Comment by josephg

> There is no reason to forget. [...] You are just making a very silly "Appeal to nature" argument.

I don't see it that way. I see it as a healthy, useful expression of continuous death.

In software, we don't start every program by first importing every line of code ever written. Why not? The computer has room for all that code. Why don't we import it all into our workspace? The reason, in my mind, is that each line of code in a computer program has a cognitive cost to it. A sort of, conceptual gravity, which makes reaching for further away ideas much more difficult.

When brainstorming, often a blank page is the best canvas for a new idea. We start companies with new stationary. New workbooks. We even have sayings for this - "Blue sky thinking" or "Greenfield projects". Ie, projects which don't inherit older, more established structures or code.

There's a balance of course. We also don't start everything from scratch either. In code we pull in libraries as we need them, and lean on our programming languages and operating systems. But you have to strike the right balance between new and old. Too much old and you're stifled by it. Too much new and you're trying to boil the ocean.

I think humans are like that too. I think our ability to crystalize new thoughts depends on our capacity to let go of old ones. I don't think the best minds spend their lives hoarding all the best knowledge. For my money, the old people I like the most are people who can be in the here and now. Knowledgable, sure. But also present. Open to surprise. Philosophically you want to combine whats happening right now with the best ideas from the past. And let the rest go.

At least, that's how I think of it for myself. If I'm a different person in 20 years from who I am now, I wish whoever I become the best of luck. I hope for them to be unburdened by all the cognitive misadventure I'm probably going through right now.