Feats of memory anyone can do | Joshua Foer

Translator: Aari Lemmik Reviewer: Karl Hein

I'd like to invite you to close your eyes.

Palun, et sulgeksite oma silmad.

Kujutlege, et seisate oma kodu uksel.

Imagine yourself standing outside the front door of your home.

Pange tähele, mis värvi see uks on

I'd like you to notice the color of the door,

the material that it's made out of.

ja millest see uks on tehtud.

Now visualize a pack of overweight nudists on bicycles.

Nüüd kujutage ette trobikonda ülekaalulisi nudiste jalgratastel.

(Laughter)

Nad võistlevad alastisõidu rattarallil

They are competing in a naked bicycle race,

ja sööstavad otse su ukse suunas.

and they are headed straight for your front door.

I need you to actually see this.

Ma tahan, et te ka tegelikult seda näeksite.

They are pedaling really hard, they're sweaty,

Nad väntavad elu eest, nad on üleni higised,

nende kehad rappuvad sadulas.

they're bouncing around a lot.

Ja nad panevad täie hooga otse vastu sinu ust.

And they crash straight into the front door of your home.

Jalgrattad paiskuvad õhku, üksikud rattad veerevad sinust mööda,

Bicycles fly everywhere, wheels roll past you,

kõik kohad on kodaraid täis.

spokes end up in awkward places.

Step over the threshold of your door into your foyer, your hallway,

Astu uksest sisse,

esikusse või koridori või mis täpselt seal teiselpool ust siis ka poleks

whatever's on the other side,

and appreciate the quality of the light.

ja imetle kaunist valgust.

The light is shining down on Cookie Monster.

Valgusvihus on Cookie Monster.

Cookie Monster istub beežika hobuse seljas

Cookie Monster is waving at you from his perch on top of a tan horse.

ja lehvitab sulle.

It's a talking horse.

See on rääkiv hobune.

You can practically feel his blue fur tickling your nose.

Võid peaaegu tunda, kuidas Cookie Monsteri sinine karvakasukas su nina kõdistab.

You can smell the oatmeal raisin cookie that he's about to shovel into his mouth.

Tunned rosina-kaeraküpsise lõhna, mille ta on just endale suhu pistmas.

Walk past him.

Mine temast mööda. Mine mööda ja astu elutuppa.

Walk past him into your living room.

In your living room, in full imaginative broadband,

Elutoas näed kogu tema hiilguses

picture Britney Spears.

Britney Spearsi.

She is scantily clad, she's dancing on your coffee table,

Ta on napis riietuses ja tantsib su diivanilaual,

and she's singing "Hit Me Baby One More Time."

lauldes "Hit Me Baby One More Time"

And then, follow me into your kitchen.

Nüüd tule minuga kööki.

Köögipõrand on kaetud kollaste tänavakividega

In your kitchen, the floor has been paved over with a yellow brick road,

and out of your oven are coming towards you Dorothy, the Tin Man,

ja ahjust astuvad välja

Dorothy, Plekkmees,

the Scarecrow and the Lion from "The Wizard of Oz,"

Hernehirmutis ja Lõvi "Võlur Oz"-ist

hand-in-hand, skipping straight towards you.

nad tulevad käsikäes hüpeldes otse sinu suunas.

Okay. Open your eyes.

Okei. Ava oma silmad.

Tahan sulle rääkida ühest üsna omapärasest võistlusest

I want to tell you about a very bizarre contest

that is held every spring in New York City.

mis toimub igal kevadel New Yorkis.

It's called the United States Memory Championship.

Tegu on USA mälumeistrivõistlustega.

And I had gone to cover this contest a few years back

Mõned aastad tagasi tuli mul teadusajakirjanikuna

as a science journalist,

kirjutada lugu sellest võistlusest.

expecting, I guess, that this was going to be like the Superbowl of savants.

Kujutasin ette, et see konkurss

on mingisugustele veidrikele.

Oli seltskond meesterahvaid, sekka ka mõned naised,

This was a bunch of guys and a few ladies,

widely varying in both age and hygienic upkeep.

kõik eri vanuses ja erinevas puhtusastmes.

(Laughter)

(Naer)

Nad jätsid meelde sadu juhuslikke arve

They were memorizing hundreds of random numbers,

looking at them just once.

ainult korraks peale vaadates.

They were memorizing the names of dozens and dozens and dozens of strangers.

Nad õppisid pähe kümnete ja kümnete tundmatute nimesid.

Luuletused jäid neile pähe kõigest mõne minutiga.

They were memorizing entire poems in just a few minutes.

Võisteldi, kes suudab kõige kiiremini meelde jätta

They were competing to see who could memorize

the order of a shuffled pack of playing cards the fastest.

kaartide järjestuse segatud kaardipakis.

I was like, this is unbelievable.

See kõik tundus mulle täiesti uskumatu.

Need inimesed peavad olema ebanormaalsed.

These people must be freaks of nature.

And I started talking to a few of the competitors.

Tegin juttu mõne võistlejaga.

This is a guy called Ed Cook, who had come over from England,

See on Ed Cook

kes tuli siia Inglismaalt

where he had one of the best-trained memories.

kus ta on üks kõige treenituma mäluga inimesi.

Küsisin temalt:" Ed, millal sa aru said, et

And I said to him, "Ed, when did you realize

that you were a savant?"

sul on ebanormaalne anne?"

Ed vastas:" Ma ei ole mingi eriline veidrikust geenius,

And Ed was like, "I'm not a savant.

In fact, I have just an average memory.

tegelikult on mul üsna keskpärane mälu.

Everybody who competes in this contest will tell you

Kõik, kes siin võistlevad,

kinnitavad sulle, et nende mälu täiesti keskmine.

that they have just an average memory.

We've all trained ourselves to perform these utterly miraculous feats of memory

Nende erakordsete mäluülesannete sooritamiseks

oleme kõik harjutanud

using a set of ancient techniques,

ühe väga vana meetodi abil

techniques invented 2,500 years ago in Greece,

see meetod leiutati Kreekas 2500 aastat tagasi.

the same techniques that Cicero had used to memorize his speeches,

Cicero kasutas sama meetodit,

oma kõnede meeldejätmiseks,

that medieval scholars had used to memorize entire books."

keskaegsed õpetlased jätsid sel moel meelde terveid raamatuid."

Olin hämmingus. "Mis mõttes? Kuidas ma pole varem sellest midagi kuulnud?"

And I said, "Whoa. How come I never heard of this before?"

Nii me siis seal võistluspaiga ukse taga seisime

And we were standing outside the competition hall,

and Ed, who is a wonderful, brilliant, but somewhat eccentric English guy,

ja Ed, kes on imetore, tark,

aga veidi ekstsentriline Inglise tüüp

says to me, "Josh, you're an American journalist.

ütleb mulle: "Josh, sina kui Ameerika ajakirjanik,

Do you know Britney Spears?"

Kas Sa Britney Spearsi tunned?"

Mina vastu, et "Mida!? Ei! Miks sa seda küsid?"

I'm like, "What? No. Why?"

"Sest ma tahaksin väga õpetada USA televisioonis

"Because I really want to teach Britney Spears

how to memorize the order of a shuffled pack of playing cards

Britney Spearsile, kuidas jätta meelde

on U.S. national television.

mängukaartide järjekord segatud kaardipakis.

It will prove to the world that anybody can do this."

See tõestaks kogu maailmale, et igaüks võib sellega hakkama saada."

(Laughter)

(Naer)

I was like, "Well, I'm not Britney Spears,

Vastasin, et mina küll pole Britney Spears,

aga äkki ta võiks hoopis mind õpetada,

but maybe you could teach me.

I mean, you've got to start somewhere, right?"

sest kuskilt peab ju pihta hakkama, eks ole?

Selline oligi mu väga kummalise teekonna algus.

And that was the beginning of a very strange journey for me.

Asi lõppes sellega, et terve järgneva aasta kulutasin

I ended up spending the better part of the next year

not only training my memory,

oma mälu treenimise kõrval ka sellele,

but also investigating it,

et uurida mälu toimimist

trying to understand how it works,

ja ka seda

why it sometimes doesn't work,

miks mälu teinekord ei tööta

and what its potential might be.

ja milline on mälu tegelik potentsiaal.

And I met a host of really interesting people.

Kohtusin mitmete erakordselt huvitavate inimestega

This is a guy called E.P.

Selle mehe nimi on E.P.

He's an amnesic who had, very possibly,

Tal kannatas vaegmälu all ja tõenäoliselt oligi tal

the worst memory in the world.

maailma halvim mälu.

His memory was so bad,

Tema mälu oli nii vilets,

that he didn't even remember he had a memory problem,

et ta ei mäletanud isegi oma mäluprobleemi,

mis on täiesti hämmastav.

which is amazing.

And he was this incredibly tragic figure,

Ta oli üks tõeliselt õnnetu kuju, aga samas

but he was a window into the extent to which our memories make us who we are.

on tänu temale võimalik mõista, kui suurel määral

sõltub meie põhiolemus meie mälust.

Nüüd aga skaala teine äärmus. Sain tuttavaks selle mehega.

At the other end of the spectrum, I met this guy.

This is Kim Peek, he was the basis for Dustin Hoffman's character

Tema on Kim Peek

Ta oli filmis "Vihmamees" Dustin Hoffmanni tegelaskuju prototüüp.

in the movie "Rain Man."

Veetsime üheskoos ühe pärastlõuna

We spent an afternoon together in the Salt Lake City Public Library

Salt Lake City raamatukogus telefoniraamatuid pähe õppides.

memorizing phone books,

See oli ülipõnev.

which was scintillating.

(Laughter)

(Naer)

And I went back and I read a whole host of memory treatises,

Siis lugesin läbi terve hunniku mälu-uurimusi,

mis olid kirjutatud üle 2000 aasta tagasi

treatises written 2,000-plus years ago in Latin,

antiikajal, ladina keeles,

in antiquity, and then later, in the Middle Ages.

ja ka hiljem, keskkajal.

And I learned a whole bunch of really interesting stuff.

Sain teada nii mõndagi põnevat.

One of the really interesting things that I learned

Üks erakordselt huvitav avastus oli see,

is that once upon a time,

et vanasti ei olnud

this idea of having a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory

mõte sellest, et mälu tuleks treenida ja harida

pooltki nii võõras, kui see tundub meile tänapäeval.

was not nearly so alien as it would seem to us to be today.

Vanasti tegelesid inimesed oma mäluga,

Once upon a time, people invested in their memories,

in laboriously furnishing their minds.

ja tegid selle kallal tõsist tööd.

Over the last few millenia,

Viimaste aastatuhandete jooksul

we've invented a series of technologies --

oleme leiutanud rea tehnoloogiaid -

from the alphabet, to the scroll,

esmalt tähestik, siis käsikiri,

to the codex, the printing press, photography,

seejärel raamatu eelkäijad, edasi trükipress, fotograafia,

the computer, the smartphone --

arvuti ja nutitelefon -

mis kõik on üha enam ja enam hõlbustanud

that have made it progressively easier and easier

for us to externalize our memories,

meelespidamist välismälu abil.

for us to essentially outsource this fundamental human capacity.

Oleme loovutanud selle fundamentaalse inimvõime

millelegi väljaspoolsele.

These technologies have made our modern world possible,

Kõik need tehnoloogiad an aluseks kaasaegsele maailmale

aga nad on ka meid muutnud.

but they've also changed us.

Nad on meid muutnud nii kultuuriliselt

They've changed us culturally,

kui ka kognitiivses mõttes.

and I would argue that they've changed us cognitively.

Having little need to remember anymore,

Kuna meil ei ole enam vajadust asju meelde jätta, tundub mõnikord,

it sometimes seems like we've forgotten how.

et oleme unustanud, kuidas see meeldejätmine üldse käib,

One of the last places on Earth where you still find

Üks viimaseid kohti siin maa peal,

kust võib endiselt leida inimesi, kes suhtuvad kirglikult ideesse,

people passionate about this idea of a trained, disciplined, cultivated memory,

et mälu peaks olema treenitud, distsiplineeritud ja haritud,

is at this totally singular memory contest.

ongi see üksainus mäluvõistlus.

It's actually not that singular,

Tegelikult pole see siiski mitte ainus omataoline,

sellelaadseid võistlusi toimub kõikjal maailmas.

there are contests held all over the world.

And I was fascinated, I wanted to know how do these guys do it.

Olin täiesti pahviks löödud ning tahtsin teada, kuidas nad seda teevad.

Mõni aasta tagasi kutsusid Londoni Ülikooli teadlased

A few years back a group of researchers at University College London

brought a bunch of memory champions into the lab.

grupi mälutšempione oma laboratooriumisse.

Teadlased tahtsid teada

They wanted to know:

Do these guys have brains that are somehow structurally,

kas mälutšempionite aju

on oma anatoomiliselt ülesehituselt kuidagi erinev tavainimese ajust.

anatomically different from the rest of ours?

The answer was no.

Vastus oli ei.

Are they smarter than the rest of us?

Aga kas nad on targemad kui meie?

They gave them a bunch of cognitive tests, and the answer was: not really.

Mälutšempionid tegid mitmeid kognitiivseid teste

mille tulemustest selgus, et tegelikult mitte.

There was, however, one really interesting and telling difference

Siiski oli üks huvitav ja kõnekas erinevus

between the brains of the memory champions

mälutšempionite ja nendega võrreldud

and the control subjects that they were comparing them to.

kontrollgrupi aju vahel.

When they put these guys in an fMRI machine,

Kui mälutšempionite aju uuriti kompuutertomograafiga sel ajal

kui nad jätsid meelde

scanned their brains while they were memorizing numbers

numbreid, inimeste nimesid ja lumehelveste pilte,

and people's faces and pictures of snowflakes,

they found that the memory champions were lighting up different parts of the brain

avastati, et mälutšempionite ajus

muutusid aktiivseks teistsugused aju piirkonnad

than everyone else.

kui ülejäänutel.

Of note, they were using, or they seemed to be using,

Paistis, et nad kasutasid, või siis tundusid kasutavat aju seda osa,

a part of the brain that's involved in spatial memory and navigation.

mis tegeleb ruumilise mälu ja ruumis orienteerumisega.

Why?

Aga miks? Kas siin on midagi, millest saaksime õppida?

And is there something that the rest of us can learn from this?

Mäluvõistlused kui spordiala

The sport of competitive memorizing is driven by a kind of arms race where,

on justkui võidurelvastumine,

every year, somebody comes up with a new way to remember more stuff more quickly,

kus igal aastal tuleb keegi välja uue meetodiga

mis aitab asju senisest veelgi kiiremini meelde jätta

and then the rest of the field has to play catch-up.

ja ülejäänud peavad siis üritama teda kinni püüda.

See on mu sõber Ben Pridmore,

This is my friend Ben Pridmore,

kolmekordne mälu maailmameister.

three-time world memory champion.

Tema ees laual on

On his desk in front of him are 36 shuffled packs of playing cards

36 pakki hästi segatud mängukaarte,

that he is about to try to memorize in one hour,

mille ta üritab ühe tunni jooksul meelde jätta,

meetodil, mille ta ise välja mõtles ja mida valdab ainult tema.

using a technique that he invented and he alone has mastered.

He used a similar technique

Ta kasutas sama meetodit, et jätta meelde

4140 juhusliku biti

to memorize the precise order of 4,140 random binary digits

täpne järjestus

in half an hour.

poole tunniga.

(Laughter)

Yeah.

Jee.

And while there are a whole host of ways

Kuigi on palju mälutehnikaid

of remembering stuff in these competitions,

mida neil võistlustel kasutatakse,

everything, all of the techniques that are being used,

taanduvad kõik need meetodid

ultimately come down to a concept

lõpuks ühele kontseptsioonile,

that psychologists refer to as "elaborative encoding."

mida psühholoogid nimetavad töötlevaks salvestamiseks.

And it's well-illustrated by a nifty paradox

Selle heaks näiteks on üks elegantne paradoks

known as the Baker/baker paradox, which goes like this:

mida tuntakse Baker/baker paradoksina,

ja mille sisu on järgmine:

If I tell two people to remember the same word,

Kui paluda kahel inimesel jätta meelde üks ja sama sõna,

if I say to you,

näiteks ütlen sulle:

"Remember that there is a guy named Baker."

"Jäta meele, et selle mehe nimi on Baker."

That's his name.

See on ta nimi.

And I say to you, "Remember that there is a guy who is a baker."

Ja siis ütlen ma "Jäta meelde, et see mees on pagar."

Okay?

And I come back to you at some point later on,

Ning mõne aja pärast tulen

and I say, "Do you remember that word that I told you a while back?

ja küsin, kas sa mäletad seda sõna,

mida ma sulle mõni aeg tagasi ütlesin?

Do you remember what it was?"

"Kas sa mäletad, mis see sõna oli?"

The person who was told his name is Baker

See, kellele öeldi, et mehe nimi on Baker,

is less likely to remember the same word

mäletas sama sõna väiksema tõenäosusega kui

than the person was told his job is a baker.

see, kellele öeldi, et see mees töötab pagarina (ingl k Baker).

Täpselt sama sõna, aga erinev tulemus meenutamisel - kas pole kummaline?

Same word, different amount of remembering; that's weird.

What's going on here?

Millega on siin tegu?

Well, the name Baker doesn't actually mean anything to you.

Tõtt-öelda ei tähenda nimi Baker teile ju midagi.

It is entirely untethered from all of the other memories

Sel ei ole mingit seost teiste mälupiltidega,

mis teie peas hõljuvad.

floating around in your skull.

Aga kui võtta seda kui tavalist nimisõna - pagar,

But the common noun "baker" -- we know bakers.

siis ju teame, kes pagar on.

Bakers wear funny white hats.

Pagaritel on naljakad valged mütsid.

Bakers have flour on their hands.

Pagaritel on jahused käed.

Bakers smell good when they come home from work.

Pagarid lõhnavad hästi kui nad töölt tulevad.

Maybe we even know a baker.

Võib-olla me isegi tunneme mõnda pagarit.

And when we first hear that word,

Ja kui kuuleme seda sõna,

siis haagime sinna külge kõik oma senised mälupildid,

we start putting these associational hooks into it,

that make it easier to fish it back out at some later date.

mille abil on seda hiljem kergem meelde tuletada.

Kogu kunst seisnebki selles,

The entire art of what is going on in these memory contests,

- ja see kehtib nii mäluvõistluste kui ka

and the entire art of remembering stuff better in everyday life,

igapäevases elus asjade meeldejätmise kohta,

et tuleb leida viis, kuidas muuta suure tähega Pagar

is figuring out ways to transform capital B Bakers

väikese tähega pagariks.

into lower-case B bakers --

Teisisõnu, info, millel puudub meie jaoks kontekst ja tähendus

to take information that is lacking in context,

in significance, in meaning,

tuleb muuta selliseks,

and transform it in some way,

et sel infol tekiks

so that it becomes meaningful in the light of all the other things

meie jaoks tähendus,

seostudes juba mälus olemasolevaga.

that you have in your mind.

One of the more elaborate techniques for doing this

Üks üksikasjalikumaid mnemotehnikaid selle saavutamiseks

pärineb 2500 aasta tagusest antiik-Kreekast.

dates back 2,500 years to Ancient Greece.

It came to be known as the memory palace.

Seda meetodit tuntakse mälupalee-tehnikana.

Mälupalee tehnika tekkimise lugu on järgmine:

The story behind its creation goes like this:

There was a poet called Simonides, who was attending a banquet.

Elas kord poeet, kelle nimi oli Simonides,

ja kes läks peole.

Ta oli seal peol tegelikult tellitud esinejana,

He was actually the hired entertainment,

because back then, if you wanted to throw a really slamming party,

sest vanal ajal oli nii, et kui taheti korraldada tõeliselt vinge pidu,

you didn't hire a D.J., you hired a poet.

siis telliti DJ asemel hoopis luuletaja.

And he stands up, delivers his poem from memory, walks out the door,

Niisiis tõuseb ta püsti, esitab peast oma luuletuse ja lahkub.

and at the moment he does,

Täpsel sel momendil, kui ta uksest väljub, variseb peosaal kokku

the banquet hall collapses.

ja kõik seesolijad hukkuvad.

Kills everybody inside.

Ja nad mitte lihtsalt ei huku

It doesn't just kill everybody,

it mangles the bodies beyond all recognition.

vaid nende kehad on varingus äratundmatuseni moondunud

Keegi ei suuda öelda, kes seal sees olid,

Nobody can say who was inside,

samuti ei ole võimalik öelda, kus keegi istus.

nobody can say where they were sitting.

The bodies can't be properly buried.

Surnukehasid ei ole võimalik nagu kord ja kohus matta.

It's one tragedy compounding another.

Üks tragöödia teise otsa.

Simonides, standing outside,

Simonides, kes seisab väljas,

the sole survivor amid the wreckage,

on nende varemete keskel ainus ellujääja

closes his eyes and has this realization,

ta suleb silmad ja näeb oma ettekujutuses

täie selgusega

which is that in his mind's eye,

he can see where each of the guests at the banquet had been sitting.

kes peokülalistest kuskil istus.

And he takes the relatives by the hand,

Ja ta võtab sugulastel käest

and guides them each to their loved ones amid the wreckage.

ning juhib igaühe neist tema lähedase juurde.

See, mida Simonides tol hetkel mõistis,

What Simonides figured out at that moment,

on midagi, mida me tegelikult sisimas teame.

is something that I think we all kind of intuitively know,

which is that, as bad as we are at remembering names and phone numbers,

Nimelt - ükskõik kui viletsad me ka poleks

nimede ja numbrite

and word-for-word instructions from our colleagues,

või kolleegide õpetussõnade meeldetjätmises,

we have really exceptional visual and spatial memories.

on meil tegelikult erakordne visuaalne ja ruumiline mälu.

Kui ma paluksin teil meenutada Simonidese loo

If I asked you to recount the first 10 words of the story

that I just told you about Simonides,

esimest 10 sõna,

siis tõenäoliselt valmistaks see raskusi.

chances are you would have a tough time with it.

Aga võiksin kihla vedada,

But, I would wager that if I asked you to recall

et kui ma paluksin sul meenutada,

who is sitting on top of a talking tan horse

kes istus rääkiva pruuni hobuse seljas

sinu esikus,

in your foyer right now,

näeksid sa seda kohemaid.

you would be able to see that.

The idea behind the memory palace

Mälupalee mõte ongi selles,

is to create this imagined edifice in your mind's eye,

et peas luuakse kujutletav ehitis

and populate it with images of the things that you want to remember --

ja sisustatakse see nende asjade kujutistega,

mida soovitakse meelde jätta -

the crazier, weirder, more bizarre,

mida pöörasem, veidram, imelikum,

funnier, raunchier, stinkier the image is,

naljakam, riivatum ja haisvam see kujutis on,

the more unforgettable it's likely to be.

seda paremini ta meelde jääb.

This is advice that goes back 2,000-plus years

See õpetus pärineb enam kui 2500 aasta tagant

vanimatest ladina mälu-uurimustest.

to the earliest Latin memory treatises.

So how does this work?

Kuidas see tehnika töötab?

Let's say that you've been invited to TED center stage to give a speech,

Ütleme, et Sind on kutsutud

pidama TEDi kõnet

ja sa tahad seda teha peast

and you want to do it from memory,

ning sellisel tasemel, nagu Cicero,

and you want to do it the way that Cicero would have done it,

if he had been invited to TEDxRome 2,000 years ago.

kui ta oleks pidanud esinema Rooma TEDxil 2000 aastat tagasi

(Laughter)

What you might do

Sa võiksid teha nii,

is picture yourself at the front door of your house.

et kujutled end seismas oma maja välisuksel.

Ja siis mõtled välja mingi

And you'd come up with some sort of crazy, ridiculous, unforgettable image,

täiesti pöörase, napaka ja meeldejääva kujutise,

to remind you that the first thing you want to talk about

mis aitaks sul meelde tuletada, et esimene asi, millest tahad rääkida

is this totally bizarre contest.

on see äärmiselt veider võistlus.

(Laughter)

Siis lähed sa majja sisse

And then you'd go inside your house,

and you would see an image of Cookie Monster on top of Mister Ed.

ja näed Cookie Monsterit

hobuse nimega Mister Ed seljas.

And that would remind you

Ning see meenutaks sulle,

that you would want to then introduce your friend Ed Cook.

et tahad rääkida oma sõbrast Ed Cookist.

Siis näed sa oma vaimusilmas Britney Spearsi,

And then you'd see an image of Britney Spears

to remind you of this funny anecdote you want to tell.

mis meenutab seda naljakat lugu, mida tahtsid rääkida.

And you'd go into your kitchen,

Siis lähed kööki

and the fourth topic you were going to talk about

ja neljas teema, millest tahtsid rääkida,

on kummaline teekond, mille sa aastaga läbi tegid

was this strange journey that you went on for a year,

and you'd have some friends to help you remember that.

ja need sõbrad aitavad sul seda meenutada.

Nii jätsid ka Rooma oraatorid meelde oma kõnesid -

This is how Roman orators memorized their speeches --

not word-for-word, which is just going to screw you up,

mitte sõna-sõnalt, millest ei oleks abi,

but topic-for-topic.

vaid teemade kaupa.

Tegelikult tuleb ingliskeelne sõna "topic"

In fact, the phrase "topic sentence" --

kreekakeelsest sõnast "topos".

that comes from the Greek word "topos,"

which means "place."

mis tähendab "koht".

That's a vestige of when people used to think about oratory and rhetoric

See on pärand ajast

kui inimesed mõtlesid oraatorlusest ja retoorikast

pigem ruumilistes terministes.

in these sorts of spatial terms.

The phrase "in the first place,"

Öeldes "esiteks"

tähistab see juskui esimest kohta su mälupalees.

that's like "in the first place of your memory palace."

I thought this was just fascinating,

Mulle meeldis see kõik väga

and I got really into it.

ja hakkasin sellega tõsisemalt tegelema.

And I went to a few more of these memory contests,

Osalesin veel mitmel mäluvõistlusel.

and I had this notion that I might write something longer

Tekkis mõtte, et võiksin kirjutada midagi pikemat

about this subculture of competitive memorizers.

mäluvõistlustel osalejatest.

Oli aga üks probleem.

But there was a problem.

The problem was that a memory contest

Nimelt on mäluvõistlus

is a pathologically boring event.

erakordselt igav üritus.

(Laughter)

(Naer)

Tõsiselt, see on nagu hulk inimesi istuks ja teeks eksamit.

Truly, it is like a bunch of people sitting around taking the SATs --

I mean, the most dramatic it gets

Kõige põnevam, mis võib juhtuda, on see,

is when somebody starts massaging their temples.

kui keegi hakkab oma oimukohti masseerima.

Olen ju ajakirjanik ja pean millestki kirjutadama.

And I'm a journalist, I need something to write about.

Tean, et nende inimeste peades toimub uskumatuid asju,

I know that there's incredible stuff happening in these people's minds,

but I don't have access to it.

aga sinna ma ju ei pääse.

And I realized, if I was going to tell this story,

Mõistsin, et selleks, et mul õnnestuks teha see lugu,

I needed to walk in their shoes a little bit.

pidin ma end nende olukorda panema.

Igal hommikul, enne kui asusin lugema oma New York Timesi,

And so I started trying to spend 15 or 20 minutes

every morning, before I sat down with my New York Times,

püüdsin tegeleda 15-20 minutit sellega,

just trying to remember something.

et lihtsalt midagi meelde jätta.

See võis olla luuletus.

Maybe it was a poem,

maybe it was names from an old yearbook that I bought at a flea market.

Või nimed vanast aastaraamatust,

mille olin kirbuturult ostnud.

Avastasin, et see oli kohutavalt lahe.

And I found that this was shockingly fun.

I never would have expected that.

Ma ei oleks seda iial arvanud.

It was fun because this is actually not about training your memory.

See oli lahe, kuna päriselt polegi see nagu mälutreening.

Mis tegelikult toimub on see, et üritad aina paremini ja paremini

What you're doing, is you're trying to get better and better

mõelda välja ja ette kujutada

at creating, at dreaming up,

these utterly ludicrous, raunchy, hilarious,

täiesti jaburaid, kiiksuga, napakaid

and hopefully unforgettable images in your mind's eye.

ja loodetavasti unustamatuid kujutluspilte.

And I got pretty into it.

See haaras mind täiesti.

This is me wearing my standard competitive memorizer's training kit.

Siin kannan ma mälusportlase põhivarustust:

(Laughter)

Paari kõrvaklappe

It's a pair of earmuffs

and a set of safety goggles that have been masked over

ja ületeibitud kaitseprille,

kuhu on jäetud vaid kaks pisikest nägemisava,

except for two small pinholes,

because distraction is the competitive memorizer's greatest enemy.

sest tähelepanu hajumine on mäluvõistleja suurim vaenlane.

Juhtus nii, et osalesingi võistlusel, mida olin aasta eest kajastanud.

I ended up coming back to that same contest

that I had covered a year earlier,

and I had this notion that I might enter it,

Mõte oli, et võiksin seal osaleda

sort of as an experiment in participatory journalism.

lihtsalt ajakirjandusliku eksperimendina.

It'd make, I thought, maybe a nice epilogue to all my research.

Mulle tundus, et see oleks ilusaks lõpetuseks mu uurimistööle.

Problem was, the experiment went haywire.

Paraku väljus see eksperiment kontrolli alt.

I won the contest --

Ma võitsin selle võistluse,

(Laughter)

which really wasn't supposed to happen.

seda poleks tegelikult pidanud ju juhtuma.

(Applause)

(Aplaus)

Now, it is nice to be able to memorize speeches

Muidugi on tore

suuta meelde jätta kõnesid,

and phone numbers and shopping lists,

telefoninumbreid ja poenimekirju

aga see pole põhiline.

but it's actually kind of beside the point.

Need on lihtsalt nipid.

These are just tricks.

Nipid, mis toimivad

They work because they're based on some pretty basic principles

kuna nad põhinevad aju töö

about how our brains work.

lihtsatel põhimõtetel.

Pole vaja ehitada mälupaleesid

And you don't have to be building memory palaces

or memorizing packs of playing cards

või jätta meelde kaartide järjestust pakis

to benefit from a little bit of insight about how your mind works.

et saada kasu teadmisest,

kuidas aju töötab.

We often talk about people with great memories

Sageli räägime suurepärase mäluga inimestest

kui kellestki, kel on erakordne anne,

as though it were some sort of an innate gift,

but that is not the case.

aga nii see ei ole.

Great memories are learned.

Suurepärane mälu on õpitav.

Kõige lihtsamal tasemel jäävad asjad meelde siis, kui neile tähelepanu pöörame.

At the most basic level, we remember when we pay attention.

Asjad jäävad meelde, kui oleme süvenenud

We remember when we are deeply engaged.

We remember when we are able to take a piece of information and experience,

ja siis kui saame aru,

miks sellel infokillul või kogemusel

and figure out why it is meaningful to us,

on meie jaoks tähendus,

why it is significant, why it's colorful,

miks see on oluline, miks see on värvikas,

when we're able to transform it in some way that makes sense

kui suudame muuta teadmist nõnda

et sel oleks meie jaoks tähendus

in the light of all of the other things floating around in our minds,

juba meie peas olemasolevate asjade valguses,

when we're able to transform Bakers into bakers.

kui oskame teha Bakeritest pagarid.

Mälupalee ja teised mnemotehnikad

The memory palace, these memory techniques --

on lihtsalt abivahendid.

they're just shortcuts.

In fact, they're not even really shortcuts.

Tegelikult pole need isegi abivahendid.

They work because they make you work.

Need toimivad, kuna panevad teid tööle.

Sunnivad asjadesse süvenema,

They force a kind of depth of processing,

a kind of mindfulness,

pöörama erilist tähelepanu,

that most of us don't normally walk around exercising.

mida enamik meist tavaolukorras ei teeks.

But there actually are no shortcuts.

Tegelikult ei olegi siin mingeid kiirmeetodeid.

Asjade meeldejätmine käibki just nii.

This is how stuff is made memorable.

Kui on üks asi, mida tahaksin, et te siite kaasa võtaksite,

And I think if there's one thing that I want to leave you with,

oleks see seesama, mille E.P.,

it's what E.P., the amnesic who couldn't even remember he had a memory problem,

vaegmäluga mees, kes ei mäletanudki, et tal oli mäluhäire.

left me with,

andis mulle,

which is the notion that our lives are the sum of our memories.

nimelt,

et meie elu koosnebki meie mälestustest.

How much are we willing to lose

Kui palju oleme valmis kaotama

oma niigi lühikesest elust

from our already short lives,

by losing ourselves in our Blackberries, our iPhones,

unustades end oma Blackberridesse ja iPhonedesse,

by not paying attention to the human being across from us

mitte märgates enda kõrval inimest,

who is talking with us,

kes meiega räägib,

by being so lazy that we're not willing to process deeply?

olles nii laisad, et ei viitsi

süveneda?

Õppisin omast kogemusest,

I learned firsthand

that there are incredible memory capacities

et igaühes meist on peidus

latent in all of us.

uskumatu mälupotentsiaal.

Aga kui soovite elada mäletamisväärset elu,

But if you want to live a memorable life,

tuleb teil olla inimene,

you have to be the kind of person

who remembers to remember.

kes ei unusta meelde jätta.

Thank you.

Aitäh!

(Applause)

(Aplaus)