Sometimes, in order to really appreciate all the things a learning project can do to you, it’s useful to think of it in brand new terms. We’re borrowing a film idea today to ask: what if learning was powerful enough to invite a brand new person into your head?

1. The background: Sense8 and the Matrix

The idea of instantly acquiring a skill, language, emotion or personal perspective comes from two film projects, both by the Wachowskis: Sense8 and the Matrix series.

In the Matrix, the ability to connect your neural network to the information network all around you means that learning a skill is a matter of seconds. This is perfectly illustrated in a scene where Trinity, leading a rescue mission, gets “taught” how to pilot a helicopter in the blink of an eye.

Wachowskis take this concept even further in Sense8. I don’t want to spoil the whole series for you, so here’s just a summary of the main idea: a group of people from all over the world discover that they are connected in a “cluster” – they can become present in one another’s lives, sharing sensations, skills, emotions, languages etc.

2. The limitations: we won’t get there (but machines might)

The concept of learning and intelligence “on demand” is attractive but here’s a bucket of cold water: we are very unlikely to achieve it within our lifetimes. The computers we make might get close – it takes less and less time for AI constructs to learn more and more complex skills – but for humans, the way we learn is changing by slow evolution rather than a complete rewiring.

It’s actually good to remind ourselves of that. Despite all the claims of rapid learning programs, despite all the new digital solutions trying to sell you accelerated learning, one thing refuses to change: your “wetware”, your body, which is responsible for making learning happen. Your brain and muscles need stress and rest to learn new things. Your emotional and mental growth works the same way. Understand that, and you will find joy in learning powerfully and in more mindful practice.

3. But what if you could…? The big BRAVE brainstorm

Although the part above might sound like a bummer, I still want us to come back to the sci-fi idea we started with. It’s a useful one for something I’m thinking about these days: the step of brainstorming and planning your learning projects.

Thinking big is a good and recommended practice in these moments. It’s useful to get excited about a big vision for your project! This will then serve you as a good source of motivation.

So what if you could learn that thing you’re planning, instantly? If you could just upload a stream of data into your brain and body? How would it feel? Would you see differently, act different, walk in a certain way? Try to spend a minute pretending it’s there. That’s a useful yardstick to check your progress later, especially if you’re learning something that’s in your body as much as in your mind.

And in broader sense, if you’re looking for several new learning adventures, consider this – which new people would you want to invite into your life? Whose language would you want to share, which skills would you want to borrow? How would you like to expand your emotions, reactions, ways of feeling about the world?

4. Instant vision, gradual progress

It’s true that you will learn new things (whatever they are) in slow increments. You might feel things happening fast every now and then, though, and it is then that the instant learning idea will feel almost real!

For the most part, the kinds of capabilities shown in the Matrix and Sense8 are useful as motivating factors. What you are setting out to learn will change you. It will make you into a different you, and will expand who you are, to the point of feeling like a different person sometimes. And it may just connect you to scores of others, who will share and enjoy that connection just as much as you do.

That’s also a nice thing to plan for!

( Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash )