Unlearning 101

Unlearning Bubbles

The Internet, the real estate market, fuel cell technology, nanotechnology and, now, "clean tech" have all experienced an investing "bubble." In retrospect, it is easy to point to signs that the market was inflating to dangerous levels. It is even easier to suggest that such bubbles are a bad thing -- precisely because so many investors got burned and lost a great a deal of money.

Bob Metcalfe, an early and successful Internet entrepreneur, see bubbles differently. He sees bubbles as a good thing. Here's his quote: "From Internet history, we know that bubbles are normal. Bubbles are an accelerator of technology progress. Bubbles go against the status quo. We should encourage bubbles."

I suspect that such statements are much easier to make when you're already a billionaire; as opposed, say, to someone to just lost a large amount of money in the stock market. Nevertheless, there is a certain logic to his argument and we may want not to dismiss all bubbles as cases of irrational investors getting sucked up by the winds of "irrational exuberance." Instead we want to view them as "technology accelerators." (This might not ease the financial pain of those who lost money in the bubble, but it might at least make them feel a little bit better about themselves.)

All-State Insurance Unlearns

All-State Insurance is now sending video games to customers between the ages of 50 and 75. According to this article, “ten hours of game playing turns the clock back 10 years in terms of memory, useful field of view, processing visual information, and general cognitive functions.” More important, the technology could reduce the risk of a crash by 50 percent.

As America continues to age, and as seniors become increasingly comfortable with video-gaming, the push to use technology in new and innovative ways will only increase. The companies that embrace this trend stand to profit handsomely. Those which are incapable or unwilling to "unlearn" the idea that seniors and video games don't match will lose. 

Unlearning Meetings

Personally, I'm not a big fan of meetings. I understand that some serve a real purpose, but in this age of accelerating technological change is it really necessary that as many face-to-face meetings take place? According to this new study, it is possible some issues can just as easily be resolved using video-conferencing and virtual reality technology -- such as Second Life.

Are you and your company ready to unlearn how some of your meetings are conducted?

A Penny for Your Thoughts

Last week, a colleague of mine at Future Blogger, Alvis Brigis, suggested that the coming reign of online video broadcasting as the "most ubiquitous and accessible form of communication" may be short-lived. In its stead, he suggested that brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) may replaced it.

To many people the idea of brain-to-computer or even brain-to-brain communication might seem a little "out there." I disagree and think that Alvis is on the right track. As evidence, I submit this recent article on the U.S. Army's plans to invest in a "Thought Helmut" for voiceless communication. And lest anyone think that voiceless communication is some far-off, fuzzy, futuristic technology just check out this amazing video demonstrating an early prototype of "voiceless communication."

Until I can read your thoughts directly, I'd be interested in reading your reactions to this possibility and how you think it may necessitate that we unlearn some things -- such as, perhaps, how we communicate in the future.

Unlearning the Danger of Video Games

Think that video games lead to violence or anti-social behavior? Or that only male teenagers play video games? Or perhaps you are of the opinion that video games have no educational value . Well, think again and prepare yourself to unlearn. I strongly encourage you to read this post which highlights many of the recent findings of Henry Jenkins, the director of comparative studies at MIT.

I especially like the quote from James Gee who describes video gamers as "active problem solvers who do not see mistakes as errors, but as opportunities for improvement." Of all the things that we must "unlearn," one of the greatest is that mistakes are failures. Often they aren't, instead they are a necessary and vital step down the path toward progress.

Unlearning Learning

When contemplating the future, people need to keep a very open mind about what might be possible. Consider this article which describes how researchers at UC San Diego are developing facial recognition technology that can recognize if a person is having trouble understanding an educational lesson—say in mathematics or biology.

As the technology continues to improve, one possible implication is that smart devices and robots will become better and more effective teachers because they will be able to pace lesson plans to an individual student’s ability to comprehend the information which is being presented.

Longer term, it is possible that robots and other smart devices will become more effective teachers than even human teachers because the machines will understand each student’s learning idiosyncrasies and then present material in a manner which is optimized for that individual student’s learning style.

Now, I understand how discomforting the idea that a robot might be a better teacher than your old favorite third grade teacher, Mrs. Hubbard, ever was; but, as that wise American philosopher Yoggi Berra once said, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

For a more contemporary look at how technology is transforming education, I’d invite you to read this article which explains how Nintendo DS is helping Japanese students learn the English language, or this article which explains how video games are actually helping students learn such topics as history and world affairs.

In each case, advances in technology may result in parents, teachers and administrators having to unlearn some long-held assumptions -- such as the idea that teachers are the only ones who can teach, or that video games impede students ability to learn.

P.S. For opposing view on why robots might never make good teachers, I'd invite you to read this review of a recent article which appeared in the New Yorker.

Embrace a New Dimension

It has been said that the reason doctors and surgeons have not embraced simulated training to the same degree as airline pilots is because they don’t “go down” with their patients. The implicit message is that pilots have an incentive to utilize the very best training tools.

This distinction is important because as 3-D display and virtual reality technology continues to improve it will soon reach a point where it is just as good if not better than current training techniques. The U.S. military has already embraced virtual reality training to prepare soldiers before they go into actual combat because it has been demonstrated to save lives. The same will soon be true in the health care industry, but first doctors and surgeons (and the medical institutions that train them) may need to unlearn the training methods that they have relied on for the past many decades.

This lesson in unlearning, however, is not limited to the health care sector. As this article suggests, innovative leaders in the automotive industry are already embracing 3-D and virtual reality technology. There is no reason educators and professionals in a host of other industries can’t do the same.

Unlearn the Need for Paper

Yesterday, I watched this five-minute video of futurist Patrick Dixon discuss why the future of paper is bright for the foreseeable future. He could very well be correct, but if you watch the video below it is possible to envision a scenario in which the future of paper is not so rosy. As flexible electronic technology continues to get better, it'll be interesting to see if schools, newspapers, traditional media and scores of other businesses (including the paper industry) can unlearn their old ways of doing business and embrace the new opportunities that this technology portends.