#215 Learning – S1 E6 – The limits of learning

Where is the limit? Is there a limit? Is there a maximum capacity?

Questions over questions. When I was talking with my dad a couple of days back in time, he mentioned that for him, it looks like he is loosing his ability to learn. But is that right? Does our learning capability decreases over time? Well, I am not a brain scientist or something like that and obviously not old enough to experience the phenomenon by myself, so I couldn’t really tell him if that might be right or wrong. But because of the reason that I needed a test subject for my learning methods anyways, I decided on trying to work with him on his learning techniques, in order to show him that there is a lot of potential still left in his brain and that he is just using the wrong technique. Well, we will see where this is leading us to, but today, we want to talk about something else, right?

Where are the limits of learning?

For sure, we have all experienced a moment in time, for example after a long day at work, or a long studying session, when our brain felt kind of done for the day. If we would continue on our quest and simply try to put something in there, for sure that won’t work anymore, besides the fact, that it would be highly inefficient and not really getting us anywhere.

Conclusion: It seems like there is a temporary limit for learning.

After a certain time of learning, there comes a point when we need to rest. Does our brain needs that “recovery period” in order to save the data? I am not so sure about that, but I guess it is more the exhaustion we feel, then an actual capacity problem. And sure, after a break, or a good night sleep, or a walk outside, we feel kind of fresh and energetic again, ready for the next 200 pages.

If we compare this to other things in life, like running, cycling, swimming, or other physically demanding activities, then there comes a moment in time, when your body just doesn’t want to go on anymore. It wants to protect itself from getting harmed, from overdoing it. But does our brain do the same thing? Is it overheating? Running in over boost all the time? Again, I am not an expert on that field, but I guess, thermal issues would be compensated by sweating, right? So it seems like it is not our brain that needs the exhaustion break, but rather our body and soul in general.

But still, that is not really answering our questions. Is there a limit? A maximum? At least for a certain period of time? Like, you have a certain amount of connections available, or storage room or something?

How crazy would that be? Seeing how much capacity we simply waste everyday by living our dumb and uncreative life’s.

So, where is this leading us to? It seems like there are a lot of outside factors entering the stage and making this attempt of solving these questions unsolvable. Of course there are certain limits, but they are not really quantifiable, right? It depends on so much stuff. Like how much suffering you can endure, how hard you really want to learn something, how good your learning method is and so on and so forth.

Over time, you can actually improve the daily amount of learning. I mean, just have a look at an average university student. Compared to his first semester, he is way more efficient and effective with his studying and learning in his last semester after being a couple of years in the game. Makes sense, I mean, you invest some time into something and get better at it. Automatically, by accident, you do not even need to focus on that.

But does that mean, that if someone just practices it a lot, he can reach the limits of learning somewhere down the road? Or is that not possible?

Well, I have absolutely no clue, but I guess the thing is, that this is not really feasible anyways, right? Why should someone need so much information in his head? Sure, sometimes it would be good to don’t forget the important things in life, especially if we are talking about the birthday of your wife, kids, or something similar important like that. But in the 21th century at least, there is so much information accessible to you at anytime everywhere, that the need to learn a lot by hearth is not really a skill you need to have. But sure, it is never a bad thing to work with your brain, right? I mean, I have nothing against Google, but sometimes you feel really dumb by searching for stuff you should definitely know.

The limits of learning? There are no limits? Sometimes you will reach a temporarily blockade, but after a walk outside, that should be fine again.

So, if there are no limits, the world is yours! Train your brain! Use it more! And you will see, it does actually make a lot of fun to learn something. You are the limiting factor, not your brain!

See you next time!

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