How Would Our Lives Change If We Could Learn Any Skill Instantly?

Hello everyone!

Our lives are made up of the time we have and what we do with it. From the moment we come into the world we start learning things, our parents became our teachers to say our first words. It took a considerable amount of time to say our first word. After words came sentences, and as we got older, making sentences became no longer a skill or something difficult and time-consuming for us to learn. As a result, the first step in learning something is to spend time and effort on it. But what if we could learn any skill we wanted instantly? In this article, I will share my thoughts on this subject with you.

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In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, he argues that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to fully learn and master a skill. Gladwell bases this idea on the work of psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and emphasizes that successful people such as Mozart, The Beatles and Bill Gates have practiced this amount in their careers. But this 10,000-hour rule has always been controversial. Some critics say it doesn’t apply to every skill or field. I believe that even if it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert, learning can sometimes only take a few minutes because learning is not always an in-depth process; sometimes it’s just accepting information.

If we could learn any skill we wanted instantly, I think a lot of things would be devalued. The satisfaction of long effort would be replaced by a quick and superficial happiness. The pride of acquiring a skill would just be a momentary thrill without the time and effort. This could make our lives more superficial and leave us unsatisfied. Because many people find the meaning of life in the effort to achieve a goal. If everything were so easy, perhaps it would be harder to find that meaning.

On the other hand, in a world where we could learn everything instantly, competition would take on a different dimension. If everyone could learn any skill they wanted instantly, the ways to differentiate would also change. Creativity and innovation would become the most important differentiators, rather than access to information or speed of skill acquisition. In a world where everyone has the same basic skills, the real value would be in how we use those skills. Because when everyone has the same knowledge, it is how we process, interpret and apply that knowledge that makes the difference.

But there is also a risk here. One of the main triggers for creativity and divergent thinking is challenge and failure. If we could learn everything instantly and apply it flawlessly, perhaps creativity would atrophy instead of flourishing. Because being challenged feeds innovative thinking in the search for solutions. Failures cause us to try different ways and develop new ideas. If these processes disappear, the courage to think outside the box may diminish. So in a way, the difficulty of the learning process makes us more creative and innovative, whereas in the world of instant learning this can be diminished.

In conclusion, while the ability to learn everything instantly is tempting, it can reduce the depth and meaning of the learning process. Innovation and creativity are based on the challenges and mistakes in the learning process and the effort to overcome them. If these processes are removed, discovery and development — the driving force of creativity and innovation — can diminish. The important thing is not to learn everything instantly, but how we interpret what we learn and create innovative solutions. Hope to see you in another Questions for Tomorrow.

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