About the idea inoculation bit. It doesn’t even require an idiot or two to be the first to explain an idea. (Although maybe I’m thinking about a different thing.)
It so happens that in the course of biology instruction in highschool and college where I live, the tradition is to open several courses with the same topic. Specifically, The Structure of the Cell. (Another motif, for botanists, is The General Life Cycle of Plants. I’m sure other specialties have their own Foundations.) And it’s an important topic, but after the third time you just feel… dumber… when the teacher begins to talk about it. As if you try to find something new and exciting or in any case something to think about, and there’s nothing there.
I would say it is the “keeping the abstraction level constant” that does it. I felt like I’ve got to actively work to avoid stupor and a desire to “just see it die in peace”.
About the idea inoculation bit. It doesn’t even require an idiot or two to be the first to explain an idea. (Although maybe I’m thinking about a different thing.)
It so happens that in the course of biology instruction in highschool and college where I live, the tradition is to open several courses with the same topic. Specifically, The Structure of the Cell. (Another motif, for botanists, is The General Life Cycle of Plants. I’m sure other specialties have their own Foundations.) And it’s an important topic, but after the third time you just feel… dumber… when the teacher begins to talk about it. As if you try to find something new and exciting or in any case something to think about, and there’s nothing there.
I would say it is the “keeping the abstraction level constant” that does it. I felt like I’ve got to actively work to avoid stupor and a desire to “just see it die in peace”.