The post mentions a few different use-cases of learned knowledge, and those different use-cases require different depth of study. So one reasonable answer is: figure out what use-case(s) we care about, and study enough to satisfy those.
A different angle: it’s useful to be lazy. Put off learning things until we need them, assuming that we won’t be under too much time pressure later. The problem with that approach is that it won’t be obvious that a particular technique or area or frame is relevant until after we’ve studied it. However, as long as we understand X enough that we can reliably recognize when it applies in the wild, we can safely put off learning more about X until it comes up. So, being able to recognize relevant problems/situations in the wild is the “most important” use-case, in the sense that it’s the use-case which we can’t put off until later.
The post mentions a few different use-cases of learned knowledge, and those different use-cases require different depth of study. So one reasonable answer is: figure out what use-case(s) we care about, and study enough to satisfy those.
A different angle: it’s useful to be lazy. Put off learning things until we need them, assuming that we won’t be under too much time pressure later. The problem with that approach is that it won’t be obvious that a particular technique or area or frame is relevant until after we’ve studied it. However, as long as we understand X enough that we can reliably recognize when it applies in the wild, we can safely put off learning more about X until it comes up. So, being able to recognize relevant problems/situations in the wild is the “most important” use-case, in the sense that it’s the use-case which we can’t put off until later.