The learning trap: change one variable at a time
Vinay Pasricha imagines someone changing their diet, gym routine, sleep schedule and apps all in the same month. Six weeks later they feel better or worse but can't tell which change caused it: the result is real but the cause is invisible. Running five experiments at once, he says, doesn't teach you five things; it teaches you nothing five times. The Short ends with a pointer to The SIV Method.
Key points
- Changing many things at once hides which one caused the result.
- The result is real, but the cause becomes invisible.
- Running five experiments together teaches nothing five times.
It means you learn nothing five times.
Topics
Transcript
Full transcript · 74 words
Diet, gym, sleep schedule, new app all this month. Six weeks from now something will change. You will feel better or worse. Which one did it? You can't tell. You move five things at the same time. The result is real, but the cause is invisible. Running five experiments at once doesn't mean you learn five things. It means you learn nothing five times. Buy the SIV Method on Amazon from the link below.
Transcribed from the video's YouTube auto-generated captions, lightly cleaned for reading. Wording may differ slightly from the audio.