We all have an intuition about what it means to understand something. We all know what it’s like to be confused. We know both the pain of memorizing an answer you don’t understand as well as the satisfaction that comes from finally “getting it.” Yet what that intuition points to is hard to pin down. […]

Human beings crave progress. That craving distorts what we work on. Vital pursuits with less tangible progress are frequently sidelined for trivialities we can check off a to-do list. Think of the last time you updated your computer. Just having the progress bar made the wait more bearable. The inching left to right may have […]

Recently, I embarked on a research project exploring the topics of learning by doing, apprenticeship and transfer. I’ve just finished a big reading binge of a few dozen books loosely related to this topic. Since I’m fully aware that at most 1% of the material I read will make it into any future writing, I […]

I recently came across an essay by Tanner Greer about the rise and decline of public intellectuals. Many appear as geniuses for a time, before later becoming a punch line. Why does this happen? Greer starts with an obvious explanation—genius peaks. As we age, our raw talents decline and we can no longer sustain brilliance. […]