WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.399 Okay, I want you to just for a moment think about 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:06.519 something with me. Forget everything you know 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:09.320 about schools today. Forget tests, classrooms, 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:12.480 all of it. I want you to think about the absolute 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:14.779 most fundamental reason humans started teaching 00:00:14.779 --> 00:00:17.079 in the first place. Because this deep dive, it 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:19.359 isn't really about how we teach now, it's about 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:21.739 why we teach at all. So today we are jumping 00:00:21.739 --> 00:00:24.300 into a stack of sources all centered on this 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:28.559 this really powerful idea that Education is, 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:31.620 and always has been, social and technology -rich. 00:00:31.719 --> 00:00:33.979 You can't separate them. We're pulling our main 00:00:33.979 --> 00:00:36.299 insights from the work in on social and technology 00:00:36.299 --> 00:00:38.460 -rich education and some of the, well, the intellectual 00:00:38.460 --> 00:00:41.100 giants it builds on. And here it is. This is 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:42.820 the big idea that kind of sets the stage for 00:00:42.820 --> 00:00:44.520 everything else. Their research suggests that 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:46.280 our higher intellectual skills, you know, the 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:48.100 ability to think abstractly to solve these huge 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:50.060 problems, that it's actually an adaptation to 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:52.079 our social needs. Our brains got smarter because 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:53.600 we had to deal with each other, and that's where 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:55.880 it gets really, really interesting. It means 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.829 knowledge. at its core is a social utility. It 00:00:59.829 --> 00:01:01.810 completely turns the whole discussion on its 00:01:01.810 --> 00:01:03.649 head, doesn't it? And for you listening, this 00:01:03.649 --> 00:01:06.290 is such a critical shortcut to understanding 00:01:06.290 --> 00:01:08.549 while human development, we're going to connect 00:01:08.549 --> 00:01:11.150 these really deep evolutionary roots. I mean, 00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:14.269 that fundamental shift when our ancestors decided 00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:17.969 to live in big complex groups. with the technologies 00:01:17.969 --> 00:01:21.750 that define us. And not just physical tech, but 00:01:21.750 --> 00:01:24.189 conceptual tech too. And if you don't get that 00:01:24.189 --> 00:01:26.650 connection, that primal link, you can't really 00:01:26.650 --> 00:01:29.969 grasp why some learning works and some of it 00:01:29.969 --> 00:01:32.260 just doesn't. So let's start right there with 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:34.760 that foundational premise. Ever since there were 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:36.480 humans, they were inventing ways to teach. It's 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:38.340 just what we do. The research makes it pretty 00:01:38.340 --> 00:01:39.939 clear this happened because we are two things, 00:01:40.099 --> 00:01:42.760 right? We're social creatures and we're technology 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:45.680 using creatures. So if you just strip away all 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:47.700 the modern stuff, what were the absolute must 00:01:47.700 --> 00:01:49.519 -have lessons, the things you had to teach to 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:51.739 keep the group going? The sources seem to point 00:01:51.739 --> 00:01:55.260 to three sort of non -negotiables. Exactly. Three 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:58.010 things. First, how to survive. Simple as that. 00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:00.010 What can you eat? Where do you find it? And how 00:02:00.010 --> 00:02:01.950 do you get it without, you know, getting killed? 00:02:02.530 --> 00:02:04.730 Second, how to change the world around you for 00:02:04.730 --> 00:02:07.450 your own comfort and survival. So tool making, 00:02:07.549 --> 00:02:10.310 building shelter, fire, all that. And third, 00:02:11.310 --> 00:02:13.770 what is sacred? Okay, that third one, what is 00:02:13.770 --> 00:02:16.310 sacred? It always feels like the odd one out. 00:02:16.430 --> 00:02:18.930 I get teaching someone how to hunt. That's obvious 00:02:18.930 --> 00:02:22.009 survival. But why is teaching cultural laws just 00:02:22.009 --> 00:02:24.870 as vital? Because that's the glue. It's all about 00:02:24.870 --> 00:02:27.629 group cohesion. Think about it. Survival skills, 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:30.349 like hunting a large animal. That often requires 00:02:30.349 --> 00:02:33.349 a coordinated group. Do it alone. Tool use is 00:02:33.349 --> 00:02:35.969 about shared standards, shared knowledge. But 00:02:35.969 --> 00:02:38.009 what is sacred? I mean, that's the entire playbook 00:02:38.009 --> 00:02:40.169 for how to live together. It's share beliefs, 00:02:40.409 --> 00:02:42.689 rituals, the rules of everything. It's the social 00:02:42.689 --> 00:02:44.870 cement. If your group can't agree on how to share 00:02:44.870 --> 00:02:47.189 resources or who's in charge, the group just 00:02:47.189 --> 00:02:49.090 falls apart. It collapses. And back then, if 00:02:49.090 --> 00:02:51.370 the group collapsed, the individual downed. Period. 00:02:51.870 --> 00:02:54.110 So the brain power it took to manage all that 00:02:54.110 --> 00:02:56.349 social stuff, like keeping track of who owes 00:02:56.349 --> 00:03:00.310 who a favor or the rules for sharing food, that 00:03:00.310 --> 00:03:02.610 was a bigger driver for our intelligence than, 00:03:02.610 --> 00:03:05.370 say, the mechanics of how to chip a piece of 00:03:05.370 --> 00:03:08.949 flint. That is precisely the aha moment. that 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:11.449 the sources really hammer home. We can pull this 00:03:11.449 --> 00:03:13.449 directly from the work of neuroscientists like 00:03:13.449 --> 00:03:15.949 Michael Gazzaniga. The source quotes him saying, 00:03:16.770 --> 00:03:19.090 the shift to becoming highly social is what the 00:03:19.090 --> 00:03:21.909 human is all about. Which is, that's such a huge 00:03:21.909 --> 00:03:23.810 idea, especially now when we tend to celebrate 00:03:23.810 --> 00:03:26.150 the lone genius. It is, and he didn't stop there. 00:03:26.349 --> 00:03:28.490 He goes on to say that our higher intellectual 00:03:28.490 --> 00:03:31.150 skills arose as an adaptation to our newly evolved 00:03:31.150 --> 00:03:34.759 social needs. So your ability to do advanced 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:38.340 math, or write a novel, or even just follow a 00:03:38.340 --> 00:03:40.419 complex argument we're making right now, it's 00:03:40.419 --> 00:03:42.460 all built on the same brain architecture that 00:03:42.460 --> 00:03:44.419 evolved to manage those social contracts 100 00:03:44.419 --> 00:03:47.319 ,000 years ago. Acquiring knowledge is, first 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:49.599 and foremost, a social tool. It's for improving 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:52.180 how the group works. Okay, so if our brains were 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:54.639 literally built for social complexity, we have 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:56.500 to talk about the complexity of the things we 00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:58.939 make. Because our social needs didn't just drive 00:03:58.939 --> 00:04:01.719 our intelligence. They drove us to create all 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:04.129 these technologies. that in turn structure the 00:04:04.129 --> 00:04:06.830 very lessons we have to teach. So let's pivot 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:09.469 to technology. But we need to use the really 00:04:09.469 --> 00:04:11.889 broad definition from the research, not just, 00:04:11.889 --> 00:04:14.370 you know, the phone in your pocket. The argument 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:16.569 is that what we teach comes directly from the 00:04:16.569 --> 00:04:18.769 hard and soft technologies we build our lives 00:04:18.769 --> 00:04:21.470 around. And that distinction is so powerful because 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:25.459 we almost always forget the soft part. Hard technologies, 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:27.500 that's what everyone thinks of. The physical 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:30.139 things, the artifacts, the research kind of traces 00:04:30.139 --> 00:04:33.139 a line, you know, from the first sharpened stones 00:04:33.139 --> 00:04:36.980 all the way through to firearms, the wheel, and 00:04:36.980 --> 00:04:39.459 yeah, cars and computers today. Pangeable things. 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:41.980 The lesson there is pretty straightforward. If 00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:44.040 your group has a new tool, you have to teach 00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:47.100 the next generation how to use it. Simple. But 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:49.740 the soft technologies. That's where things get, 00:04:49.740 --> 00:04:51.600 I don't know, a little more philosophical. It 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.000 really is. Because soft technologies are the 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:57.459 tools that exist as ideas, as practices, as rules. 00:04:57.779 --> 00:05:00.199 They're abstract, but they're absolutely tools. 00:05:00.939 --> 00:05:03.060 And they often require way more brain power to 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:06.439 master than a hard tool. The source has some 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:10.220 great historical examples. Things like... Not 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:12.839 tying. Not tying. Yeah. Think about it. A super 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:15.180 essential skill for building, for sailing, for 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:18.480 hunting or hand semaphore. A whole system for 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:20.899 talking across a distance. And then you jump 00:05:20.899 --> 00:05:24.060 to the modern hyper complex systems like banking 00:05:24.060 --> 00:05:27.120 or laws. These are all technologies. Hold on. 00:05:27.139 --> 00:05:28.759 I want to pause on that. I've never really thought 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:31.120 of the legal system as a technology in the same 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:34.040 category as an axe. If we treat something like 00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:37.319 law as a soft technology, what does that imply 00:05:37.319 --> 00:05:39.550 about how we should learn it? It implies that 00:05:39.550 --> 00:05:41.949 it's a tool, a structured tool we invented to 00:05:41.949 --> 00:05:44.589 solve a massive human problem. In this case, 00:05:44.889 --> 00:05:47.350 maintaining social order. And just like any tool, 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:49.269 it has rules, it has protocols, and you have 00:05:49.269 --> 00:05:50.870 to learn how to use it. You can't just hand someone 00:05:50.870 --> 00:05:53.110 a law book and say, go be a lawyer, any more 00:05:53.110 --> 00:05:54.629 than you can hand them a laptop and say, go be 00:05:54.629 --> 00:05:57.430 a programmer. Both require learning a complex, 00:05:57.709 --> 00:06:00.470 abstract, and this is key, a socially validated 00:06:00.470 --> 00:06:02.350 set of rules. And that brings us right back to 00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:04.629 this idea that you can't separate humans from 00:06:04.629 --> 00:06:07.149 their tools. We didn't just use tech, we built 00:06:07.149 --> 00:06:10.350 our societies inside of it. Exactly. And to get 00:06:10.350 --> 00:06:13.750 at that feeling of complete immersion, the sources 00:06:13.750 --> 00:06:16.589 bring up Kevin Kelly's idea of the technium. 00:06:16.670 --> 00:06:19.509 It's not just a pile of gadgets. The Technium 00:06:19.509 --> 00:06:23.069 is this giant interconnected system of all human 00:06:23.069 --> 00:06:27.230 technologies, soft and hard acting, like a single 00:06:27.230 --> 00:06:29.970 living thing that we are a part of. Which means 00:06:29.970 --> 00:06:32.110 you can't separate the human experience or human 00:06:32.110 --> 00:06:35.110 learning from our tools and our systems We're 00:06:35.110 --> 00:06:37.449 always always embedded in the technique. Okay, 00:06:37.449 --> 00:06:39.329 let's make that real for someone listening Let's 00:06:39.329 --> 00:06:41.750 say I'm learning a new project management system 00:06:41.750 --> 00:06:43.790 at my job or even just trying to figure out how 00:06:43.790 --> 00:06:45.750 to collaborate with my team on a Google Doc Is 00:06:45.750 --> 00:06:48.670 that me interacting with the tech 100 % the Google 00:06:48.670 --> 00:06:50.550 Doc itself? That's a hard technology its code 00:06:50.550 --> 00:06:53.350 its servers But the rules of how you use it with 00:06:53.350 --> 00:06:56.069 your team who edits when the etiquette for leaving 00:06:56.069 --> 00:06:58.529 comments, you know version control all the unspoken 00:06:58.529 --> 00:07:01.370 rules Exactly. That's the soft technology built 00:07:01.370 --> 00:07:04.350 on top of the hard one. You are learning a technological 00:07:04.350 --> 00:07:06.790 practice, and that practice is fundamentally 00:07:06.790 --> 00:07:08.910 social. You have to learn it from other people. 00:07:09.129 --> 00:07:11.009 OK, so let's unpack this. This is the critical 00:07:11.009 --> 00:07:13.750 consequence. If we just accept this reality that 00:07:13.750 --> 00:07:16.209 our learning environment is always social and 00:07:16.209 --> 00:07:18.550 technology rich, that we're basically swimming 00:07:18.550 --> 00:07:21.810 in this technium, what's the big challenge this 00:07:21.810 --> 00:07:25.069 poses for modern education and for you when you're 00:07:25.069 --> 00:07:27.350 just trying to learn something new? Well, the 00:07:27.350 --> 00:07:29.569 research points to a major blind spot. It says 00:07:29.569 --> 00:07:31.550 that when we are teaching and when students are 00:07:31.550 --> 00:07:33.870 learning, we're always inside this environment. 00:07:34.310 --> 00:07:36.550 It says even if we choose to ignore that fact, 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:39.009 it's like the air we breathe. And this is exactly 00:07:39.009 --> 00:07:41.529 where we went into problems today. The source 00:07:41.529 --> 00:07:44.810 argues that in our big push to standardize everything, 00:07:45.069 --> 00:07:47.889 to formalize education, we seem to have just... 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:51.290 abandoned this aspect of our work. We've stopped 00:07:51.290 --> 00:07:53.829 recognizing that the real deep learning happens 00:07:53.829 --> 00:07:56.589 when people are just allowed to interact organically 00:07:56.589 --> 00:07:58.649 with the social and technological context of 00:07:58.649 --> 00:08:01.189 a skill. I mean, think about the paradox. We're 00:08:01.189 --> 00:08:03.509 still teaching skills students need. We even 00:08:03.509 --> 00:08:05.889 try to teach things like teamwork and technology 00:08:05.889 --> 00:08:08.769 literacy. We teach those skills, but, and this 00:08:08.769 --> 00:08:11.529 is the key phrase, learners need to learn them. 00:08:12.329 --> 00:08:14.350 There's a huge difference being drawn here between 00:08:14.350 --> 00:08:17.100 just passively getting information. being taught, 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:19.860 and actively mastering something, truly learning 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:22.579 it. It makes me think of learning to drive a 00:08:22.579 --> 00:08:24.620 car. You know, I can be taught all the rules 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:26.480 of the road in a classroom with a textbook, but 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:28.600 I only really learn to drive by getting in the 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.160 car and interacting with the social technology 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.740 of traffic, predicting what other drivers will 00:08:33.740 --> 00:08:36.220 do, navigating all the unspoken rules while using 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:38.139 the car, the hard technology. That's a perfect 00:08:38.139 --> 00:08:40.120 example. And the source's core insight for anyone 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:42.720 listening right now is this. We've forgotten 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.330 that Much learning occurs when it is not taught. 00:08:46.169 --> 00:08:48.789 If you, as a learner, are only relying on the 00:08:48.789 --> 00:08:51.370 official structured instruction, the PowerPoint 00:08:51.370 --> 00:08:54.350 deck, the textbook, you are missing out on the 00:08:54.350 --> 00:08:56.929 massive critical chunk of knowledge that you 00:08:56.929 --> 00:08:59.929 only get by. by doing, by just messing around 00:08:59.929 --> 00:09:01.830 in the technium and navigating the social landscape. 00:09:02.090 --> 00:09:04.070 And this is especially true for these complex 00:09:04.070 --> 00:09:06.830 social and tech skills. Nobody can really teach 00:09:06.830 --> 00:09:09.070 you how to navigate office politics in a tense 00:09:09.070 --> 00:09:11.769 meeting or how to get the data you need out of 00:09:11.769 --> 00:09:14.409 some clunky old software system at work. You 00:09:14.409 --> 00:09:17.070 learn that by doing it, by failing, and by adapting 00:09:17.070 --> 00:09:20.169 inside that system and that adaptation. That's 00:09:20.169 --> 00:09:22.190 the high -level intellectual skill Gazaniko was 00:09:22.190 --> 00:09:24.090 talking about. Which brings us all the way back 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:26.429 to you, the listener, and your own goal to be 00:09:26.429 --> 00:09:29.879 well -informed. If real mastery, especially for 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:32.139 these complex skills, happens outside of a formal 00:09:32.139 --> 00:09:35.539 lesson, how should you approach learning something 00:09:35.539 --> 00:09:38.190 new? I think the implication is pretty clear. 00:09:38.370 --> 00:09:41.110 Just receiving information, just being taught, 00:09:41.250 --> 00:09:44.610 is not enough. Mastery demands that you actively 00:09:44.610 --> 00:09:47.149 engage with the environment. It means you have 00:09:47.149 --> 00:09:49.750 to connect the dots yourself and, maybe most 00:09:49.750 --> 00:09:52.190 importantly, watch and interact with people who 00:09:52.190 --> 00:09:54.350 have already mastered it. So to just quickly 00:09:54.350 --> 00:09:56.490 recap the key takeaways from this deep dive. 00:09:56.850 --> 00:09:59.330 First, your intelligence, your ability to reason, 00:09:59.490 --> 00:10:01.509 it's fundamentally an adaptation to social needs. 00:10:01.710 --> 00:10:04.929 It's for getting along in a group. Second, technology 00:10:04.929 --> 00:10:07.100 isn't just gadgets. It's this all -encompassing 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:10.120 technium of hard artifacts and soft ideas, rules, 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:12.740 and practices. And third, probably the most critical 00:10:12.740 --> 00:10:15.100 point for your own life, is that we have to remember 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:17.879 that deep, last thing learning happens organically. 00:10:18.220 --> 00:10:20.100 It happens when it's not being formally taught. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.259 This has been a really critical look at the why 00:10:23.259 --> 00:10:26.700 of education and this this inseparable link between 00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:29.200 our tools and how we live together. We've laid 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:31.700 out how our intelligence is a social tool and 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:33.860 our learning environment is just saturated with 00:10:33.860 --> 00:10:35.940 technologies and social rules whether we see 00:10:35.940 --> 00:10:38.200 them or not. So here's a final thought for you 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:40.980 to take away and explore on your own. It builds 00:10:40.980 --> 00:10:43.419 on that critique from the source material that 00:10:43.419 --> 00:10:45.620 we've started to suppress organic learning by 00:10:45.620 --> 00:10:48.440 trying to formalize everything. If the deepest 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:50.679 learning really happens when it's not being taught, 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:53.299 and if our brains are wired for social problem 00:10:53.299 --> 00:10:56.679 solving, What hidden organic skills are modern 00:10:56.679 --> 00:10:59.019 systems? Whether it's school or corporate training, 00:10:59.179 --> 00:11:01.519 what are they accidentally overlooking? Or even 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:03.860 stamping out? Think about the most useful skill 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:05.779 you learned in the last week. Was it from a course? 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:08.419 Or was it from navigating some unexpected social 00:11:08.419 --> 00:11:10.360 problem or fixing a technical glitch on your 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:12.419 own? What are you really learning right now outside 00:11:12.419 --> 00:11:14.919 of any official curriculum? And how can you start 00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:16.820 paying more attention to that process? Maul that 00:11:16.820 --> 00:11:18.480 over as you look for your next piece of knowledge.