On 2/4/06, Jon Lincicum wrote: > Davdi Silverrock wrote: > > > > >Consider that there is more than one type of memory, event memory, and > >skill memory. Event memory is broken down into short-term and > >long-term memory, and skill memory is built from long-term memories. > >Now, if you have really, really long lived entities, it would make > >sense for them to be able to retain strong, long-term memories > >throughout their lifetime. However, it ought not be *too* easy to > >form strong, long-term memories, because brain capacity is finite. So > >it therefore makes sense that it takes a lot longer for strong, > >long-term skill memories to form in beings that have a lifespan of > >2000-3000 years. > > > > > There's some merit in what you say--at the same time, we have examples > in some cases (Morrolan's study of sorcery, for one) in which > Dragaeran's seem to learn very rapidly. Ah, but this was a Dragaeran writing about a Dragaeran. Perhaps for Paarfi, Morrolan's rate of learning *was* fast, while for an Easterner, it would appear only slightly slow. > Now, since Morrolan thought he was a short-lived Easterner while he was > growing up, he may be more used to learning at a faster pace than other > Dragaerans. However, this might suggest that the slow pace of learning > is more a cultural factor than a biological one. Somehow, I don't think so. Savn appeared to be making a real effort remembering the anatomy lesson he had learned, when he was operating on Vlad. However, as a modification to my notion, perhaps the slowness in learning is more obvious when Dragaerans are young and clumsy, and have a great deal to learn. Since Morrolan's brain had mostly completed developing before he started learning sorcery, perhaps he could then focus more on learning sorcery faster. And finally, perhaps sorcery can itself be used to help oneself learn (that is, creating sorcerous modifications of one's own neurology, just as sorcerous healing can repair body tissue), and so once you pass a certain threshold of sorcerous knowledge, further knowlege can be learned and retained faster. So the many years I suggested for the curricula might not be necessary.