# Context switching is not an idempotent operation [[Our memories are incomplete, subjective, and fragmented]]. [[Our brain hallucinates all the time to fill-in the blanks]]. When our brain switches from one [[Mental context]] to another (cfr [[30 Areas/33 Permanent notes/33.02 Content/Context switching]]), it "loads" data from memory into short-term memory. Doing so does not always lead to the same result, simply because our memory is not very reliable. Our brain is not always able to fetch the information it is looking for. Moreover, when it is able to, it may not recover it in the exact same state as before. Also, our memories are de-facto incomplete, and [[Our brain hallucinates all the time to fill-in the blanks]]. As a result, context switching is not idempotent. When we go from one task or problem to another, there's no guarantee that we will have the same information at our disposal to move forward. And the more time passes, the worse it gets. It's yet another reason to avoid/limit context switching as much as possible. ## References - [[Context switching]]