26. Memory Champion Nelson Dellis Helps Steve Train His Brain

People I (Mostly) Admire

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Society & Culture

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2021

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

He’s one of the world’s leading competitors, having won four U.S. memory tournaments and holding the record for most names memorized in 15 minutes (235!). But Nelson Dellis claims he was born with an average memory and that anyone can learn his tricks. Steve gives Nelson’s techniques a shot, without much hope — and is surprised by the result.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Usually on this podcast, I'm just happy if we have a great conversation.
0:08.5	But today, I'm striving for something more.
0:11.3	I want to learn how to remember things better, and I feel incredibly lucky to have the chance
0:16.2	to sit down with four time USA Memory Tournament Champion Nelson Delas, who's authored
0:21.8	the book's Memory Superpowers, and remember it.
0:24.9	I'm not sure there's anyone around who can better teach me and you how to improve our memories.
0:32.6	Welcome to People I Mostly Admire, with Steve Levitt.
0:39.1	Since this episode is about memory, let's test our memories.
0:42.6	I'm going to right now randomly generate an 8 digit number on my computer, and I'm
0:46.9	going to read it out loud.
0:48.6	And let's see if you and I can remember it after the ad break.
0:53.2	Okay, I'm only going to read the numbers once.
0:55.7	I'm randomly generating them.
0:57.9	Okay, here they are.
0:58.6	Are you ready?
0:59.5	Here they go.
1:00.6	Zero, three, one, six, three, three, one, two.
1:10.0	Okay, think about those numbers.
1:11.8	I'm doing the same, and let's try to put those in our memory.
1:17.0	Do you appreciate the irony of the fact that from an economist perspective, the value of
1:23.0	a good memory today is probably lower than almost any time in human history.
1:29.0	Technology is dramatically lower the cost of forgetting.
	...

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