists and I’d forgotten why I followed the rule so I forgot the “rule” existed or that I’d made a decision in the first place and now it’s just a convention of habit:
Rule: Don’t memorize To-Dos in the same place they need to be To-Done.

That is, don’t place a memorized a grocery list in the grocery store. Don’t place a memorized list of household chores in the house. Don’t place memorized directions in whatever mode of transportation will be taken (car, bus, walk, train, etc).

Something about the bread burning scenario seemed “off” to me. But I couldn’t place it at first. Sitting down thinking about it I wondered to myself, “why would I memorize bread burning in the grocery store?”

That’s when I realized: I wouldn’t. I don’t put task lists in domain-related areas. It will naturally make everything more confusing.

I might memorize the grocery list outside my house. Or on my arms. Or even with martial art techniques (I’ve tried it, it’s tough). But never actually in a grocery store. Too much potential confabulation. I totally agree.