Making Badass Developers - Kathy Sierra (Serious Pony) keynote

Summary

This talk delves into the challenges of web development, emphasizing that there's no consensus on the skills required to be a web developer. It humorously dismisses the 'rock star' and 'ninja' stereotypes, highlighting the importance of cognitive resources. The speaker introduces the concept of 'cognitive leaks' and how they deplete our ability to learn and perform. The talk advocates for managing cognitive load by breaking down complex skills into smaller, manageable parts, and stresses the value of high-quality, high-quantity examples for efficient learning. It concludes with a call to recognize and respect the limited cognitive resources of fellow developers.

Takeaways

• 🤔 The debate on what skills are essential for a web developer is subjective and varies widely among individuals.
• 🎯 The speaker suggests that the focus should be on the ability to learn quickly and efficiently, rather than on specific skills.
• 🧠 Cognitive resources are limited, and effective learning requires managing these resources to avoid being overwhelmed.
• 🐕 Studies with dogs and humans show that even simple tasks can deplete cognitive resources, affecting subsequent decision-making.
• 🚫 Avoid unnecessary cognitive leaks in design and communication to prevent unnecessary drain on cognitive resources.
• 🛑 The speaker emphasizes the importance of not just learning, but mastering skills to move them from active cognitive use to automatic processes.
• 🔁 High expertise is associated with efficient cognitive resource management, which is crucial for both learning and performance.
• 🚀 Perceptual learning, where skills are acquired without explicit instruction, can dramatically speed up the learning process.
• 👥 Community and collaboration play a significant role in providing high-quality examples and support for rapid learning.
• 🙏 The speaker concludes by honoring the audience's cognitive resources, acknowledging the effort and focus they've given to the presentation.

Q & A

What is the main issue discussed in the script regarding web developers?

The main issue discussed is the varying opinions on what skills and knowledge are necessary to be considered a web developer, leading to confusion and the idea that there is no single answer to what one must know.

Why does the speaker mention 'humanoids' and 'unicorns' in the context of web developers?

The speaker uses 'humanoids' to describe the idealized version of web developers that can handle any task with perfect memory and cognitive resources, while 'unicorns' refers to the mythical perfect developer that doesn't actually exist. This is to contrast with 'humans,' who have limited cognitive resources.

What cognitive experiment involving digits is mentioned in the script, and what does it demonstrate?

The script mentions an experiment where participants had to remember either two or seven digits. Those who had to remember seven digits were more likely to choose cake over fruit, demonstrating that cognitive load affects self-control and decision-making.

How does the speaker relate the concept of cognitive resources to web development?

The speaker relates cognitive resources to web development by emphasizing the importance of managing these limited resources effectively to learn and perform tasks efficiently, suggesting that reducing cognitive load is crucial for developers.

What is the 'one tank' theory mentioned in the script, and how does it apply to learning and performance?

The 'one tank' theory refers to the idea that problem-solving, thinking, and willpower all draw from the same pool of cognitive resources. In the context of learning and performance, it suggests that overtaxing this pool can lead to decreased effectiveness and efficiency.

What is the significance of the 'chicken sexing' example in the script?

The 'chicken sexing' example illustrates how individuals can become experts in a task without explicitly knowing how they do it, highlighting the brain's ability to subconsciously learn patterns and make complex judgments.

What is the 'intermediate blues' mentioned in the script, and why is it a problem?

The 'intermediate blues' refers to a plateau in skill development where progress seems to stall. It's a problem because it can lead to frustration and a halt in improvement, often due to relying on suboptimal or outdated skills that have become automatic.

How does the speaker suggest improving the speed of learning in web development?

The speaker suggests improving the speed of learning by focusing on high-quality, high-quantity examples that allow the brain to pattern match effectively, bypassing the need for explicit knowledge of the underlying rules.

What is the key takeaway from the NASA and UCLA experiment mentioned in the script?

The key takeaway is that with the right kind of training, even non-experts can rapidly develop high-level skills without explicit knowledge of the underlying mechanisms, demonstrating the power of perceptual learning.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of considering others' cognitive resources in the script?

The speaker emphasizes the importance of considering others' cognitive resources to foster a supportive community and to help each other learn and perform more effectively by reducing unnecessary cognitive load.

Outlines

00:00

🤷‍♂️ The Debate on Essential Web Developer Skills

The speaker begins by setting a scene at a party with web developers and others, where a discussion arises about the skills necessary to be considered a web developer. The conversation quickly becomes contentious as opinions vary widely. The speaker humorously points out that even experts don't agree on what skills are crucial, and the audience is reminded that there's no single 'right' answer. Instead, the focus should be on the ability to learn quickly, as the field of web development is constantly evolving.

05:03

🧠 Cognitive Resources and Learning Efficiency

This paragraph delves into the concept of cognitive resources, comparing developers to 'humans,' 'unicorns,' and 'humanoids.' The speaker emphasizes that humans have limited cognitive resources, unlike the idealized 'humanoids' with perfect memory and unlimited capacity. The importance of managing these resources is highlighted through an experiment about memory and willpower, suggesting that even small tasks can deplete our ability to make good decisions. The speaker advocates for reducing 'cognitive leaks' to optimize learning and performance.

10:04

🚧 Overcoming Learning Plateaus and Speeding Up Progress

The speaker identifies common issues that hinder learning and progress in web development: a pile-up of tasks that overload cognitive resources ('pile up on B'), the 'intermediate blues' where progress plateaus, and the slow pace of learning ('too slow'). Solutions are proposed, such as breaking down tasks into smaller, manageable subskills and regularly revisiting mastered skills to refine them. The speaker stresses the importance of high-quality, high-quantity examples for rapid learning, drawing parallels to historical examples like 'chicken sexing' and 'plane spotters' during WWII.

15:05

🚀 Accelerating Learning Through Perceptual Learning

The speaker introduces 'perceptual learning' as a method to accelerate skill acquisition, bypassing the intermediate stages of learning. Using examples like 'chicken sexing' and 'plane spotting,' the speaker explains how experts were created without them knowing the rules they were following. The key takeaway is the importance of high-quality, high-quantity examples for the brain to pattern-match effectively. The speaker calls for a community effort to provide such examples and concludes by reminding the audience of the human aspect of learning, emphasizing the scarcity and value of cognitive resources.

20:06

🤝 Caring for Cognitive Resources in a Community

In the final paragraph, the speaker concludes by urging the audience to be mindful of each other's cognitive resources. The speaker asks the audience to look around and consider the cognitive load their peers carry, encouraging a supportive and understanding community. The talk ends on a heartfelt note, thanking the audience for dedicating their valuable cognitive resources to listening and learning.

Keywords

💡Cognitive Resources

Cognitive resources refer to the mental capacity and attention an individual can allocate to processing information, learning, and solving problems. In the video, the concept is central to understanding how humans can efficiently learn and perform tasks. The speaker emphasizes that these resources are limited and can be easily depleted, affecting one's ability to make decisions or learn new skills. The script mentions how even simple tasks, like memorizing digits, can deplete cognitive resources, leading to less optimal choices, such as preferring cake over fruit.

💡Web Developers

Web developers are professionals who design, build, and maintain websites and web applications. The video script uses a scenario involving web developers at a party to illustrate the diverse opinions and knowledge bases within the field. It highlights the difficulty in defining a universal set of skills or knowledge required to be considered a web developer, as each individual may have a unique perspective based on their experiences and expertise.

💡Unicorns

In the context of the video, 'unicorns' is a metaphor used to describe the idealized or mythically perfect web developers who possess all the skills and knowledge one could imagine. The speaker humorously dismisses the existence of such individuals, suggesting that the pursuit of an all-encompassing skill set is unrealistic. This term is used to challenge the notion that there is a single, definitive path to expertise in web development.

💡Expertise Development

Expertise development is the process by which individuals acquire and refine skills to become highly proficient in a particular domain. The video discusses this concept in relation to web development, emphasizing the importance of breaking down complex skills into smaller, manageable subtasks. The speaker suggests that by focusing on these subskills and practicing them intensively, individuals can efficiently move from novice to expert levels, conserving cognitive resources in the process.

💡Perceptual Learning

Perceptual learning is a type of learning that involves the brain's ability to recognize and interpret sensory information. The video provides examples, such as chick sexing and plane spotting, where individuals or groups have developed high levels of expertise through exposure to a large number of examples, often without conscious awareness of the underlying rules. This concept is used to argue for the importance of providing a vast quantity of high-quality examples to facilitate rapid learning and skill acquisition.

💡Cognitive Leaks

Cognitive leaks are small, seemingly insignificant tasks or distractions that consume cognitive resources without providing meaningful learning or progress. The video script discusses how these leaks can accumulate and hinder an individual's ability to focus on more important tasks or learning opportunities. The speaker encourages the audience to be mindful of these leaks and to structure their learning environments to minimize them.

💡Pattern Matching

Pattern matching is a cognitive process where the brain identifies and recognizes regularities or relationships within data or experiences. In the video, it is highlighted as a key mechanism through which the brain learns and adapts, particularly in the context of perceptual learning. The speaker suggests that by providing a large number of high-quality examples, the brain can effectively sort signal from noise and develop deep expertise without conscious effort.

💡Humanoids

The term 'humanoids' in the video is used to describe a hypothetical being with perfect cognitive abilities, such as unlimited memory and attention. It contrasts with 'humans,' who have limited cognitive resources. The speaker uses this concept to critique the unrealistic expectations often placed on learners and professionals, emphasizing the need to design learning experiences that accommodate the constraints of human cognition.

💡Intermediate Blues

The 'Intermediate Blues' refers to a phase in learning where progress plateaus and improvement becomes difficult. The video discusses this concept as a common challenge in expertise development, often caused by relying on suboptimal or outdated skills that have become automated. The speaker suggests that revisiting and refining these skills is crucial for overcoming plateaus and continuing to advance.

💡Learning Efficiency

Learning efficiency is the measure of how effectively and quickly an individual can acquire new skills or knowledge. The video emphasizes the importance of learning efficiency in the context of web development, where the pace of technological change requires continuous learning. The speaker advocates for strategies that maximize cognitive resources, such as breaking down skills into subtasks and providing a large number of examples, to enhance learning efficiency.

Highlights

Discussion on the varying opinions on what skills are necessary to be considered a web developer.

The humorous suggestion that there are no definitive answers, and everyone has their own perspective on web development skills.

Introduction of the concept of 'humanoid' developers, who are expected to have perfect memory and cognitive resources.

The idea that most resources treat developers as 'humanoids' rather than humans with limited cognitive resources.

The importance of cognitive resources in learning and the concept of one 'tank' of cognitive resources for all mental tasks.

The classic 'marshmallow experiment' and its implications for cognitive resource depletion.

The impact of small cognitive tasks on overall cognitive resource availability.

The concept of 'cognitive leaks' and how they can be reduced to improve learning and performance.

The three categories of developers: human, unicorn, and humanoid, with a focus on the challenges faced by human developers.

The framework for efficient learning and performance improvement, involving moving skills across three stages of mastery.

Addressing the problem of too many tasks causing a pile-up and preventing effective learning.

TheIntermediate Blues: the plateau in learning and how to overcome it by refining skills that have become automatic.

The challenge of learning speed and how to accelerate the process of moving from novice to expert.

The extreme example of 'chicken sexing' as a demonstration of how expertise can be developed without conscious knowledge.

The importance of high-quality, high-quantity examples for rapid skill acquisition through perceptual learning.

The potential for perceptual learning to revolutionize how we learn complex tasks in web development.

A call to action for developers to support each other's cognitive resources and learn effectively as humans, not 'humanoids'.

Transcripts

are there any unicorns

here be

proud okay more than one all right so

um imagine that you're at a

party oh there it is imagine that you're

at a party with a bunch of web

developers and a few normal people and

somebody says this and by the way these

monitors down here aren't working so

forgive me for looking at what's

happening so somebody says that and then

they say

that and then they say this which you've

all heard right how hard can it be so

now imagine what you are thinking at

this

party and you've all heard

this so then he goes okay well then what

do you have to know and this is where it

gets interesting because of course every

single person at this event whether

they're a web developer or not has an

opinion about this so they all start

talking and they all start giving their

ideas about what you really have to know

I mean you absolutely cannot call

yourself a web developer if you don't

have these things whatever it is but

they're all starting to argue about it

because they don't all

agree and I'm not making fun of node by

the way just a little bit um

so there starts to be this argument

among even this very small group of

people

so if we can't agree on what you have to

know then we will ask the

experts because who else is going to

tell us and so this is what they say you

absolutely cannot call yourself a

developer if you don't at least know all

of those things right now so um you have

to be a rock star as every ad will tell

you um you have to be a ninja you have

to be a hacker you have to be a hacker

Ninja

and the internet is wrong spoiler alert

um so if you ask 10,000 people you get

10,000 different opinions on what you

have to know to be a web developer at

any given time so this should be

comforting because it means there is no

one answer at all but the people who say

these things especially the people on

Hacker News they know they are firm in

their commitment but they don't actually

know they just think they do so what do

you have to know that is the wrong

question question so a better question

is you know you are going to have to

learn stuff so how fast can you do that

how much and how fast can you do that

and still

survive well it starts here there are

three kinds of developers there's human

there's of course the unicorn and

there's humanoid and the problem is

humanoids have consistently available

always up cognitive resources Perfect

Memory etc etc humans they're cognitive

resources are so scarce and precious and

limited I'm not going to talk about

unicorns cuz you don't exist so you've

uh you've been mistaken for a humanoid

everything every almost every 99.9% cuz

someone's going to go not all open

source documentation treats me like this

um everything treats you like a humanoid

probably your boss your employers your

clients

School everything you've ever done every

book um that's helped you learn to

program including potentially mine have

treated you like a humanoid and not a

human so a little refresher on cognitive

resources because that's the perspective

that we're going to use because it is

the only key you have to actually

learning really quickly and really well

so most of you are probably familiar

with this but just a little refresher so

this was one of the experiments that

really started it all um so I'll imagine

that I split the room and this half of

the room I give you an a little memory

test and it only has two digits you just

have to memorize two digits pretty easy

this whole side of the room seven digits

not seven numbers just seven digits

pretty easy so I give you that test give

you that test then you're all done and

the researcher says can you come down

the hall you know for further processing

the experiment is over but of course

it's never over and then they say oh by

the way would you like a snack and

you're offered fruit or cake so I think

you probably all know what

happens this side of the room you guys

chose a lot more cake these are the

really Slim fruit eaters so um the

difference was just five extra digits

that's how much it took so again at

first they thought well it's just about

the glucose in the brain which has

something to do with that but really

what they learned is that it's all one

tank cognitive processing for solving

problems for thinking doing the hard

stuff and willpower all the same tank

one pool of resources burn one you burn

the other and it works with dogs too so

for example this is actually my dog um

it they did this experiment with

different breeds of dogs take a dog and

have it sit just sit obediently just

just sit doesn't have to do anything but

sit take another dog and it has to go in

the crate for 10 minutes at the end of

10 minutes they release the dogs to play

one of those treat puzzles which they

had cruy rigged so it actually couldn't

ever be solved by the dog and then they

waited to see how long the dogs would

work on that puzzle so the dogs that had

to sit in the crate worked on that

puzzle twice as long as the dogs that

just had to sit obediently so think

about that if you have a dog right your

dog just sitting there is burning

through self-control cognitive resources

and then can't think and where whereas

sitting in the crate required no use of

cognitive resources the dog was able to

in self-control the dog was able to use

the model to solve the puzzle so think

about this if you are doing anything in

your own products or services or

anything that you make for other people

think am I doing things that are

unnecessarily burning people's cognitive

resources am I doing things that will

make them choose cake and often we

are and so this is a problem so the goal

is to reduce cognitive leaks all the

time and to always remember it is one

tank and it is so scarce and so easily

depleted so again here's how it works

right even if you're doing something

that you like to do even if you're doing

something it's not about doing something

that you hate it's about actually just

using your brain to think so but if this

happens right then you have less ability

to resist the drive-thru on the way home

and it works in

Reverse you've all had a client or a

boss say that um you can just do that

today right now

what you're thinking is something like

this but what you actually say is sure

no problem now if you say sure no

problem instead of what you really think

you just burned a lot more cognitive

resources which is why when you think

about it it really makes no sense for

people to hold all the kinds of meetings

they hold because every meeting that you

attend most of the time is bleeding your

cognitive resources dry so when you go

back and try to work right you can't

function so you you tell the client sure

no problem when you're thinking gosh if

you could only die on a fire then you

can't play chess that night this is how

it works and there are a gazillion

studies that support this it's all one

tank but it's not just these big things

right there's death by a cogn a thousand

cognitive micro leaks all the tiny

little things those could be tiny little

things in an interface just tiny little

things that you have to deal with so

here's an example anyone have an Apple

TV remote

right anyone here not lost it in the

cushions so this thing is so tiny right

so this is what people end up

doing they do it so much that this is

what I entered as the search

string people taping their apple remote

to bigger things because that's what I

had to do and there are so many there

was even a Kickstarter right

so it's not about the lost time looking

for the remote it's the it's the tiny

little cognitive resources all the time

and so people try to find these

Solutions so that they don't have to

waste cognitive resources on them but

those things add up to a huge pool so

think about all the little things they

matter so what we know is that where

there is high

expertise there is a great deal of

cognitive resource management for

efficiency when learning and efficiency

and Effectiveness when actually doing

the thing so that's what we're going to

look at is how to get way better way

faster from from a cognitive resources

perspective because without that nothing

you do will matter so this is the

framework that we're going to look at

right imagine you have three boards with

Post-it notes one is for the things that

you um can't do but will'll need to the

next is for things that you can do with

effort these are the things that are

burning cognitive resources and then the

last is for things that have moved into

the automatic mastered possibly

unconscious stage so the goal is to

always be moving things across that

board but there are a bunch of problems

so we're going to look real quick at

these three main problems and how to

solve them so the first one is you just

don't get better when people don't make

progress the main reason usually comes

down to this pile up on B there's just

too many things draining cognitive

resources now you just saw that

experiment with the two and the Seven

how just five extra

digits overwhelmed your cognitive

resources it takes so little and here

you are trying to learn so many things

so the pile up on B is there are too

many cognitive resources being drained

to ever effectively nail something and

get it over to the Sea pile so problem

number two is the intermediate Blues

this is when someone is making progress

and then they just Plateau something

happens and they just can't seem to get

any better and the main reason for that

is usually that something has made it to

see but it's not high quality or it's

not supporting them or maybe it's

outdated and now it's holding them back

and it once worked whatever it is but

now it may even be unconscious and if

not unconscious it's something that

doesn't take any cognitive resources

which was the point so nobody wants to

pull it back and refine it so we'll look

at that and problem number three is it

just takes too long we don't have that

kind of time not when you know quora and

Reddit and stack Overflow and Hacker

News is telling us everything we need to

learn so we have to fix those things so

we have to fix p up on B half F on C

these are actually relatively simple to

fix especially pile up on B this would

change your life if you really started

doing it like today um the too slow

we're going to look at that because

that's the one where all the magic

happens so pile up on B we need to fix

that because we have a bad balance too

many things taking cognitive resources

so you can't just ever finally nail

something and get it off the cognitive

resource plate so there are a couple

things you can do there's the obvious

one but this is not always easy to do

especially when other people are driving

what you're supposed to be learning is

you just keep more stuff on a you don't

try to learn it right you don't have to

learn the whole

API right now you can do it in pieces

but the main thing we can do and this is

what you know 50 years of research on

expertise development has told us split

these things into small subtasks

subskills and take those small subskills

to see and then suddenly you become a

lot more effective and efficient that's

how you move through getting better now

how do you know what size of a subskill

actually is going to help make that

process happen so and this is the thing

to remember half a skill beats a half

ass skill um the way that you can tell

this is one way you can tell there are

many ways but this is one way that is a

really simple way is if you can take a

skill from you can't do it to mastered

like maybe 95% of the time that you try

it you get it right within three

sessions and each practice session it

within one to three sessions and each

session is no more than 45 to 90 minutes

if you can't if you haven't done if you

haven't nailed this thing you've just

got it in that amount of time the thing

is too big so you need a finer grain

skill so that you can just keep moving

them along that's how progress happens

and but it's you can see it's not what

we normally try to do so but here's a

bigger problem that this helps fix the

scariest thing about practice with a

bunch of stuff on B A bunch of stuff

that you just keep working on it you

keep working on it you keep working on

it you haven't really nailed it you know

you're getting better but you're still

crappy at it is that practice makes

permanent so whatever you practice the

longer you practice being crappy at it

or being or even just being a beginner

the better you get at staying a beginner

or mediocre so it's really important to

take fewer things and very quickly p

pass through that stage and jump up to

intermediate as quickly as you can now

half Fass skills on C this one um the

biggest problem is that we don't ever

want to revisit those things and when

they study very high expertise they find

people who are continually

rechecking the things they've already

automated and mastered to see does this

need to be refined does this still serve

me justes you know is this causing me to

now hit a limit and I can't go any

further so consider those things are but

think about what's on your C board right

now and these can be big things little

things things you do things you know

right um I'm just going to admit this

I've never admitted this before but um

I've been programming almost 30 years

and I just started using an IDE two

weeks ago I have been well I considered

Sublime that was my big upgrade to an

IDE um I've been using text edit in the

command line so I finally intell yes um

and after about 2 days I'm like I'm

killing myself of how many cognitive

resources I will never recover not doing

this but it was just easier right I just

did what I did so programming Paradigm

right now we're in the O FP thing coding

style semicolons typing whatever it

might be um how you hold a stylus of

your graphic designer all of those

things could be

anything but think about bringing it

back now that takes cognitive resources

to do it but this is the most effective

use of your cognitive resources if you

want to keep getting better so but if if

it's too slow how does this help you you

can be doing everything right moving

things across the board but it's too

slow and for you folks it probably

doesn't get more challenging for how

fast you have to learn new things than

for you the people in this room so how

um like I'm telling you something you

don't know so um we need to bypass

B where we can because if you can go

straight from can't do it to suddenly

you just magically can how awesome is

that and we can and we also want to

speed up a to B to C so it all starts

here this is the most extreme example

which I'm sure most of you are familiar

with but just for a refresher the most

extreme example of something that

bypasses c where you go from I can't do

it to I'm an absolute expert and I have

no idea how I got there so chicken

sexing determining the gender of a baby

chick apparently there are certain kinds

of chickens where that it's virtually

impossible to perceive it

now obviously it's not impossible for

the brain but it's impossible for the

people who are actually trying to figure

it out but people become really really

good at it so in Japan they took a group

of people and said these are the master

chick sexers we will have them teach

other chick sexers and so they tried and

they couldn't because either they didn't

know what rules they were actually using

or how they were actually doing it or

they were just guessing so they couldn't

teach people so instead they did

something else and this is where it all

happens this is the this is the template

even though this is very simplified it

scales up to things much more complex

they took the people who were going to

learn to be chick sexers and they just

here's the bin of chicks and they would

just pick up a chick and say I don't

know

female and the the chick sexer expert

would say yes no yes no and the person

was just doing it randomly just sorting

them I have no idea yeah male female

over time their responses were not

random they got better and better and

better and better and given enough time

became experts without ever knowing how

they suddenly got better so again that's

the most extreme example another one was

the World War II um civilian plane

spotters in England there were people

who got to be really good at a crucial

skill which is knowing is that incoming

plane a bomber or is that one of our own

so again they tried to have those expert

plane spotters teach others couldn't do

it they did actually know what rules

they were using or every time they said

they had a set of rules something about

there would be you know exceptions to

those rules that made it all fall apart

so they did the same thing with the

chick sexers they just had the person

who wanted to learn next to the expert

and they created new expert planes

spotters that way brains do things all

the time the best things the brain does

have nothing to do with us we don't get

to have a say and this is what drives us

crazy about people who really do have a

lot of expertise when you say things

like well how did you know how did you

do that how did you figure that out

right they just they don't know they

just know and all of you have things

that you have deep expertise at where

this is true for you the problem is we

often think we know even when we don't

so those were simple tasks right the

chicken sexing and the plane spotting

well extremely difficult but very simple

in terms of identification what about

more elaborate things because we're

talking about development so here's an

experiment that was done with NASA and

people from UCLA pretty spectacular but

it's kind of shocking how few people

have actually really looked at this they

took um these are the any pilots in here

so this is the six-pack the the

instrument the flight instruments they

took

non-pilots not beginning Pilots people

who have never actually even thought

about flying a plane and they put them

through this training program lasted

about two

hours very special training program very

much like the chick sexing right this is

what happened they outscored the

seasoned Pilots with a th000 to 2,000

hours of flight time

non-pilots on accuracy and speed of

knowing what those instruments meant in

terms of the

plane so that's really dramatic they

didn't even have any teaching at all

they went straight from a to c and then

they did it again with an aviation um uh

navigation task same

thing this is order of magnitude right

now could they could they leave and fly

a plane no but they had just learned two

really crucial skills that no longer

have to drain cognitive resources and oh

yes they're really awesome at it because

it's a really life-saving skill too so

they just jumped way up the curve so no

you can't learn everything that way but

you can learn so many more things than

people believe so it's not used this is

actually called perceptual learning so

that's the reason it's not used is

because for so long really the 60s is

when a lot of this 1960s a lot of This

research

started um and it's robust is they

believed that it was just about sensory

perception they just thought it was

about what the eyes saw or or heard that

or even kinesthetic they didn't realize

that the brain was pattern matching also

on deep underlying structures and

patterns and rules that it wasn't just

about sensory perception so why we're

not using this is um crazy so um brains

are great at pattern matching if we get

out of the way but they don't tell us

that they're doing it which is why you

have these

experts who have absolutely no idea how

they do certain things and you know you

you may have encountered someone or you

may yourself look at some code for just

a second Without Really studying it and

go that code smells bad right we use

words like that smells bad you may not

yet know why but you are certain it does

so that's an example of your brain has

pattern matched in a way that you are

aren't even cognitively aware of yet

although you could dig into the code and

find out why now this is the answer to

how to make it happen is high quality

High quantity examples and this is what

we don't do it has to be very high

quantity of all high quality examples

and we don't do that we see one example

we see two examples we see three

examples in a book or a course or on a

website right to actually get that order

of magnitude jump it takes about 200 to

300 Expos es in a very compressed period

of time that allows the brain to sort

signal from noise so that's where the

magic happens and we can do this as a

community and I've been trying to look

and it is really hard to find really

good quality examples in such high

numbers but they can be very small right

teaching a very small subset I shouldn't

say teaching letting the brain figure

out the pattern but to sort signal from

noise the example set has to be huge

otherwise the brain we see this the

brain looks at one example and thinks

well maybe that's important too and it

mistakes surface details for the core

underlying pattern so the answer is we

have to care about each other's

cognitive resources so right now I just

want you to look around at the people

next to you right now I'm going to sit

here until you do can't leave till you

do look around the people next to you

and realize that they are not humanoids

they are not unicorns they're humans and

just visualize them bleeding cognitive

resources and think about about how you

can help them and they can help you and

being at this event is really a great

way to do that and the next time

somebody says this to you right the only

reasonable response is that's adorable

and um I just want to honor that you are

all humans and you your cognitive

resources are scarce and precious and

thank you so much for spending some of

them on me thank

you thank you