AI Learning and Flow State - Super Learning?

Learning is typically viewed as information presented, digested, and built into your memory banks. But what if we can transform it into super learning? Star Trek 2009 Vulcan School

When initially learning something, it is easy to interrupt and break a flow state. If you have most of a topic well learned, you can continue growing the learning if you have a continuous stream of information coming in at a steady and digestible rate is what makes learning in flow possible. This state is something you will need to understand about yourself to capitalize on it.

Most people can speak comfortably at about 150 words per minute. Most people, with a focused attention, can hear and digest up to 700 words per minute. Despite the high word count for listening, there is an optimal rate that will let you hear, and digest that speed of data coming your way. The peak reading speed is somewhere around 260 words per minute. Generally, most people will cap out at about 200 words per minute read when learning. Audible data ingestion would have to be a lot slower than 700 words per minute, probably something closer to 400 words per minute.

Where this can be influenced is in your ability to fall into a flow state while learning. If you are listening, or reading, you will find yourself glossing over words, which is your que that you have either peeked on the ingestion rate, or you have been hit with something new that you need a moment to digest. In a flow state, your mind may be ready to push on and just skip over that new item, making it necessary to go back and re-listen or reread whatever was being consumed.

There is a lot of discussion about flow state setup and how to get into it quickly. But how do you drop in and out easily is probably more important. Getting out of a flow state gracefully and back in is the key. It may seem like an annoyance to stop a flow state, but if you need to learn something new, it will require you to pause. Going back to the speeds at which you can read or listen, you may find that it is just about the ability to adjust the speed at which you listen or at which you are reading.

When a person is in the act of executing on an already learned skill, it is far easier to hit a flow state. That state is a positive feeling tied to the execution of your skills, which you have taken time to learn. It almost seems as though you can only reach a flow state if you have already learned something. However, if you actually build learning processes as a skill, the ability to use flow in learning becomes more effective.

One good example of how to reach flow in learning goes back to what is now a relatively unpopular method for learning. Rote Memorization. If you have ever been in a class and repeated with the whole class, math progressions, you have experienced this kind of flow state.

It could be memorizing addition for numbers up to 100, or multiplication tables. Or language verb conjugations. Each of these has been used for years as a method to help you get the basics or "rudiments" in place. When a calculation comes up such as 6 time 8 you know instantly that it is 48. The act of doing these memorizations however is conducive to a flow state. Doing these kinds of exercises in a singsong voice will often help as well.

This is one of the critical elements of finding flow in learning. If you can find a structure for memorization, then move through the structure either in a sequential or later in a randomized format, you will be able to drop into a flow state quickly. The beauty of this is that you can go to the limits of what you know, and then just add a few new data points on and it will keep expanding your skill. This will continue giving you a larger and larger set of data that you can review at any time to click into that flow state.

One flow state that is often sought out is to reach flow state while writing. If you start with reading, at a speed that is at near your limit of comprehension, and do it consistently for 3 to 5 minutes, that can carry over as a seed into your writing state.

Getting ready to do anything with math? Find a rote element of math that you can refresh yourself on that is as close to the problem you are working on. Review that rote body of knowledge by actively doing it in your head. Then move into your more advanced mathematical problem solving.

The idea here may not be true flow, but a kind of priming for a flow state. If you can do some repetitive tasks that has similarities to your desired flow task, it seems to make the flow state more accessible. This has the ability to tie into other learning methods like "chunking", which is where you master a small sequence of activities. Once these activities are mastered, you can then associate a symbol of sorts to represent that body of activities. Then by glancing at them later, you can instantly recall the whole topic or sequence.

Using these techniques in tandem, you can take a chunked skill and then make it a fast-acting skill that you can repeat, helping you again, trigger flow. It is like leveling up your flow state. Flow for multiplication can be integrated so that you combine multiple operations into a single operation, which you can do in your head. A good example is being able to see a set of dimensions for a shape, like a square or triangle, and because the numbers are within the boundaries of what you have memorized (say low two digits), and the formula for calculating a given shape's area is memorized, you can calculate that instantly in your head.

At this point, you can now memorize the chunked formula with some pre-recorded knowledge around your known memorized multiplication numbers. There are a number of these that have naturally occurred to other mathematical folks, like knowing how to quickly calculate the area of a right triangle, or an equilateral triangle. The key here is to build complexity into the chunks of what you know so that you can traverse them quickly.

The military has done this a great deal of chunking in learning using acronyms. When you have memorized the terms in an acronym and built it into your memory so deeply that it is instinctive, you can then use those acronyms in a sequence during a state of flow.

The key thing to understand in all of this is that you have to be fully skilled in the memorized aspects of learning to drop into flow while using this kind of knowledge. Language for most, at least if it is your native language is easiest to use. Flow while writing or speaking as a result can be easy. But obviously only if you are speaking about something you actually understand.

The final element to have in this conversation is that you become aware of your memorized data sets. Create an inventory of things you have actually memorized. Then look at the processes for those things you memorized and see if you can apply the framework you used for memorization in a new area. If you are able to find those items, you can lay brand new information into your brain in a structured way, and use the framework and techniques (like repetition, singsong voice, or other tools) to now actively master a new topic.

One key aspect of this process is the potential for using AI to help you create these flow states. Picture a scenario where you can be immersed in this kind of practice. The Science Fiction portrayal of this seems prescient in Star Trek 2009, in the Vulcan Academy learning pods. If this could be created perhaps in a VR scenario, it could become an incredible tool for future learning.