Over on Learning Circuits Blog, a few of us are tossing around ideas about the value of informal learning and the definition of learning itself. My response to a question from Peter Isackson:
You’re on target with the need to look at collective knowledge as well as individual, but the disruption caused by the accelerating pace of change is even more profound. Moore’s Law applies to human progress as well as chip cycle time. Ray Kurzweil suggests that in the 21st century, we will experience the equivalent of 20,000 20th-century style years of activity!
When things are changing so fast as to make your head spin, what we once considered bedrock liquifies. Knowledge may be what’s inside our heads but if what’s outside is zipping by at an ever-faster rate, the inside knowledge isn’t useful very long. This relativity of knowledge led me to go back to a more fundamental definition of learning.
Learning is what enables one to participate successfully in life, at work, and in groups that matter. Learning is therefore adaptation. Its measure of success is how well one fits with the ecosystems of which one is a member.
Taking advantage of the double meaning of the word network, to learn is to optimize the quality of one’s networks. This can arise from changes to the node in a person’s skull or changes to the networks outside.
Join us to talk about the Taoist concept wu wei or “non-doing,” Aristotle, and lateral thinking.
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