What's the point of learning so much?

[hyruga]

What's the point of learning stuff when you are going to 

1) Forget them

2) or you cannot recall them on time.

Plus, you can only think one thought at a time...Let's say you are thinking of a black cat, you cannot really think of Bill Gates at the same time as the amount of thoughts going through you at a certain time is finite.

Furthermore, let's say you study Chemistry and then you study Physics. And then, you study Biology. When you return back to your Chemistry, you realise you have forgotten so many stuff and if you would just concentrate on one subject, you will learn deeply.

So why learn so much?

Edited May 24, 2019 by hyruga

[Norbert Lennartz]

It's parenting that requires you to learn a lot of stuff. Society wants efficient citizens. In the end, it takes revenge for you.

[BjarkeT]

You can remember what you learn if you learn them correctly. Check out things like Overlearning. Distributed practice. Active recall. Retrieval practice. Testing effect.

Also check out chunking in learning how to learn.

The reason you forget things is probably because you don't use them in practice or actively retrieve the information.

Edited May 23, 2019 by BjarkeT

[Truth Addict]

Learning in the modern era is a means of survival.

It's a profession like any other profession.

The better your memory gets, the higher grades you get, the better job opportunities you get.

[Michael569]

Stop counting books but make every book count. If you feel you have not learned anything read it again and again until you can extract the juice. (unless it is a really crappy book). Make notes, use sticky notes. 

Also you lose the knowledge you don't use ofcourse, you lose the synapses in your brain as it is not viable to kep neurons that serve no purpose, so perhaps that knowledge was not important in the first place? I feel like these days people are reading a lot of irrelevent stuff just to have a "big picture understanding" in the end you are left out with few party-facts that anyone bit more educated can easily step on. 

Find what you love and read the shit out of it, I guarantee your retention will be maximised hundredfold if you genuinely enjoy what you read/study and it is giving you more and more joy with every new thing you learn. Don't read about biology if you don't give a fuck about biology. 

[ajasatya]

Hello @hyruga

Here in Brazil, we have two words to talk about two different levels of learning: "decorar" and "aprender", which can be (kind of) translated as "to memorize" and "to learn". It's easy for us to forget things that we just memorize, but we can't forget what we actually learn.

Why is that so? As a weak analogy, the brain is like a highly efficient computer that avoids storing useless information. This is why it feels awkward (and sometimes emotionally difficult) to learn something that we judge as useless. Maybe it is useless at this moment. But you can vision yourself as someone who will have everything that's available for you to learn at your disposal in the future.

Or even better... you can be creative and get involved in contexts that will "force" you to use what you have to learn. You will have to work harder but the learning process will feel a lot easier. As a bonus, you won't be just memorizing stuff. Such information may end up in your long-term memory and you will never forget it again.

Wrapping it up, the struggle to learn something is highly correlated with your vision and with your learning methodology. Be creative

[hyruga]

Thanks for all the replies. It's good to learn new stuff here. @BjarkeT @ajasatya @Michael569

I guess I need to learn more on how to learn better.

 

[Commodent]

To address your points; even if I'm not consciously recalling what I've learned I feel like whatever I learn is contributing to fine-tuning my overarching perspective on life. I feel like my current perspective is the sum of everything I've learned, and that it's deeply ingrained in who I am, to put it that way. So one thing I've learned might be insignificant, but it makes a part of the vast whole which keeps growing ever so slightly every day.

This is kinda how long-term memory works too. The memories that are prevalent within hippocampus gets "transferred" through brainwaves into the structure of the rest of your brain during sleep. So everything you learn and experience shapes who you are on a very deep level, even if you might not actively recall it all the time.

Edited May 23, 2019 by Commodent

[Shadowraix]

Our memory is more capable than we think. If we make strong associations to the thing we try to memorize we can increase our ability to recall. 

[hyruga]

I am not too concerned with memory.

I am more concerned with recall of info. If you recall 'info A', then it may hinder your ability to recall 'info B' at the same time.

How do we think faster in real life?

[Leo Gura]

It's important to distinguish learning facts and memorizing stuff from learning wisdom and core principles.

These are two very different pursuits.

Learning facts and memorizing stuff is rather pointless and can even be counter-productive.

Wisdom, however, is never forgotten. Deep understanding is permanent.

[hyruga]

9 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

It's important to distinguish learning facts and memorizing stuff from learning wisdom and core principles.

These are two very different pursuits.

Learning facts and memorizing stuff is rather pointless and can even be counter-productive.

Wisdom, however, is never forgotten. Deep understanding is permanent.

Thanks @Leo Gura for your insights.

[AnTe]

I understand and have been there until I started connecting the dots and seeing how it all relates. literally everything is explaining the same thing from diff perspectives which we have to filter through and connect it how it best makes sense to us based on our personal experiences. it's all related in some way even if it doesn't seem that way at first. its not only about knowledge because knowledge is useless without experience to back it up which creates wisdom. 

[Rigel]

My advice would be to read Mastery by George Leonard and to start to apply the Mastery process in you own life. It's incredibility fulfilling to learn something for real. You can also have in mind that learning is fun. The more you learn, the more you can make new connections and the more you are able to create what you really want in life.

Also real learning doesn't come from someone telling you something and then you taking that as the truth. Real learning happens when you can focus your awareness on a thing with a genuine desire to understand.(Not to say that the information coming from other people isn't valuable. It is.)

Edited May 24, 2019 by Rigel

[Sidra]

 

[UDT]

On 5/23/2019 at 3:06 PM, hyruga said:

What's the point of learning stuff when you are going to 

1) Forget them

2) or you cannot recall them on time.

Plus, you can only think one thought at a time...Let's say you are thinking of a black cat, you cannot really think of Bill Gates at the same time as the amount of thoughts going through you at a certain time is finite.

Furthermore, let's say you study Chemistry and then you study Physics. And then, you study Biology. When you return back to your Chemistry, you realise you have forgotten so many stuff and if you would just concentrate on one subject, you will learn deeply.

So why learn so much?

You will. IYou underestimate yourself. Just go stop excusing 

[hyruga]

 

On 5/25/2019 at 3:35 AM, UDT said:

You will. IYou underestimate yourself. 

OK thank you for your tips. 

 

The main problem for me is I have a lot of products to sell and it's not easy to remember all the specs without confusing myself.

Together with all the self improvement books, it makes memorising even harder to the point that I may read fewer books now.

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by hyruga