2/2/2024 - TL;DW But I Read
Could an app designed to teach you something ever compete with addictive platforms like Instagram and TikTok?
Check out my new favorite Substack: Everyday Poetry
My favorite books:
The Truth About Andrew Huberman
*Topic : Documentary
*Length : 14m 09s
*View : 796K
Today we cover the incredible story of Andrew Huberman, from his rough childhood to becoming the worldโs most famous neuroscientist.
๐ง Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist and neurobiology professor at Stanford Medical School, has made numerous important contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function, and neuroplasticity.
๐ The neglect and chaos in Huberman's childhood had a profound impact on his development and mental health.
๐ช Andrew Huberman's life changed forever after a physical altercation on July 4th, 1994, involving weapons and a fight with a group of guys.
๐ง His passion for science was reignited by a maverick professor who introduced him to the world of neuroscience, sparking his interest in depression, schizophrenia, and neurochemicals.
๐ง Rediscovering childhood fascination with science and education as a gateway to understanding life led Andrew Huberman to pursue a Ph.D. and become a professor at Stanford University.
๐ Huberman provided practical science-backed advice for the public during the global pandemic, expressing concern for the lack of common sense health information.
๐ The Huberman Lab podcast became a top 10 podcast within the year of its launch and has since grown to millions of listeners.
Link:
How to Build Willpower!
*Topic : Personal Development
*Length : 13m 13s
*View : 1.4M
David Goggins and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss the neuroscience of willpower and how pushing through challenges and doing what you don't want to do can strengthen a brain area known as the anterior midcingulate cortex.
๐ง When people do something they don't want to do, this brain area gets bigger, showing the importance of overcoming challenges.
๐ฅถ Building willpower is about doing things we don't want to do, like increasing the time spent in an ice bath.
๐ง "You were blessed with a strong mind? That's something that you have to develop. You develop that over years, decades of suffering and going back into the suffering."
๐ช "You fight that and you fight that, you don't override it, there's no override button. It's the conversation in your head."
๐๏ธโโ๏ธ Doing things you like won't enhance your willpower - it's about pushing yourself to do the hard things.
๐คฏ The suck part that grows the anterior midcingulate cortex is what helps people figure out their purpose in life.
๐ช Most people are missing something because they don't know who they are, they never examine themselves, and they've never done this experiment on themselves.
๐ซ "There's no hacks, bro. It's you against you, you against you." - David Goggins on the real challenge of willpower.
Link:
How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media
*Topic : Technology
*Length : 12m 54s
*View : 4.4M
When technologist Luis von Ahn was building the popular language-learning platform Duolingo, he faced a big problem: Could an app designed to teach you something ever compete with addictive platforms like Instagram and TikTok?
๐ฎ Despite its challenges, Guatemala has its perks: "It has much better Mexican food."
๐ Luis Von Ahn views education as a source of inequality, as those with money can afford better education and continue to be wealthy.
๐ฑ The only way to reach a lot of people with education is by using a smartphone, as building schools all over the world is simply too expensive.
๐ Duolingo's mission is to make language learning accessible to everyone, regardless of their financial status, through a freemium model.
โฐ The best time to send people a notification is 24 hours after they used the product last, as found by a sophisticated AI system.
๐ฒ Duolingo's strategy of sending a notification that they'll stop sending reminders after seven days of inactivity surprisingly brings users back to the app.
๐ Luis Von Ahn envisions a future where screen time is not a bad thing, but a tool to deliver high-quality education to everyone, rich or poor, using a mobile phone.
๐ฎ Luis von Ahn believes that subjects learned through repetition, like reading and elementary math, can be gamified to make learning fun and addictive.
Link: