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Devouring knowledge: step by step guide
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Contents : Articles
Devouring knowledge
This article will tell you how to maximize the speed of learning.
To fully use the discussed techniques you will need a computer running Windows 2000/XP, Internet Explorer 6.0 and SuperMemo 2004 for Windows. If you do not have one of the above, skip the blue inserts. For simpler solutions that do not have these requirements read: Six steps to excellent memory. If you are using SuperMemo 2002, you may prefer an older version of this same text
Dr Piotr Wozniak Dec 2000 (revised June 2004) Marvin Minsky: Our cultures don't encourage us to think much about learning. Instead we regard it as something that just happens to us. But learning must itself consist of sets of skills we grow ourselves; we start with only some of them and slowly grow the rest. Why don't more people keep on learning more and better learning skills? Because it's not rewarded right away, its payoff has a long delay
Contents
Knowledge as the driving force of progress Knowledge acquisition - stages of learning that can be optimized Access to knowledge - the Internet as your number one source of knowledge in the future Selecting knowledge - maximizing the benefits of learning by studying first things first Reading - tools for fast reading without a stress of missing critical information Representing knowledge - formulation as the key to remembering Remembering knowledge - SuperMemo (nearly) answers your dream: total recall for ever! Life cycle of knowledge - how knowledge matures in time Incremental reading - reading a thousand articles at the same time is no fiction! FAQ - addressing your skepticism Introduction This article summarizes my 20-year-long effort in developing techniques and technologies that assist human learning. It should help you quickly convert your learning into a rationally controlled and conscious process. I believe, it describes the tools that collectively account for the fastest learning approach in existence. If knowledge is important to you, this article should help you optimize your path towards your goals. Among others, we will discuss two concepts that can have a dramatic effect on learning: spaced repetition: a technique that ensures nearly perfect recall with minimum possible investment of time via computing optimum inter-repetition intervals incremental reading: a fast reading technique derived from spaced repetition that makes it possible to read thousands of articles at the same time without getting lost
This short insert paints the picture of knowledge in the epicenter of progress. If you need no convincing as to the central role of knowledge in our lives, jump directly to Knowledge Acquisition - stages of learning that can be optimized
Knowledge as the driving force of progress

Knowledge and history: Throughout the ages, knowledge was the cornerstone of human progress. From Stone Age to Information Age, in pain, we have built a tiny oasis of civilization in ruthless expanses of the evolving universe. The history of the mankind is made of billions of individual lives that keep on sparking and fading. Born of self-preservation instincts imprinted by evolution, history books paint a picture of a constant string of wars, conflict of interest, loss and gain of influences, lust for power and submission to weaknesses of human nature. On the other hand, the greatest achievement of the evolution, the rational mind, kept on contributing to new findings, discoveries, technologies and philosophies. Progress has always hinged on discovering new truths and preserving them for posterity in form of stories, solutions, tools, books, and other carriers of
file:///C|/Users/CENIZA/Desktop/iFiles/Genius/devour.htm[4/19/2012 9:12:51 PM]
information. Knowledge is the basis of human power, yet it constantly struggles with two forces that regularly diminish it: death and forgetting. We can preserve knowledge in books and other forms of information storage. However, this knowledge translates to value only then when it is used by the creative power of the human brain. The limitations of the human brain will remain a bottleneck of progress for many years to come. We will develop artificially intelligent knowledge processors not earlier than in a decade or two Knowledge and death: Death poses an ageless challenge of educating new generations. Years of hard work needed to gain knowledge on professorial level are obliterated in a single act of death. Newborns need to go through years of education before they are able to access, read, and comprehend this text. They all have to struggle with basic literacy skills, lessons of safe sex and teen pregnancy, lessons on superiority of altruism over egoism, the difference between wise and not-so-wise choices, existential questions, etc. Although constant reeducation may contribute to gaining a fresh perspective in each generation, it is also painfully wasteful. As yet, there is no efficient remedy to the death of knowledge. All we can do is to attach more weight to healthy lifestyle and health research. Those two promote longevity of knowledge in a single generation Knowledge and forgetting: Forgetting is a natural process that makes it possible to efficiently use the limited memory space of the brain. We forget to dispose of knowledge deemed less important in order to make space for knowledge of higher importance. Currently we have only a limited control over what we remember and what we forget. Today, the most important tool that we can use to prevent forgetting is practice. We can minimize time needed for practice by using spaced repetition (i.e. learning technique based on computing optimum intervals between repetitions). Spaced repetition is the key to maximizing knowledge within a single human lifetime (see below for more details) Immortal knowledge: Artificial intelligence is our best hope for approaching immortal knowledge. It can nearly eliminate the problem of death (except for the heat death of the universe). It can also eliminate the problem of forgetting (at least within the bounds of the available storage). Today, however, the best path towards immortal knowledge must still rely on the use of the human brain by maximizing its learning capacity
Knowledge acquisition There are five main areas where the learning process can be enhanced. All these areas will be discussed in this article: 1. access to knowledge - this article will make an assumption that the Internet is your main source of knowledge. You can later easily extrapolate the discussed skills to accessing other sources of knowledge 2. selecting knowledge - we will assume that you are solely responsible for selecting knowledge you want to learn. Your ability to select valuable information will grow in proportion to the acquired knowledge. This article will show you the tools that can assist you in this process 3. reading - reading is the process in which knowledge for the first time makes an actual intimate contact with your brain. Traditionally, it is streamed into your memory in a more or less linear manner (i.e. paragraph after paragraph). This article will help you delinearize this process and optimize reading by enhancing knowledge selection and prioritization concurrent with reading. For example, you will be able to say This paragraph can be processed later or This paragraph requires utmost attention now or This paragraph can be skipped for good even if I decide to read the article again, or I want to read this paragraph again in three days and in more detail or I want to mark this paragraph with lower-priority and come to it only after all higher priority paragraphs have been processed, etc. 4. representing knowledge - the way in which you present knowledge will affect comprehension and retention (i.e. how well you remember). Things that are simple are easier to understand. Things that are simple are also easier to remember. Many people do not realize the degree to which simplicity can affect learning. Many people doubt that even the most complex material can be presented in a very simple way. Einstein noticed that "it should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid" 5. remembering knowledge - this article will tell you how to eliminate the problem of forgetting once and for all. It will encourage you to use the learning technique based on spaced repetition and commercially known as SuperMemo (from Super Memory). SuperMemo produces immense savings in time by scheduling review of the studied material only then when the review is necessary (see: Introduction to SuperMemo) 6. life cycle of knowledge - this article will show you an approach in which knowledge in your memory keeps on evolving and maturing. This will involve continual rewording, reprioritizing, and re-associating pieces of knowledge. You will often give up portions of knowledge that become outdated or lose their high-priority status. You will apply the rules of knowledge representation that will make knowledge easy to remember. Your
knowledge will also become more associative in time. In other words, it will become a more suitable ground for making intelligent choices 7. using knowledge - knowledge translates to value when it is properly used. In the long-run, skills discussed in this article will indirectly help you become more creative and skillful in using your own knowledge. Not surprisingly, your skills needed to efficiently use knowledge are also part of knowledge itself and tend to grow spontaneously as your knowledge increases Access to knowledge The Internet is an excellent source of knowledge. Its quality and role will for long continue increasing exponentially as more and more people appreciate its potential and contribute to its growth. There are still many complementary sources of information that compete successfully with the Internet. However, it is only a question of time before you will be safely able to rely on the Internet as your sole source of information.
The three main factors that limit the value of the Internet as the source of information today: verification - there are no formalized peer-review or other verification mechanisms that would make it easy for you to ascertain the reliability of information available and trustworthiness of authors. The burden of proof is on you. You either need to tap onto reputable sites or judge the reliability of individual authors on preponderance of evidence. Consequently, reputable scientific journals are still an unmatched source of raw research data (cf. Pierre Salinger syndrome) bandwidth - popular broadband access to the Internet is still to come. This limits availability of quality video documentaries, video reporting, video education, interactive material, etc. Consequently, television and multimedia titles have still a substantial role to play as an educational tool micropayments - authors still see the printed matter as their main source of income. In the future, your credit account may be charged to a microscopic amount each time you access a selected page on the web if the author decides to make it a source of his or her income. This may ultimately cause a massive exodus of authors from the traditional publishing industry towards the net with immense benefit to those mining for quality data on the net Despite the Internet's limitations, you can safely commit yourself today to making the net your chief source of knowledge in your quest for new knowledge in nearly all areas of well-rounded self-instruction. The abundance of free encyclopedias, journals, dictionaries, databases, standalone articles and thematic websites is mind-boggling. All you need for the purpose of knowledge access is a web browser and basic net-searching skills combined with an understanding of the power of individual search engines such as www.google.com
Throughout this article, I will try to demonstrate that you will need a tool for efficient prioritizing and reviewing information: SuperMemo 2004 for Windows. The true power and importance of SuperMemo comes from ensuring high retention of knowledge. SuperMemo 2004 will also help you greatly increase the quality of reading by means of a technique called: incremental reading. In addition to its main strengths, SuperMemo can also assist in the field of knowledge access. You will certainly face the need to fill the gaps in your knowledge in many more areas than your time permits or your memory makes possible. You can ask SuperMemo to help you scrupulously note down and prioritize all areas of knowledge that need an enhancement! Selecting knowledge The extent of global knowledge resources can be measured in terabytes. One terabyte is a thousand gigabytes, while one gigabyte is a rough equivalent of the Encyclopaedia Britannica whose 44 million words would most likely all fit your today's hard disk space. The US Library of Congress is estimated to amount to 25 terabytes of knowledge. Human DNA code kept at Celera takes 80 terabytes. At the same time, the so-called deep web (year 2000) may encompass as much as 7,500 terabytes (deep web includes the static web extended by dynamic information retrievable from web databases). It will take only three years from today to produce more data than in the whole of human history (say researchers at the University of California). Only a fraction of those resources can be mastered by an individual in a single human lifetime. Even a single copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica goes in detail far beyond what a single human being can encompass in a lifetime! The actual speed of learning and lifetime learning limits can be measured with SuperMemo (see: Theoretical aspects of
SuperMemo). The microscopic capacity of the human brain has not prevented it from building the present civilization as we know it. The human power comes from: 1. collective effort - a billion heads is more than one 2. specialization of labor - all collective tasks are subject to top-down functional decomposition and a single brain usually only needs to process a fraction of information at a time 3. knowledge selection skills - the associative power of the human brain combined with the selective nature of forgetting help us retain memories that are actually most useful in problem solving This article will show you how to prevent forgetting. However, forgetting plays an important role in our lives. It runs a valuable garbage collection on knowledge we acquire daily. If the power of forgetting is taken away, your responsibilities in the area of selecting knowledge increase manifold! SuperMemo will help you eliminate forgetting! At the same time, it will increase your responsibility for selecting knowledge that is truly important and applicable. If used without care and attention, SuperMemo may actually waste your time by helping you remember reels of garbage trivia A piece of information that occupies just several bytes of your hard disk may carry a relative value that my translate to a net gain of millions of dollars as well as a net loss of millions of dollars. It may also carry no value whatsoever. For example, a sentence written in French "SuperMemo vous aide mmoriser et apprendre diverses informations comme une langue, des chiffres, etc." may be of nearly zero value for someone who does not know French. At the same time, an item related to a Heimlich maneuver can save the life of a family member. We know that the expected payoff equals the value of the payoff multiplied by its probability; therefore, the low probability of a family member choking and the probability of actual successful application of the maneuver make the value of "Heimlich item" a fraction of the value of the human life. At the same time, even minor errors in medical knowledge of a physician can actually cost somebody's life and carry substantial negative value! Frequently, you will find more benefit in memorizing the three best things you have learnt today than in memorizing a whole monothematic article to the last detail! It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated (Alec Bourne) I have mentioned earlier that SuperMemo 2004 can help you prioritize knowledge areas and topics that you want to study. In a similar way, SuperMemo 2004 will help you prioritize articles you locate on the net and decide to study in detail. Importing articles to SuperMemo 2004 To import an important article to SuperMemo, follow these steps: 1. Select the imported text in your web browser and copy the selection to the clipboard (e.g. with Ctrl+C) 2. Switch to SuperMemo (e.g. with Alt+Tab) 3. In SuperMemo, press Ctrl+Alt+N (this is equivalent to Edit : Add a new article on the main menu). SuperMemo will create a new element, apply the reading template (i.e. a template with one scaleable HTML component), and paste the article 4. Optionally, use Ctrl+J to specify the first review interval (e.g. one day for high priority material or 30 days for low priority material) Tips:
To import many articles at once from Internet Explorer, use Edit : Import web pages (Shift+F8) To type your own notes to SuperMemo, use Edit : Add to category : Note (Alt+N) If you would like to store pictures locally (in the registry), and make them proliferate in incremental reading (i.e. show up in all extracts and clozes), you will need to paste pictures separately. Use Copy on the picture menu in the browser and then press Shift+Ins in SuperMemo to paste the picture. As you should not keep more than 2-3 pictures per element in SuperMemo, you should paste pictures from multi-picture articles only to relevant extracts of the main article To learn more about HTML in SuperMemo, see: HTML component
Reading Traditional linear reading is highly inefficient. This comes from the fact that various pieces of the text are of various importance. Some should be skipped. Others should be read in the first order of priority. Old-fashioned books are quickly being replaced with hypertext. Hypertext will help you quickly jump to information that is the most important at any given moment. Hypertext requires a different style of writing. After all, all texts will live by the assumption that there has been some introductory section read before. The texts become context-independent, and all difficult terms and concepts are explained solely with additional hyperlinks. As the world wide web helped delinearize the global resources of information, SuperMemo 2004 can help you delinearize your reading of whatever linear material you decide to import to SuperMemo. While reading with SuperMemo, you will see a linear text as a sequence of sections subdivided into paragraphs and individual sentences. SuperMemo will help you provide a separate and independent processing for each section, paragraph or sentence. Here are some typical actions you will execute on individual sections, paragraphs or sentences. Most typically you will decide one of the following: read and remember - you can read a paragraph and schedule it for a future review. The timing of the review will depend on the paragraph's priority skip to read later - you can mark a paragraph as worth reading later. The moment in which the paragraph will come back for reading will depend on the paragraph's priority. skip for ever - you can mark a paragraph as (1) not worth reading, or as (2) read and not worth remembering In SuperMemo, all material worth remembering will be scheduled for review in the future. This is necessary to ensure you do not forget what you have learned. At the same time, all material that has not been read but is classified as worth reading will also be scheduled for reading in the future. In SuperMemo, you will constantly face a serial process of reading, review, and repetition that will make sure that your work with the program is challenging, interesting and leaves permanent traces in your memory. Reading with SuperMemo 2004 When reading an article in SuperMemo 2004, you will process individual paragraphs or sentences with commands available from the Reading menu available with a right-click over the selected text. For fastest processing, these commands are also available on the reading toolbar:
You will begin reading an article in one of these circumstances: 1. Learning process: The article's turn comes up in the learning process (after choosing Learn or Ctrl+L) 2. Reading list: You pull the article from the top of your reading list with Shift+Ctrl+F4
3. Immediate reading: You want to read the article immediately after importing it to SuperMemo with Ctrl+Alt+N 4. Search: You locate the article in your collection with navigation or search tools (e.g. with Ctrl+F) Here are the typical actions you will perform on individual sections, paragraphs and sentences: 1. Read and remember - you can read a paragraph, select it with the mouse and choose Remember extract (Alt+X or the green T icon). Remember extract will create a new mini-article in SuperMemo and store it for review in a couple of days. The review of the extract will be subject to the same procedures as reading the entire article. In other words, you can only quickly read the selected paragraph to get the general idea and read it in detail only upon the first review 2. Skip and read later - if you see that a longer section is important and requires more detailed reading, you can execute Remember extract without reading the section at all. You can also choose Schedule extract and determine the first review interval (for example, if you type "1", the first review will take place on the next day) 3. Skip for ever - if you believe that a given part of text is not worth your time, you can choose Ignore (stopsign icon). This will mark the text with a grayed font, and ensure you will not get into reading the same text again in the future (e.g. on the next review) If you believe the whole article should be skipped, you can do the following: 1. Skip and read later - you will delay reading an article if you believe its priority is less or if you think that you need to read some other introductory articles first. For example, you can stop reading and manually choose an interval after which you will return to reading (Reschedule or Ctrl+J ). You can also choose Forget (e.g. at the bottom of the element window or Ctrl+R) and put the article at the end of the queue of articles waiting for review 2. Skip and retain in the archive - if you do not expect to return to a given article but you still want to retain it in SuperMemo, you can choose Dismiss (e.g. at the bottom of the element window or Ctrl+D) 3. Skip and delete partially - if you believe an article is not worth keeping in your SuperMemo collection, you can delete it without deleting review material generated from the article. Use Learning : Done or Ctrl+Shift+Enter 4. Skip and delete entirely - if you believe an article is not worth keeping in your SuperMemo collection, you can delete it along with all associated extracts, sections and paragraphs (use Del)
Representing knowledge In SuperMemo, all imported articles will evolve. This evolution will ensure maximum comprehension and retention of knowledge. Initially the articles are split into sections and paragraphs. Those sections and paragraphs are later subject to regular review and further evolution. Individual paragraphs get enriched with context clues, reference labels, and converted to individual sentences. Individual sentences convey ideas which you want to remember. These ideas come back for review at increasing intervals. Initially, the ideas come back every couple of days, later after months and years. However, passively processed ideas in the form of sentences rarely leave a durable trace in your memory even if they are reviewed regularly. Very often, as soon as after 2-3 months, you will notice that at review time, you actually do not seem able to recall that you have ever had a given sentence in your collection. You will quickly discover that you need active recall in order to remember. Active recall is a process in which you must answer questions. For example, you may be presented with a picture of Charles Darwin and be asked to recognize his face. In the long run, you need to replace passive review with active recall. Otherwise, your memory of the fact will not be permanently
consolidated.
is the correct spelling; please do not report an orthographic error!).
The fastest way of converting simple sentences into active recall material is to use a cloze deletion technique ( nb: cloze In the cloze deletion technique, you convert simple declarative sentences like: WW1 was precipitated by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian nationalist in 1914 into question-answer pairs that can be used in actively stimulating your memory for best recall: Question: WW1 was precipitated by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of [...](country/empire) by a Serbian nationalist in 1914 Answer: Austria-Hungary Question: WW1 was precipitated by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian nationalist in [...](year) Answer: 1914 Question: [...](war) was precipitated by the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of AustriaHungary by a Serbian nationalist in 1914 Answer: WW1 Active recall in SuperMemo 2004 To convert a sentence to a cloze deletion in SuperMemo 2004, select the appropriate keyword in the sentence (e.g. Austria-Hungary, 1914, WW1, etc.) and press Ctrl+Z. You can also choose Reading : Remember cloze available with a right click over the selected text, or click the blue Z-icon on the Read toolbar. button on the element toolbar If you would like to immediately reedit the newly created cloze deletion, choose or press Alt+Left. This will make it possible to add context clues, shorten the text, improve the wording, etc. Tip! Try to avoid using cloze deletion tools on conglomerate paragraphs. Your cloze deletions should be as simple as possible. Consequently, simplifying the parent paragraph to a simple statement will produce simple clozes that will require little processing. If you use Remember cloze on a longer multi-sentence paragraph, you will have to put extra effort on simplifying the resulting items. All cloze deletions should be short enough to ensure you read them entirely at repetition time. Otherwise, your brain will tend to "deduce" the answer from non-semantic clues. This will defeat the purpose of learning!
The active recall issue in representing knowledge is just a tip of the iceberg. You will need to master quite a number of skills that will ensure your knowledge is: easy to remember quick to process highly applicable You will hone those skills gradually in time. Your own mistakes will provide the best material for improvement. You will find more details in: 20 rules of formulating knowledge in learning Remembering knowledge Forgetting has been the number one problem in learning for ages. All capable students know that it is not really hard to
cram hundreds of pages of material before an exam. But a great deal of the learned knowledge is gone just 3-4 days later (esp. after an exhaustive all-nighter). 50% of the quickly crammed knowledge evaporates within a week or two. After a year or so, nearly all material is forgotten unless reviewed. It is easy to notice that the repetition is the key to remembering in the long run. Repetitio mater memoriae may date back to Horace (65-8 BC). In SuperMemo, review of the learned material is in the center of the learning method. The review algorithm has started the whole concept of SuperMemo in the early 1980s and the first software implementation of SuperMemo in 1987 was based solely on repetitions of simple questions and answers. SuperMemo makes it possible to remember, by default, 95% of the learned material (see: General principles of SuperMemo). You can program this retention level to fall between 90-99%. You can also determine the retention individually for each of the pieces of information subject to review. You can also use tools that will make it possible to substantially increase the flow of information into SuperMemo at the cost of retention. With SuperMemo, you can nearly eliminate the problem of forgetting! However, the cost of remembering is still substantial. SuperMemo protects your memories from the spontaneous process of forgetting and puts them in your own hands. Your persistence and conscious choices will determine what you remember and what you decide to give up to forgetting Remembering with SuperMemo 2004 All material introduced to SuperMemo 2004 will be subject to review. This is all you need to remember: on a daily basis choose Learn (or press Ctrl+L) and go through the scheduled portion of the material (this will include whole articles, their fragments scheduled for review, cloze deletions and simple question-answer items) if you proceed with your daily review until you get the message Nothing more to learn, you are guaranteed to remember, by default, 95% of the learned material You will often introduce to SuperMemo more material than you are able to review. You will therefore also need to consider the following: the proportion of the material you remember can be changed globally or for individual pieces of information (see: Forgetting index) if your review takes too much time, you can slow down the process by which material stored in SuperMemo is actually introduced into the learning process by answering No to Do you want to learn new material? This will make excess material wait for learning until you master the material that has already entered the learning process if you cannot keep up with review, you can choose rescheduling tools (e.g. Postpone or Mercy). For example, you can choose Learn : Postpone : Topics to postpone all articles scheduled for today
Life cycle of knowledge Knowledge stored in SuperMemo will gradually be transformed and reformulated. This will also reflect changes to the corresponding knowledge in your memory. Three main principles will underlie the evolution of knowledge in SuperMemo: decrease in complexity - articles will be converted into sets of paragraphs. Paragraphs will be dismantled into sets of independent sentences and statements. Sentences will be shortened to maximize the contents-vs-wording ratio, etc. active recall - all pieces of information will ultimately be converted into active recall material such as question-
answer pairs, cloze deletions, picture recognition tests, sound recognition tests, etc. incrementalism - all changes will take place gradually in proportion to available time, with respect to your selected material priority, and in line with the gradually increasing strength of memory traces The core of SuperMemo is review and repetition. Changes to individual pieces of knowledge will take place in steps upon successive reviews. Here are exemplary steps that show a complete evolution of a single article into a finished item based on active recall: 1. Imagine that you find an article on the net, e.g. The criticism of global capitalism, and you decide to read it and remember it for ever 2. You import the article to SuperMemo 3. You read the article (e.g. once it tops your reading list or once its turn comes up in incremental reading) 4. While reading, you extract most important paragraphs. One of these, let us say, refers to Kuznets hypothesis 5. The extracted paragraphs will assume a separate life in SuperMemo and will be scheduled for separate review, i.e. independent of the review of the parent article. The extracted paragraphs in the parent article will be marked as processed. Once all paragraphs in the parent article are processed, you will terminate the review of the parent article and keep on reviewing only its components (e.g. selected paragraphs) 6. Upon the first review, usually after a few days, you read the extracted paragraph again and analyze it as to how it should be processed further. You may decide to postpone it, remove it from the learning process, shorten it or extract the most important sentences that you want to remember 7. If you decide to extract a single statement in reference to Kuznets hypothesis it will again be marked as processed in the original extract and will assume a separate review cycle in SuperMemo 8. Upon the first review of the extracted sentence, you make further decisions as to its further life in SuperMemo. Let us say, this is the wording of the Kuznets sentence: Acc to Kuznets hypothesis, growth (from the low income levels associated with predominantly agrarian societies) would first lead to an increase, and then to a decrease in income inequality 9. In order to capture the essence, you would probably decide to shorten the above sentence to the following form: Acc to Kuznets hypothesis, growth would first lead to an increase, and then to a decrease in income inequality 10. At the same time, other parts of the same parent article might establish a memory trace that would say that Kuznets hypothesis has been based on relatively weak empirical data. Moreover, recent research clearly indicates that the hypothesis is false (growth actually seems to equally benefit both the poor and the rich). You could then enhance the extract with words controversial or even recently falsified. For example, Recently falsified Kuznets hypothesis claimed that growth would first lead to an increase, and then to a decrease in income inequality 11. Upon the next review of the same sentence, you may decide to convert it into a number of cloze deletions. This conversion will be incremental, i.e. you may decide to first create a cloze deletion asking about the name of the controversial hypothesis and only later ask about its actual meaning (the meaning is relatively easier to remember and shall survive longer in your memory without active recall). Your cloze deletion could then look like this: Question: Recently falsified [...](name) hypothesis claimed that growth would first lead to an increase, and then to a decrease in income inequality Answer: Kuznets This cloze deletion would again assume a separate life from the original sentence in which the keyword Kuznets
will again be marked as processed. This is the original Kuznets sentence with one keyword marked as processed: Recently falsified Kuznets hypothesis claimed that growth would first lead to an increase, and then to a decrease in income inequality 12. The same sentence will generate a few separate cloze deletions that will be processed independently. Upon the first review of the cloze deletion created in the previous point, you may decide to simplify it in accordance with the rules of formulating knowledge in learning: Question: Recently falsified [...](name) hypothesis claimed that growth would first lead to an increase in income inequality Answer: Kuznets 13. Upon the next review, you can, but you do not have to, convert the cloze deletion into a standard questionanswer item: Question: What is the name of the hypothesis that falsely claims that income inequality initially increases with growth? Answer: Kuznets hypothesis 14. The above question-answer pair is probably as simple as it can only be. Certainly, it is simple enough to be relatively easy to remember. This item will be repeated in intervals determined by SuperMemo. You can decide how well you want to remember it. By default, it will be remembered with 95% probability of recall and require 5-15 repetitions in lifetime. The establishment of durable memory traces in your memory, completes the life cycle of this particular piece of knowledge. The only thing that remains is the memory-sustaining review in intervals ranging from months to years (as determined by SuperMemo) 15. Once you convert all important keywords from the Kuznets hypothesis into separate cloze deletions, you will remove the parenting paragraph from the review process. You will not longer passively review the original declarative hypothesis. You will continue repeating individual clozes and that will ensure your perfect recall of the hypothesis for as long as you deem necessary To learn more about the life cycle of knowledge in SuperMemo read: Flow of knowledge in SuperMemo Incremental reading If you stop reading an article and return to it after a month or so, you may find it hard to understand the text due to the fact that the part read earlier will have already been partly forgotten while it might have built a solid introduction needed for understanding the remaining sections of the article. In SuperMemo, reading articles in small parts does not pose a problem. The parts read earlier enter the regular review process that ensures continual retention of all pivotal points. Even more, SuperMemo encourages reading in small parts. This makes it possible to read many articles at the same time, and portion the inflow of information into the learning process in proportion to priority and available time. The process or reading many articles at the same time in small portions will later be called incremental reading. Without SuperMemo, incremental reading would not be possible. This comes from the fact that only SuperMemo can ensure that you do not forget what you have read before. In other words, if you return to the same article in a week or in a few months, you will quickly recover the context and keep on reading as if you have read preceding parts just minutes earlier. The advantages of incremental reading are numerous. They all are interdependent. Good retention enables incremental reading. This provides variety which eliminates boredom, enhances attention and affects creative associations. Good prioritization enhances the speed of reading without affecting comprehension, and that in turn, eliminates the stress of fast reading (worry of missing important pieces of information) and the stress of massive reading (worry of losing
track of one or more articles). Here is the list of the most prominent advantages of incremental reading: 1. knowledge structure and comprehension: Building knowledge in your brain is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. Some pieces cannot be placed in the puzzle before the others. Some pieces capitalize on others. There is no point in memorizing facts about Higgs boson before you learn what a standard model is and that, in turn, should follow the general understanding of particle physics which itself requires some ABC of physics. In incremental reading, if you encounter texts related to Higgs boson you can manually delay it until the time you hope your Physics ABC will provide the ground for understanding. In traditional reading, you would just waste your time on reviewing Higgs boson material. Traditionally, your decision to skip the material would provide no definite way of coming back to material in the future. With incremental reading, you waste no time on reading material you do not understand. At the same time, you can safely skip portions of material and return to them in the future. You become the master of the conscious knowledge building process 2. attention: Human brain has an in-built limit on the attention span. We all get bored with things. This is often true even with interesting articles once they get too long. Millions of people do a daily channel zapping on TV. This absurd activity is driven precisely by the craving for dense action and information variety. A gripping movie goes "too slow" for a typical channel zapper. This is why he or she prefers to watch three movies at the same time (even though the plot of all will suffer). Incremental reading is a perfect remedy to the limited attention span. Once you sense any sign of boredom or distraction, you can jump to the next article with few negative side effects. Unlike in the case of channel zapping though, you won't miss a bit of information. Just the opposite, you will maximize attention per paragraph. Your attention to the same piece of information may depend on your mood, amount of prior reading, today's interest that may depend on the piece of news you heard on the morning radio, etc. With incremental reading, you can fit your best attention to each individual piece of reading 3. speed: Incremental reading will help you dramatically increase the speed of your first reading of a selected text. You can quickly jump from paragraph to paragraph, get the overall picture, mark fragments for later reading, mark fragments for detailed study, etc. You will be relieved of the greatest bottleneck of speed-reading: fear of missing important pieces of information. As soon as you suspect a quickly-reviewed paragraph may carry more importance than meets the eye, you can simply introduce it back into the review process (as opposed to backtracking and reading the paragraph again). Once you process the entire article, you can slowly digest it again from the very beginning in the incremental reading process. Incremental reading provides for speed-reading without detriment to comprehension 4. prioritization: There are always many more articles at hand than you can hope to read. Evaluating articles and prioritizing them is difficult because you cannot do a good evaluation without actually reading a part of the article in question. In incremental reading, you can read the introduction and then decide when to read the rest. If an article is extremely valuable or interesting, you can process it entirely at once. Other articles can slowly scramble through the learning process. Yet others may ultimately be deleted. The prioritization will continue while you are reading the article. If the evaluation of quality or content changes while reading, so will the reading-review schedule. Prioritization tools will ensure that important pieces of information will receive better processing. This is one of the most important things about incremental reading: efficient fishing for pieces of golden knowledge! 5. consolidation: Everything we learn must be reviewed from time to time in order to be remembered. If you read an article in intervals, you already begin the consolidation of memory which may save you lots of time. In traditional reading, you would need to read the whole article, and then to review the article later several times. With earlier releases of SuperMemo, you would need to read the whole article, and then only review the most important parts of the article in SuperMemo at intervals determined by the program. Now you can begin the consolidation-review cycle already during reading! By the time you convert parts of the material into clozes or question-answer items, you will already have it well consolidated. This pre-consolidation will often dramatically reduce the number of repetitions required before your material gets to be reviewed in long intervals of months
and years 6. creativity: SuperMemo will throw at you various articles, paragraphs, statements and questions in a most unexpected order. You will be surprised to discover how this affects your creativity and helps you generate unexpected associations of ideas. This will also provide your brain with an entertaining form of mental training that will be highly appreciated in all forms of professions based on intellectual performance. Critics of incremental reading, who have never tried the method, are not convinced this argument is really tenable. You may be skeptical too. There is only one sure way to convince you: give incremental reading a good try! Try incremental reading for a month at times when your brain is in its peak shape. If the processed knowledge belongs to the areas that are critically important to you, so much the better. You may see your brain turn into a creative sparkler! 7. stresslessness: Once you know you can rely on SuperMemo in presenting review material for you, you can eliminate the stress and anxiety related to having too much to study or too much to read. You will probably not manage to read or learn all that you would hope for, but you will at least not lose sleep over planning and scheduling. SuperMemo is a promise of the best use of your potential. With this conviction, you can devote all your energy to comprehension and analysis of the learned material 8. consistency: If your material contains contradictory parts, your brain will alert you to this fact. In classical learning, you would often relearn new facts that would contradict earlier learned facts. Then you would relearn the older version again and this wasteful cycle might repeat more than once. In SuperMemo, the same process can take place; however, there will be two mechanisms that will prevent it. High degree of retention guaranteed by SuperMemo will often make it quite effortless to immediately spot the contradiction: Wait a minute! I have already learned this fact and the answer was different! Unfortunately, even SuperMemo isn't hermetic to contradiction (your retention actually never reaches 100%). The second mechanism will quickly produce the convergence of contradictory facts in time. If you, for example, learn two different answers to What is the size of human population?, say, 5.5 billion and 6 billion. You will naturally provide a wrong answer to one of these questions. Once you relearn it the new way, you will provide a wrong answer to the other question. Interrepetition intervals for these two contradictory items will get shorter with each relearning cycle. The timing of repetitions of contradictory items will tend to converge. It is only a question of time when the red alert is raised by your brain. You will quickly resolve the difference and delete one of the items. Similar process will affect hazy or incompletely specified information. Your knowledge will grow in consistency with time 9. massive learning: Massive learning is the consequence of all advantages listed earlier. Incremental reading will run a river of knowledge through your memory. The speed of acquiring new information will surprise you. Even though human memory is painfully limited, you shall be able to read thousands of texts pertaining to different fields and quickly swell the size of your knowledge to your and others' benefit 10. enjoyability: Those who can compare the classic SuperMemo with incremental reading will testify that incremental reading is by far more enjoyable. Monotonous repetitions are here interspersed with reading and analyzing new material Incremental reading tools in SuperMemo 2004 To introduce an article to incremental reading - use Edit : Add a new article (Ctrl+Alt+N). This will introduce the article stored in the clipboard into the incremental reading process To resume reading - once you return to an interrupted article, the cursor in the text will be set on the last-processed text. When leaving the article, you can also manually set the so-called read-point and the place where you interrupted reading. Choose Ctrl+F7 to set the read-point or choose the read-point button on the Read toolbar To schedule the next review - if you want to schedule a given article for review on a selected day, choose Learning : Reschedule on the element menu (e.g. by pressing Ctrl+J). You can also use
Learning : Execute repetition (e.g. by pressing Ctrl+Shift+R). Execute repetition works like Reschedule with this difference that a repetition will be executed before rescheduling To add pictures - to add a picture to an article use Copy on the picture menu in your web browser and then press Shift+Ins or Ctrl+V in SuperMemo to paste the picture To place the reading toolbar on your desktop - drag the Read toolbar from the toolbar dock to any location that seems suitable and choose Ctrl+Shift+F5 (to save the default windows layout) To randomize your today's repetitions - press Ctrl+Shift+F11 (this is equivalent to choosing Learn : Random : Randomize repetitions) To postpone all articles and extracts - use Learn : Postpone : Topics. For large collections you can use a faster method: (1) View : Outstanding, (2) Child : Topics, (3) Learning : Postpone To postpone the currently processed branch - choose Learning : Postpone branch (or press Ctrl+Alt+P) To learn more about incremental reading see: Incremental reading in SuperMemo 2004 Using knowledge SuperMemo is not yet equipped with tools to help you efficiently use your knowledge for good causes. It will boost your knowledge but ... you must be vigilant: Do not spend your time on gaining knowledge for the knowledge sake! Think applicability! Luckily, as your knowledge grows, so does your ability to use it efficiently. Enjoy your learning! Further reading Incremental reading FAQ: Incremental reading 20 rules of formulating knowledge for learning FAQ: Formulating knowledge 10 rules of effective learning with SuperMemo Roots of creativity and genius Reading the Internet (1999) Flow of knowledge in SuperMemo (2000)
Formula for Human Genius and Creativity
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Contents : Articles
The roots of creativity and genius
Dr Piotr Wozniak Summer 2001
This article is an attempt at formulating a prescription for genius and creativity. In equal part, it was written to inspire the bright ones as it is supposed to help those who consider themselves less intellectually fortunate. In short, it will reiterate the claim that training can do miracles to your mind. It will attempt to demonstrate that a majority of population can reach today's standards of genius. It will list nearly forty preconditions and fallacies related to genius and creativity. It will also attempt at presenting a simplified metaphor of genius for the sake of demystifying the concept. Hopefully, it will also encourage parents to spare no effort in providing rich and loving environment for their kids to grow in Contents Sideline stories Biological basis of genius Down syndrome Dyslexia Expert systems Ideafisher Johannes Gutenberg Charles Darwin Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla Steve Wozniak Tim Berners-Lee Polgar sisters William James Sidis Genius in chess Predictive lapses Inserts related to SuperMemo SuperMemo and contradiction SuperMemo and complexity Incremental reading Associational thinking Knowledge selection Representing SuperMemo
Ukrainian
High IQ in high demand Nature-vs-nurture dilemma resolved What is intelligence? The computing brain What is special about a genius brain? Working out genius Smart and dumb learning Predicting the future What is creativity? Ingredients of creativity Personality factor Creative environment Negative and positive emotions Lifelong learning: Rebirth of the Renaissance man Major Genius Fallacies Summary: Genius Checklist Genius FAQ
High IQ in high demand Intelligence, creativity and genius are generally regarded as highly valuable assets of the human mind. As a strong positive correlation exists between IQ and the median earned income, most people would gladly boost their IQ, improve creativity or accept being called a genius. Exceptions to this rule are few and most revolve around a claim that intelligence may be an obstacle on the way towards universal happiness. Here are a few exemplary arguments against human intelligence listed by the detractors of genius: high intelligence reveals existential truths and as such is highly depressive high intelligence prevents atavistic enjoyment of relationships high intelligence is a source of envy and other bad feelings in others
file:///C|/Users/CENIZA/Desktop/iFiles/Genius/genius.htm[4/19/2012 9:12:53 PM]
high intelligence leads to inhuman behaviors and most sophisticated forms of evil In this article, I will tacitly ignore the above claims and assume that you would gladly become more intelligent, creative or innovative. I believe it can be shown that an increase in knowledge and creative power can statistically leads to more "goodness" (see: Goodness of knowledge). I will tacitly assume throughout this text that achieving creative genius is a desirable goal. Nature-vs-nurture dilemma resolved Many books on psychology put a substantial emphasis on the nature-vs-nurture debate. Psychologist ask which factors are decisive in developing human behavioral characteristics: genetic background or education and upbringing? As far as intelligence is concerned, both genetics and upbringing determine the final outcome. Using reductio ad absurdum we quickly notice that we have not yet recorded a case of a success in science by an individual affected with Down syndrome, i.e. we can easily show that genetics can stifle intellectual development. At the same time, we notice that individuals deprived of education and human contact may be deprived of the ability to read, speak or conduct abstract reasoning, i.e. we can show that lack of education may be equally devastating to the human mind (see: Feral children). The power of genetics on the functioning of the brain is illustrated by afflictions such as Down syndrome (mental retardation), dyslexia (reading problems), amusia (problems with recognizing sounds and music), unipolar and bipolar disorders (depression and manic-depressive disorder), and many more. These factors on one hand illustrate that we may at birth be handicapped in the quest for genius. At the same time, behavioral therapies used in all listed cases, show the tremendous power of training in developing compensation for disability. If you look at the human brain from 100,000 years ago, you will not see much difference when compared with today's brains. Yet training and education, as well as the ability to communicate and work collectively, has lifted the human potential to unimaginable levels. See gray insets for more insights on the potential and limitations of the human brain.
Throughout this article, gray inserts will provide additional illustrative material. All inserts are optional! These are stories that can either explain major points by example or simply serve as a source of additional inspiration. The order of inserts is arbitrary. Each insert makes a separate and independent reading. Some may require more knowledge in a given field (e.g. biology, computing sciences, etc.). You do not need to read gray inserts to understand the text. You can read all inserts now, later, or not at all
Down syndrome Of the inborn disorders that affect intellectual capacity, Down syndrome is the most prevalent and best studied. Down syndrome is a term used to encompass a number of genetic disorders of which trisomy 21 is the most representative (95% of cases). Trisomy 21 is the existence of the third copy of the chromosome 21 in cells throughout the body of the affected person. Other Down syndrome disorders are based on the duplication of the same subset of genes (e.g. various translocations of chromosome 21). Depending on the actual etiology, the mental retardation may range from mild to severe. Trisomy 21 results in over-expression of genes located on chromosome 21. One of these is superoxide dismutase gene. Some (but not all) studies have shown that the activity of the superoxide dismutase enzyme (SOD) is elevated in Down syndrome. SOD converts oxygen radicals to hydrogen peroxide and water. Oxygen radicals produced in cells can be damaging to cellular structures; hence the important role of SOD. However, the hypothesis says that once SOD activity increases disproportionately to enzymes responsible for removal of hydrogen peroxide (e.g. glutathione peroxidase), the cells will suffer from a peroxide damage. Some scientists believe that the treatment of Down syndrome neurons with free-radical scavengers can substantially prevent neuronal degeneration. Oxidative damage to neurons results in rapid brain aging similar to that of Alzheimer's disease. Another chromosome 21 gene that might predispose Down syndrome individuals to develop Alzheimer's pathology is the gene that encodes the precursor of the amyloid protein. Neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques are commonly found in both Down syndrome and Alzheimer's individuals. Layer II of the entorhinal cortex and the subiculum, both critical for memory consolidation, are one of the first affected by the damage. A gradual decrease in the number of nerve cells throughout the cortex follows. A few years ago, the Johns Hopkins scientists created a genetically engineered mouse called Ts65Dn (segmental trisomy 16 mouse) as an excellent model for studying the Down syndrome. Ts65Dn mouse has genes on chromosomes 16 that are very similar to the human chromosome 21 genes. With this animal model, the exact causes of Down syndrome neurological
symptoms will soon be elucidated (for the amazing genetic science in action see: Cytogenetics Resources Ts65Dn including pictures of "Down syndrome mouse"). Naturally, Ts65Dn research is also likely to highly benefit Alzheimer's research. Whatever the actual molecular reason, over-expression of chromosome 21 genes puts children with Down syndrome at immediate disadvantage as compared with normal kids. Their IQ rarely goes beyond 60. The brain of children with Down syndrome is usually small and underweight. The cerebellum and brain stem are unusually small. So is the superior temporal gyrus. Their intellectual potential is further limited by a number of ailments such as recurring infections diseases, heart problems, poor eyesight, etc. Genetics is a true roadblock here. People with Down syndrome have (until now) never become great scientists, novelists, politicians, etc. At the same time, medical treatment, conducive family environment, vocational training, etc. can increasingly produce excellent improvement in the overall development of Down syndrome kids. On one hand, Down syndrome shows that we cannot jump over genetic limitations; on the other, it shows that intense training can produce miracles whatever the starting point. In conclusion, the optimum path to excellence goes via the mental training independent of genetic limitations What is intelligence? You will find many definitions of human intelligence of which three make the most of the daily use of the word: 1. problem solving ability - the power of the human mind to process information and solve problems. When you see a bright scientist with wide knowledge and numerous discoveries to his credit, you may say: This person is really intelligent! Look at his record! To use a computer metaphor, the scientist is endowed with the best hardware and software money can buy. He or she is optimally equipped for problem solving 2. processing power - the raw nimbleness and agility of the human mind. When you see a smart student quickly learn new things, think logically, solve puzzles and show uncanny wit, you may say: This guy is really intelligent! See how fast his brain reacts! The student has a fast processor installed and his RAM has a lightning access time. He may though still need a couple of years to "build" good software through years of study. IQ tests attempt to measure this sort of intelligence in abstraction of knowledge. The difficulty of improving processing power by training comes for similar reasons as the fact that programming cannot speed up the processor 3. intelligence potential - the potential to develop intelligence in senses listed above. When you see a young child that shows a number of talents and seems to be on a straight path to become a nimble student or a prolific scientist, you may say: This kid is really intelligent! The sky is the limit for him. The kid is equipped with high quality extensible hardware infrastructure. He is on the best path to reach highest intelligence both in terms of processing power (Definition 2) and problem solving ability (Definition 1) In this article, I will focus on ways towards developing the intelligence in the sense of problem solving ability (i.e. Definition 1). After all, the whole purpose of education is to improve our problem solving ability, i.e. the ability to optimally answer questions such as What to eat for dinner? What job to take? How to build a better mouse-trap? What should my position on abortion be? Which party should I vote for? etc. High IQ is welcome but it makes up for only a fraction of intelligence (Definition 1). As much as a fast processor stands only for a fraction for what we expect of a good computer. Later in the article, I will argue in support for the scientifically obvious statement: well-designed training can produce amazing results in enhancing intelligence (Definition 1). However, this statement is surprisingly little understood in general population. It falls into the category of scientific facts that may find more skeptics than believers. Naturally, vox populi does not detract from the merits of evolution, genetic engineering, human cloning, Big Bang theory, sociocybernetics, neuropsychological interpretation of the thought and consciousness, etc. However, to make the obvious more digestible, I will use the computer metaphor to illustrate the building blocks of intelligence and genius The computing brain
The neural network of the brain can be seen as mental hardware. It includes inborn ROM memory as well as highly plastic RAM. The inborn wiring and structure of the brain may roughly be compared to a ROM memory. If you stop eating for a day, program stored in your ROM will make you experience hunger. Things we learn in life can be considered software that is stored in your RAM. If you doubt a mental ROM exists try the following experiment: look at the computer screen, keep your eyes open, stay conscious and yet try not to perceive the picture of the screen. Seems impossible? Now try to superimpose the face of a loved person by using the power of your imagination. This is easy for most people. Here is your RAM in action superimposing over a ROM-enforced perception. You can even imagine touching parts of the imaginary face. Yet the screen underneath does not seem ready to go away. The impulses from the retina hit the visual cortex, and you can do little about it. Knowledge is encoded in the modifiable strength of connections between neurons in a similar way as bits are stored by electrical charges in cells of RAM memory. Our software can roughly be compared to an expert system. An expert system is a software application that can be used in problem solving such as producing a medical diagnosis. An expert system is built of two components: factual knowledge and an inference engine. They roughly correspond to data and software in a computer or to knowledge and reason in the human brain. Expert systems Expert systems are computer programs that take over the job of an expert in a highly specialized field such as medical diagnosis, production management, criminal profiling, etc.. An expert system is fed with data and it's job is to answer questions such as: "What is the list of the most likely diseases the patient is suffering from?", "Which supplies need to be ordered next?", or "Which offenders in the database match the profile of the described crime?". Expert systems provide an excellent metaphor for studying human problem solving and provide clues for enhancing creativity. An expert system is usually built of a knowledge base (collection of facts representing factual knowledge) and an inference engine (collection of rules representing inferential knowledge). An expert system may store facts such as "E. coli bacteria is not resistant to norfloxacin" and "E.coli can cause urinary tract infections". It can also store updateable facts such as: "Pain during during urination is associated in X% of cases with urinary tract infection" (where X is a number regularly updated as the expert system improves its knowledge), or "E. coli is a cause of Y% of urinary tract infections". The expert system can also store rules such as "If (A is an antibiotic) and (B is a bacteria) and (patient is infected with B) then (suggest administration of A)". Some rules can be fuzzy, i.e. applicable with a degree of probability or producing a given outcome with a given probability, for example, "If (patient infected with E. coli) then (probability of success with norfloxacin is P%)" or "If (probability of E. coli infection is greater than P%) then (use norfloxacin)". By analyzing the facts stored in the database and facts fed into the expert system, the expert system can use its inference rules to answer questions on the optimum antibiotic therapy. It can also generate the probability profile of the successful application of individual antibiotics. Although the difference between static facts and if-then rules in an expert system is very clear-cut, there is no sharp fact-rule distinction in the human brain which uses neural representations for storing knowledge. However, the difference between facts and rules is very valuable in explaining the difference between smart and dumb learning. Expert systems are always based on storing large amounts of information. They are built by peeking at human experts in action and concluding about their reasoning. A knowledge engineer or an expert himself needs to formulate the rules that are used in arriving at a solution to a problem. Consequently, there is a very direct parallel between an expert system and a human expert in action. Much of expert thinking is much simpler than what happens in a child's brain in the course of ordinary play! The reason for this is that we are inborn with powerful computing machinery for visual processing, for association, for analyzing motion, for spatial orientation, for phonological analysis, for language parsing, etc. A child recognizing a simple ba-ba language may be harder to imitate in a computer than an expert botanist recognizing one of a thousand species of plant. As Marvin Minsky put it: It can be harder to be a novice than to be an expert! A program written in 1961 by James Slagle could solve calculus problems that are normally given to college students. This program was
able to score an A on an MIT exam. This program needed only about a hundred algebraic rules to solve all the required calculus problems! Calculus permeates engineering and forms part of the foundation of the industrial world. It is also a classroom nightmare to many students. Yet in essence it is very simple and compact. Simplicity of calculus powerfully illustrates what our brains were not born to do. It also shows what new powers our brains can acquire with relatively little effort if the new knowledge is selected in the right way. Algebra can serve as a model of abstractness of rules. After all, it is based on symbols that can mean anything: a plane or a bird or just anything. As stated throughout this article, abstractness of rules stored in the human brain lays at the foundation of creative thinking. What an expert needs to know can indeed be simple. However, it is often not simple to discover or explicitly formulate it in the first place. Many students may have problems with calculus because of the simple fact that some rules of calculus are highly heuristic and cannot be found in math books. Good (or rather hard working) students acquire those rules implicitly by solving a large number of calculus tasks. Poor students could easily catch up if their books or teachers explicitly formulated those hazy rules, e.g. if you see those two symbols on the left, go for the rule X rather than wasting time on the remaining five other possibilities that can cost you an hour each. Human experts seem more intuitive than computers. But this only comes from the fact that they apply rules that they themselves have hard time formulating. There is no qualitative difference between human or computer expert in that respect. Intuition is not a magic power. Intuition is an inability to explicitly express knowledge that is already wired in the neural network of the brain. As with the haziness of the rules, similar uncertainty may concern the actual application of inference rules: the problem solving strategy. A creative individual will often not be able to clearly say how and why he or she arrived at the solution. When later writing a scientific paper on the solution to the problem, the creator will often need to look for a clear path towards the solution even though he has definitely arrived at the goal before. Expert systems may use various strategies such as data-driven derivation called forward chaining (going from the facts to a conclusion, e.g. deriving symptoms from a disease database), goal-driven derivation called backward chaining (going back from the goal to test a hypothesis, e.g. testing for a disease given the symptoms), search (applying simple rules repetitively over a large number of combinations that could yield a solution), and various combinations of these strategies. As for the problem solving strategy, the human brain is even harder to simulate. Usually the search space for major problems is huge and no simple strategy can be used (otherwise the problem would not be a problem in the first place). Then the lucky genius stroke, the brilliant association, insight, breakthrough, etc. is nothing else than applying the right rule to the right data at the right time. The "right time" here refers to the different states of the brain at different moments of time. The brain works associatively and two or more neuronal assemblies must be active at the same time for the association to be formed. Archimedes could have thought of volume when entering his bathtub before he yelled: Eureka! Newton's brain must have been sensitized to gravity when he was struck by a falling fruit. James Watt must have had his engine-power neurons potentiated when looking at a rattling kettle. Millions of people see kettles daily but they rather do not think about a steam engine as a result. The genius breakthrough comes from an association of ideas in the brain. In terms of an expert system, the right rule must be applied to the right set of facts. The best term to describe human problem solving is heuristic search. We apply available rules using the bestsearch rules which may be subject to another layer of meta-rules that are implicitly interwoven in the intricacies of the neural circuitry of the brain. In conclusion, knowledge is the key to problem solving. In particular, highly abstract inferential knowledge is central to a creative search for solutions. The disassociation of the link between knowledge and genius can be harmful. The confusion usually comes from the fact that memorizing worthless data is not differentiated from memorizing useful rules. Many people mistakenly fail to recognize the associative power of human memory and conclude that relying on external sources of information may suffice in their particular field of activity. As a result, memorizing is perceived as a dumb act. Some articles at supermemo.com illustrate this problem: In today's world, information is so abundant and can be accessed so readily that it is hardly necessary to lumber one's memory with it (from SuperMemo is Useless) It should be enough to create in our memory some sort of an index to the global wealth of information (from No force in the world ...)
The most important things we learn from expert systems is that extensive knowledge helps solve problems. We also learn that the way we represent knowledge may determine the successful outcome of problem solving. Conclusions: we need to keep on learning and we need to pay special attention to how we represent things in our memory to ensure we understand the implications of the things we learn.
For a quick course on basic concepts of Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence see: ABC of AI
Factual knowledge is made of facts. A fact may have a form of "Jimmy Carter was elected the US president in 1976" or "Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865". Inference engine is based on inferential knowledge. Inferential knowledge is made of a set of rules. Unlike static facts, rules can be applied to facts to produce more facts, assertions, statements, theorems, formulas, etc. For example, a rule may say "Since the 22nd Amendment, a US president cannot serve for more than ten years" (i.e. two terms plus two years of possible succession). From a fact "Jimmy Carter was the president" and from a rule "President cannot serve for more than 10 years" we can derive new knowledge: "President Carter served no more than 10 years". In mathematics, a fact may say that x=3 and a rule may say that x+x=2*x. By applying the rule to the fact we can conclude that 3+3=2*3. Rules can then be used to derive new facts and new rules. If we know that x+x>x (for x>0) then we also derive a new rule: 2*x>x. In the course of problem solving, our brain will often develop new rules and store them in memory. These new rules will form a highly valuable component of your knowledge and will decide on your creative powers. Rene Descartes said: "Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems" Apart from declarative facts and rules which we can learn in a textbook, our nervous system also includes other forms of knowledge. For our analysis we will mostly need to discern: inborn knowledge and procedural knowledge. Inborn knowledge can be compared to rules stored in our ROM. For example, when feeling a burning pain in fingers, retract the arm. Procedural knowledge is knowledge that is acquired by trial and error via punishment-reward stimuli. For example, when we ride a bicycle, each time we lose balance, an information is sent to the motor system not to repeat the recent moves that should be considered an error. At the same time, the elation of smooth ride, reinforces the circuits responsible for sequential stimulation of muscles involved in cycling. Apart from inference engine, our brain is equipped with a sort of "interference engine". Our brain was programmed for survival. It is supposed to make you search for sources of water when you are thirsty or react with interest to an attractive representative of the opposite sex. We are driven by instincts and emotions. Emotions helped humans survive thousands of years of evolution. However, emotions also interfere with the intellectual effort. Isaac Newton might be the brightest scientific mind of the 17th century, yet the last 25 years of his life were marred by a bitter battle with Leibnitz over their claim to having invented the calculus. Alan Turing, the father of the famous Turing Test, committed suicide by cyanide poisoning under the burden of intolerance brought forth by his homosexuality. His mind might have been affected by a hormonal therapy that was supposed to "cure" him of homosexuality. Even the greatest mind may be incapacitated by a strong interference from hormones or lower-level brain circuits. Emotions can literally kill genius. Here is the summary of the computer metaphor of the human mind. Terminology defined here will be used throughout the rest of this article: Hardware - the brain Infrastructure - brain components: cortex, thalamus, cerebellum, basal ganglia, etc. ROM - inborn knowledge (e.g. acrophobia) Software - knowledge Declarative knowledge - textbooks knowledge Facts - e.g. Mary is a pilot Rules - e.g. All snakes are reptiles, formula for solving quadratic
equations, etc. Procedural knowledge - skills (e.g. playing piano, touch typing, swimming, etc.) Interference - emotions, instincts, reflexes (e.g. hunger, thirst, orgasm, etc.) positive emotions (e.g. passion, laugh, elation, zeal, energy, etc.) negative emotions, instincts, reflexes (e.g. anger, envy, hate, malice, etc.) In the above light, we can simplify genius to the following: Genius is based on good hardware, excellent knowledge, strong motivation, and minimum negative interference. In other words: 1. it is helpful to be blessed with a healthy brain (hardware) 2. this brain must be subject to a lifelong training in acquiring useful knowledge (software); esp. problem solving knowledge 3. knowledgeable brain must be driven by strong motivational factors (drive), including positive emotions (passion, enthusiasm, love, etc.) 4. well-driven knowledgeable brain must avoid negative interference from inborn weaknesses and destructive emotions (e.g. few things cloud judgment as badly as anger, and few things are as distracting as love) What is special about a genius brain? Using the "simplified brain model" above, I will try to look for factors that determine a genius brain and how these factors could be influenced. A genius brain in action will tackle a problem, quickly find an appropriate set of rules, and derive a solution. Actually, the speed of processing the rules is not as critical as the skill in choosing the appropriate rules at hand. For a genius breakthrough, the speed is usually quite unimportant. It took Darwin five years to collect data during his Beagle trip to come up with a vision of the evolutionary process. Yet it took him another 20 years collecting all necessary material, and opinions before mustering courage to publish On the origin of species. The book has changed our view of the human species for ever. It is hard to pinpoint a single breakthrough or a stroke of genius. Darwin's reasoning wasn't blindingly fast neither. Yet Darwin's impact on the ways of the mankind was monumental Biological basis of genius Humans do differ in their brain power. Some get a biological head start, others get handicapped from early childhood. In cannot be stressed enough though that the optimum path towards maximum achievement is always through training. The starting point is not relevant for choosing hard-work learning trajectory. It is also important to know, that in majority of cases, mental limitations can be overcome. Some major disabilities, such as Down syndrome or brain injury can pose a formidable challenge. However, practice shows that a huge proportion of the population see a problem where it does not exist. Many people write to me about their memory problems just to discover (e.g. with SuperMemo analytical tools) that qualitatively their memory does not differ from their peers. What usually prevents people from reaching intellectual heights is personality and the environment (school, family, etc.). Many do not live up to their potential simply because of insufficient motivation or belief in their own powers. Others fail due to parental inattention. Those factors are statistically by far more important than inborn limitations. Scientists have studied Einstein's brain to look for the clues as to his genius. On cursory examination, they could hardly find any. Later it transpired that some areas of his brain were indeed better developed and nourished by a rich fabric of glial cells, i.e. brain cells that are, among others, responsible for the right environment for neurons to work in. Yet it is difficult to predicate as to whether all these differences were inborn or were rather a result of his training
in abstract thinking. Anatomical studies show that various areas of the human brain may substantially differ in size between individuals. Yet it is not easy to find correlations between these difference and mental powers. In people with a normal range of IQ, the volume of cerebral cortex may vary twice between one person and the next. So may the extent of differences in metabolic rates in the same organ. Similar differences have been found between such critical brain structures as the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and the amygdala. Connections between the hemispheres can dramatically differ in volume (e.g. seven-fold difference for the anterior commissure). The left inferior-parietal lobule (located just above the level of the ears in the parietal cortex) is larger in men, and was also found to be larger in Einstein's brain as well as in the brains of mathematicians and physicists. On the other hand, the two language area of the cortex: Broca and Wernicke areas are larger in women, which may explain why women might be superior in language processing and verbal tasks. Bigger men have bigger brains but are not smarter. A racially sensitive subject of lower SAT test scores among blacks and Hispanics in the US has been a matter of debate for a number of years. The differences could not be explained by the material status of families or the neighborhood factor. Stanford psychology professor Claude Steele has conducted revealing experiments in which black students could do equally well on the test as long as they were not told they are being scored. Although we can point to differences based on sex or ethnicity, the ultimate difference in the creative potential is by far more dependent on the upbringing, education and student's personality. As explained in Genius in Chess, despite chess being a "male game", female chess player, Judit Polgar, developed skills that are superior to those of 99.99997% of the male population. When we tried to see if student IQ makes it easier to do well in learning and in exams, we found that some personality factors matter more. A small group of students learned with SuperMemo, and the main success factor was the perfectionism trait, not the actual IQ (Wozniak 1994, Gorzelanczyk et al. 1998). Most optimistically, SuperMemo and memory research show that our memory works in the same way at the very basic molecular and synaptic level. Our forgetting is described by the same forgetting curve whose steepness is mostly determined by knowledge representation. As the analysis of success stories with SuperMemo shows, main learning differences between individuals can be found in (1) personality (perseverance, delayed gratification, optimism, etc.) and (2) knowledge representation skills. A week-long course in mnemonic techniques immediately illustrates that knowledge representation skills can be learn very fast indeed. Those skills also develop in proportion to the amount of learning as demonstrated by differences between primary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels. All users of SuperMemo, unless primed beforehand, start with building clumsy collections of learning material that is quite difficult to retain in memory. Within months, most users develop reasonable strategies on how knowledge should be represented to minimize the effort of learning (see: 20 rules of formulating knowledge in learning). To produce breakthrough ideas, most valuable rules are those that are highly abstract (i.e. detached from a particular subject matter). They should be applicable to a wide range of problems. This is why various branches of mathematics should be taught to students of all professions. Logic, probability calculus, or statistics are highly abstract and highly applicable. The same formula of logic may be the basis of dozens of other highly abstract rules. Surprisingly, many professionals find it hard to differentiate between conjunctions such as AND, OR, AND/OR, or XOR. Let alone the difference between deduction and induction which forms the basis of scientific investigation, as well as the basis of logical (read "correct") thinking about such simple choices in life as selecting the appropriate brand of cereals for breakfast Rule abstractness: If you learn the rule "Wheat contains 340 kcal per 100 grams" its is only applicable to wheat. If you narrow the term wheat to a single concept (i.e. not grain of all species of plan called "wheat"), this rule can be interpreted as a fact. However, the rule "Most cereals contain 330-360 kcal per 100 grams" is probabilistically applicable to both wheat and maize. The latter rule is more abstract and statistically more valuable in problem solving (i.e. you can use cereal rule in more circumstances than the wheat rule) The applicability of rules does not only depend on their express meaning. The actual representation of the rule in the human brain is paramount! The same rule in the mind of a genius can find a dozen more applications than can be
borne out of an effort of a plain crammer. The skill of learning the rules the right way is a critical component of genius. Genetic component may play a minor role here. Many individuals find it difficult to represent knowledge in their minds in a way that can lead to a genius breakthrough. Understanding the right forms of training for abstract representation of rules in the human mind may bring untold benefits to mankind in years to come. Let us use our computer metaphor to illustrate the problem: If we take this rule: "if HardDiskSpace<5MB then raise(HardwareAlert('Running out of hard disk space')" If you type this rule to MS Word and save it in a doc file, the rule will be as useless as any rule crammed into your memory without understanding. Yet the same rule encoded in a hardware monitor DLL can be a blessing to the security of data stored in your computer. The way we represent rules in our brain determines their applicability. For the same reason, I started this article with a computer metaphor. This way I tried to represent the foundation knowledge of this text in a form that is easily understood by everyone. The rules I am expressing can hopefully be easier to digest and store in your mind with a more tangible long-term benefit. With the appropriate representation, no scientific theory is complex. All great theories were born in the human mind. Einstein, Turing, Gdel or Heisenberg did not have to be inherently brighter than you. However, they were able to arrange the pieces of the puzzle in their mind in such a way that they could easily see the light. There is nothing inherently complex in the theory of relativity, the theorem of incompleteness or the uncertainty principle. Some theories may be more voluminous than others. Some may be voluminous enough, in their digestible simple representation, to discourage many from digging in. An important conclusion: No product of human thought is inherently complex or incomprehensible. The difference between easy subjects and difficult once can always be explained by the representation and volume. Abstractness calls for particularly well-chosen representation. The fact that dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago may require no special approach. Abstract mathematics, on the other hand, may be introduced to a student in a number of ways that differ in their effectiveness by many orders of magnitude. There are many more students who fear algebra than those who tremble before a literature class. Symbols of algebra do not have specialized brain circuits to process and simplify them. Student problems with algebra can usually be tracked down to insufficient training in math at primary and secondary levels. Consequently, a motivation factor builds up another inhibitory layer. The gratification from reading an excellent novel is instant. The benefits of math require good command of the raw basics, starting with the multiplication table and the sums. We have not been able to find many shortcuts from the basic level math towards solving differential equations. However, yet a few years ago, you could hear from many: Computers? That's not for me. I have never been good at technical subjects. Today, the same people surf the net for hours. Seniors are flocking to the net in droves. We have succeeded in simplifying the way people see and use the computers. We have changed the way computing is represented in public mind.
Blue inserts in this article are dedicated solely to users of SuperMemo. If you are not a user, you can skip these
Popularity of SuperMemo vs. knowledge representation SuperMemo is still far from being widely accepted. It still awaits a moment to be packaged in a way that is digestible for an average citizen. Its problem is its representation in the public mind. It is surprisingly difficult to explain the benefits of SuperMemo. Try to convince your classmates or colleagues at work to use SuperMemo to experience this difficulty first hand. It is even more difficult to explain the program itself and how to use it. And it is by far the hardest to illustrate the destruction committed on learned knowledge by giving up spaced repetition. Without finding a formula for simplicity and popular appeal, SuperMemo will for long remain a tool for only those with the highest intellectual aspirations In acquiring knowledge, never say "this article or book is too hard for me". When listing books he read in his youth, Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first mechanical computer, wrote "Amongst these were Humphry Ditton's 'Fluxions', of which I could make nothing". We know that Babbage was the last person you would suspect of having problems with mathematical texts. If you see the text of which "you could make nothing", go to the first sentence and analyze it. Most often than not, it is just the author who uses the language or structure that is either inappropriate or not
matching your present knowledge in the field. If you encounter problems, and there is no explanation, no introduction, or if specialist terminology runs out of the field without a suitable glossary, you may safely excuse your comprehension problems. Do not attempt to dig into advanced chemistry article without the basic chemistry background. Every fourth word may fall out of your vocabulary range. It may take months or years to build a necessary background! Least of all, blame your own perception. Just keep on working harder and one day you will see the light. If you find difficult material, do not waste time for depression or despair. Abstractness is inherently harder to digest than plain facts. Methodically analyze the reasons for which you cannot comprehend given material. Either the material is badly presented or you need new knowledge that will resolve your problem. Be patient and remember: Everything is difficult before it becomes easy! If you are a user of SuperMemo 2004, see Dealing with complexity in SuperMemo
2004 later in this article
Working out genius High achievements in all fields require hours of training. This refers to music, chess, sciences, sports and what not. I wholeheartedly subscribe to the famous statement by Edison: "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration". Training can have a miraculous impact on the human brain. It does not matter much how well you were endowed by the genetics. You got no better choice than to commit yourself to a lifelong course of learning. If you are in a minority that shows identifiable genetic limitations, you may need to hone your routine to your particular needs; however, if you have already arrived to this point in this article, health permitting, you are highly likely to be equipped with all the basic intellectual components for building genius. Genius in chess It is a pity that not all those genius chess brains had been sufficiently employed in the betterment of this planet. However, they all provide highly valuable material for studying the human brain power. There are a couple of reasons for chess being so valuable to study. Chess rules are clear-cut. The competitive achievement is measurable. Individual games are available for study move-by-move on the Internet. Last but not least, chess is often associated with aura of genius, and world champions generate lots of excitement that results in numerous books and studies on scientific and popular-scientific platforms. In those conditions, we can study factors that help some people reach processing power that is hard to match with the present computing technology. Chess is a great metaphor for creativity. Chessboard positions roughly correspond to facts and applicable moves correspond to inferential rules (see: facts and rules). The more abstract the rules, the more positions they can resolve. The more abstract the rules you acquire, the less sheer computation your brain needs to do in the game of chess. Consequently, the better your chess score. The move rules will often be based on pattern recognition rules who can filter complex position into simply identifiable patterns. The better your arsenal of pattern recognition rules, the more applicable your move rules become. The rules are the key to chess genius. British chess player and author Jonathan Levitt proposed a formula linking chess scores with IQ (The Levitt Equation: Elo ~ (10 x IQ) + 1000). Although the formula does not represent exact science, it is a good illustration of the difference between the two concepts of intelligence and genius: one of the true mental processing power and the other of the potential to develop it. Levitt's formula determines the approximate maximum chess score for a given IQ assuming years of extensive training. The purpose of IQ is to distil innate mental skills from expertise. Although this is never entirely possible, people with little expertise in any selected field may still show high IQ which is indicative of high intellectual potential. In chess, adding new recognition and move rules to memory will plateau with time, and the quality of reshuffling them in conditions of maximum concentration will determine the champion. However, there is no substitute for hard work on the way to success in chess. No amount of lateral thinking or transcendental mediation will help. The chess player's brain needs to be equipped with the arsenal of thousands position patterns. The chess scores reflect the true processing power of a players brain in the narrow specialty of chess. In real life, high IQ is welcome; however, what will determine a person's success in a given field is the actual ability to solve problems in that given field. This ability is always related to knowledge, skills and expertise. One of the greatest geniuses of the past century, Herbert Simon (Nobel prize in economics, 1978) has devoted his whole life to studying
expertise and proposed another (very rough) formula: it takes 10 years for an individual to reach the top-rank level in any field of expertise (be it chess, medical diagnosis or botany). This number reflects the fact that we tend to measure human accomplishments relative to the accomplishments other individuals in the same class. With classical learning methods, acquired knowledge tends to plateau after a period of time in which the forgetting rate becomes comparable with the acquisition rate. Today, this plateau can be overcome with spaced repetition (see: SuperMemo) that linearizes the acquisition of knowledge in lifetime. Simon's 10-year period reflects the approximate acquisition plateau in non-linear learning. If an individual works hard enough, he will sail close to his maximum knowledge acquisition potential in more or less ten years. His knowledge and skills, as compared with his peers, will then be most noticeable. Due to the law of diminishing returns, the increase in expertise will not be as easy to notice later on. Levitt's formula links the intellectual potential expressed by IQ with the maximum level of expertise in the field expressed by chess score. Herbert Simon's "formula" fits well with chess. The brightest stars of chess, Bobby Fischer and Judit Polgar both got their grand master titles in just under ten years. Some estimates put the number of position patterns recognized by a grandmaster at 50,000. This is more or less as much knowledge as you accumulate with several-hours-per-day extensive learning in the period of ten years in any field (or in a much shorter period in SuperMemo). An important component of success in chess is the way chess knowledge is represented in the brain. Optimum representation cannot be described verbally, but it is acquired with time via the inherent properties of neural networks employed in processing of the chessboard configurations. Herbert Simon noticed that grandmasters show huge advantage over amateur players in their ability to memorize or recognize meaningful positions in chess. At the same time, their advantage all but evaporates when it comes to memorizing meaningless positions (i.e. those that are not likely to result from a real game). Grandmasters see the chessboard in their special way. They use their own representation. Their own language. Their own pattern recognition. This special representation is the key to getting away from the complexity of chess and reducing games to (relatively) simple game of applying thousands of memorized rules of the winning strategy. As with memorizing the result of 199 x 199, good rules make it possible to replace lengthy computation with a quick retrieval of a solution or applying a succession of just a few well-fitting rules. This is also why it is so difficult to write computer programs that could match grandmaster skills. Those nonverbal skills are difficult to convert to unfailing algorithms. In essence, chess training is based on memorizing positions and moves (see: smart vs. dumb learning if the word memorizing raises an opposition here). A chess player's brain subconsciously develops a specific chess language in which it expresses the events on the chessboard. This language is a form of knowledge representation which, as it is always the case in learning, plays a central role in success. Once this internal language develops and becomes the player's second nature, all games analyzed and played, leave a trace of memorized chess knowledge in player's memory. Over years, player's memory acts like an efficient pattern recognition computer. One look at the chessboard results in a quick retrieval of relevant patterns from memory and a quick analysis of not-so-many applicable move rules and their outcomes. Unlike Deep Blue beating Kasparov by juggling 200 millions positions per second in its digital memory, a chess player, with a high error rate, quickly guesses best moves in a process that is hard to replicate in a computer. Of numerous interlinking factors, the personality of a chess player may be one of the most important factors for his or her ultimate success. The baseline IQ may determine the realistic ceiling of achievement. However, it is hard work and training that makes a great chess player. For this, you need a truly neurotic personality with an extreme obsession for the game. Scrupulous analysis of the game and highly competitive spirit are crucial ingredients. It is the personality that turns a budding player into a computer-like achieving machine where chess permeates all aspects of an individual's life. Training, tournaments, game analysis and the highest accomplishment are central points of a chess champion's mind throughout his day. With training, further qualities develop: the art of concentration, and chess expertise. On-demand concentration plays a greater role in chess than in other areas of creative activity. A chess player must reach top concentration at the right moment and sustain a high-level of game processing power until the next move is chosen. On the other hand, success in sciences, engineering, business, etc. will rely on the quality of the creative output independent of the speed at which it is reached. More like in correspondence chess. If you can produce a better result in 3 hours of thinking than another genius in 3 minutes of thinking, you can still arrive to a better business plan, better scientific theory, better algorithm, better design, better marketing idea, etc. Your creation over many years will accumulate those incremental points. In creativity, quality counts more than
speed In chess, it is easy to notice that statistically it better to be Jewish, middle-class, and male for top achievement. The Jewish factor is more to do with home environment and family values rather than with genetics. The male factor may have more to do with the genes; however, Judit Polgar could still beat 99.99997% males of this planet (i.e. just about all of them except few). Additionally, women's incentives to enter the chess world are miserable (judging by less glamour and offensive prize offers), and disincentives to leave it are by far greater (see the issue of marriage and children in Polgar sisters insert). Probably, the sex and race, as baseline IQ, can influence the hard to measure ceiling of achievement; however, in practical terms they appear inconsequential. It is the quality and the amount of training that will determine the outcome Ultimately the short formula for genius in chess is: (1) the right competitive personality that makes one work hard and able to reach the peaks of concentration at critical times, and (2) the resulting hard work that leads to mastering thousands of highly abstract chessboard rules Similar preconditions are true for creativity in general: it all begins with the rage to master and years of training towards a problem solving expertise in a given field A well-planned training regimen has been shown to lead to a remarkable progress in people suffering from various inborn limitations to the functioning of the brain. The brain's amazing ability to compensate for the limited functionality of its components can be well illustrated by an excellent prognosis for kids with hemispherectomy (i.e. surgery in which half of the brain is removed). If hemispherectomy is conducted early enough, the kid is likely to return to normal life. Due to the brain's symmetry, a damage to the same area on both sides of the brain may be harder to compensate but still not impossible. Dyslexia is a genetically based condition in which reading may pose particular challenge in otherwise bright people. Dyslectics show reduced activity in their language center on the left side of their brain. In dyslexia, training can be very frustrating but the right hemisphere can compensate for the limitations of the left side. To experience the hardship of dyslectic training, pick up the pen in your non-dominant hand and write now the letter that has waited years to be written. Don't just slug it away, try to match the speed of your dominant hand. See the pain? Incidentally, Edison was a dyslectic too. And so was Einstein Dyslexia People who experience reading difficulty without being otherwise intellectually disabled are said to suffer from dyslexia. Studying dyslexia is very valuable for understanding intelligence and creativity. It illustrates the power of inborn wiring of the brain in developing mental skills. At the same time it can show how inborn limitations can be overcome by using the compensatory power of the brain. Dyslexia is caused by an inability to handle linguistic information in visual form. 5-15% of the population can be diagnosed as suffering from various degrees of dyslexia. Its main manifestation is a difficulty in developing reading skills in elementary school children. Those difficulties result from reduced ability to link up visual symbols with sounds. In the past, dyslexia was mistakenly thought to have a motivational background. Researchers studying the brains of dyslectics have, however, found that in reading tasks dyslexics show reduced activity in the left inferior parietal cortex. Otherwise, dyslectics are known to often show higher than average intelligence. A number of bright brains are said to have suffered from varying degree of dyslexia. Those include Einstein, Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Faraday and many others. Dyslectics may show a natural dislike of reading and, in consequence, compensate by developing unique verbal communication skills, inter-personal and leadership skills. Hence so many prominent CEOs list minor to severe dyslexia among their childhood disabilities. Those include Richard Branson (Virgin Enterprises), Henry Ford, Ted Turner (AOL - Time Warner), John Chambers (Cisco), as well as prominent statesmen: Winston Churchill, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy and others. Perhaps for similar reasons, many dyslexics tend to take on arts (e.g. Tom Cruise or Whoopi Goldberg) The list above indicates that those who show reading difficulties in childhood can also cope well with their deficiency later in life and become avid readers and skilled writers. Research shows that intense training in dyslectics helps
them use the right part of their brain to take over the limited functionality in the left part. Even a few weeks of intense phonological training (e.g. breaking down and rearranging sounds to produce different words) can help noticeably improve reading skills. Unlike normal adults, phonological training shows increase in the activity in the right temporoparietal cortex. This part of the brain works in spatial tasks and may be the main compensatory structure in phonological training. This is the sister region of the left temporoparietal cortex responsible for visual motion processing which is underactive in many dyslexics. The earlier the phonological regimen is taken on, the better the overall result. Advanced brain scans could identify children at risk of dyslexia before they can even read. In 1979, anatomical differences in the brain of a young dyslexic have been documented. Albert Galaburda of Harvard Medical School noticed that language centers in dyslectic brains showed microscopic flaws known as ectopias and mycrogyria. Both affect the normal six-layer structure of the cortex. An ectopia is a collection of neurons that have pushed up from lower cortical layers into the outermost one. A microgyrus is an area of cortex that includes only four layers instead of six. These flaws affect connectivity and functionality of the cortex in critical areas related to sound and visual processing. These and similar structural abnormalities may be the basis of the inevitable and hard to overcome difficulty in reading. Several genetic regions on chromosomes 1 and 6 have been found that might be linked to dyslexia. In all likelihood, dyslexia is a conglomeration of disorders that all affect similar and associated areas of the cortex. With time, science is likely to identify and classify all individual suborders with benefits to our understanding of how low-level genetic flaws can affect the wiring of the brain and enhance or reduce a particular component of human mental capacity. Whether today's models of dyslexia are correct or not, the main lesson of dyslexia is that minor genetic changes affecting the layering of the cortex in a minor area of the brain may impose inborn limitation on the overall intellectual function. At the same time, dyslexia shows that the brain exhibits a strong ability to compensate for its inborn or acquired limitations, and intense training can often result in miraculous turnabouts Smart lifelong training is an essential component of the formula for genius! Even though genetic background or health may handicap a minority, the optimum strategy for maximizing the intellectual power is still the same: as much quality learning as possible. Learning is your genius brain work-out. Commit yourself to heavy learning for life today! Be sure that this is smart learning (as emphasized in the next section). Genius of spatial symmetry, Buckminster Fuller said: I'm not a genius. I'm just a tremendous bundle of experience. See also: Practice can make a perfect genius Most average students today could amaze Aristotle with their ability to draw conclusions in many areas of science. They would laugh at the great philosopher's theories. Their brains are better primed for scientific thinking than the brain of the greatest philosopher of the 4th century B.C. In today's world, your IQ or the folding of your cerebral cortex are valuable assets but they are ultimately less important than your ability to solve problems. This ability is based on knowledge. And knowledge is inherently acquirable. One thing you must not forget though: Make your learning smart: Smart and dumb learning To build genius, your learning program must be based on high applicability of newly acquired skills and knowledge. If you memorize the whole phone book (i.e. a big set of facts), you won't be much closer to a genius mind and your problem solving ability will increase only slightly (mostly through the beneficial effect of memory training on the health of your brain). On the other hand, a simple formula for expected payoff may affect all decisions you make in problem solving and in life in general. It can, for example, save you years of wasted investment in lottery tickets. Millions of people are enticed with huge lottery jackpots, yet they would never agree to give up their whole income for life in order to get it back at retirement in one-off payment, which is a frequent probabilistic payoff equivalent of taking part in lotteries. Using the terminology defined above, you will find most benefit in mastering and understanding highly abstract rules of logical thinking and decision making. To accomplish smart learning, you will need to constantly pay utmost attention to what material you decide to study. You must avoid short term gratification at the cost of long-term learning. It may be great fun to learn all Roman emperors and details of their interesting lives and rule. However, unless you study with a big picture in mind (e.g. in
an attempt to understand why civilizations thrive or fall), your genius may benefit less than by slogging through less funny but highly applicable formulas of operation research (those can for example help you optimize your diet, investment, daily schedule, etc.). In other words, you cannot be guided just by the fun of learning but by your goals and needs. In time, you will learn to see the link between long-term learning and long-term benefits. You will simply conditions yourself to love beneficial learning. Hard study material can still provide instant gratification. While you focus on your goals, you cannot forget about the overall context of human life. You cannot dig solely into studying car engines only because this happens to be your profession. This would put you at risk of developing a tunnel vision. Your genius could be severely handicapped. You might spend years improving liquid fuel engine efficiency while others would leap years by getting involved in hydrogen engines. Their decisions would not come from genius itself but from an extensive knowledge of the field, relevant sciences and the human endeavor in general. One of the main reasons for which companies go bankrupt is that their leadership fails to spot the change. As corporate darwinism eliminates short-sighted teams, future society will witness more and more intellectual darwinism. To understand the trends and the future, you need to study human nature, economics, sociology, history, neurophysiology, mathematics and computing sciences, and more. The more you lick the stronger your predictive powers and your problem solving capacity and creative strength. A bright 25-year-old Microsoft programmer has suggested to me recently that I use wrong examples in my articles on learning. He specifically referred to the question "Which year was the Internet born?", which he classified as a piece of trivia. He implied I should use more "useful" examples to encourage readers. Here my own tunnel vision showed up as I found his position very surprising. I misjudged the concept of trivia in the eyes of people that do meet the criteria of genius. The term trivia excellently reflects the sort of knowledge we do not want to learn in the quest for genius. These are not-so-useful facts or rules of low applicability. However, the concept of trivia is highly relative. To a child in a kindergarten, the birth of the Internet is rather meaningless. At this stage of development, the child may find it difficult to grasp the concept of the Internet itself. Most of parents will wait until the primary school before showing a child a web browser (esp. that reading skills may be needed to appreciate the concept). The value of putting the date on the birth of the Internet probably develops only in the context of an effort to understand the history of technological development. In this context, 1969 may be as important as the years of Gutenberg. Only when multiple events of the 1960s and the 1970s dovetail together, the commissioning of ARPANET becomes meaningful. When we figure out that we landed the man on the moon before making the first connection via the net, 1969 looms larger. If we dig deeper, we may find it inspiring to know that when Charley Kline tried to log in on October 29, 1969, the network crashed as he typed the letter G. This little detail may still contribute to your genius! Say you work on commissioning a major installation you worked on for several years. You know that the installation implements revolutionary concepts yet it keeps on crashing. You are about to lose hearth. This may not necessarily be an emotional event, after all you also need to apply probability to deciding when to give up blind-alley pursuits even after years of investment. The juxtaposition of the small letter G and the groundbreaking concept of the interconnected world will help you see the big picture. If your concept is great enough, you will go on through another 100 crashes in hope of diagnosing the reason. If you win, your measure of genius will be enhanced. Listen to other people's advice and valuations. The younger you are the more you should listen. In the end though, it must be you who determines the criteria for sifting golden knowledge from trivia. Only you can measure the value of knowledge in the light of your own goals. Remember that not all knowledge can easily be formulated in a declarative manner. Remember then to use the power of your own neural networks: solve problems, practice your skills, compute, abstract, associate, etc. You and others may not be able to see or verbalize some rules but your brain will extract them in the course of practice. Once the rules have been developed, try to formulate them and write them down. This can be of benefit to you and others Sifting trivia in SuperMemo In early versions of SuperMemo, your decisions related to sifting trivia from valuable knowledge would be binary in nature: memorize or forget. In 1991, the concept of the forgetting index made it possible to memorize items with a given probability of recall. In SuperMemo 2004, with incremental reading, there is a continuous transition from trivia to your platinum genius-building knowledge. Apart from the forgetting index, you can use ordinals and
rescheduling tools to manage unheard-of quantities of knowledge Predicting the future The ability to "see" the future is one of the best tests for genius. The nature of spacetime does not seem to make it possible to probe the future like we can probe the past via historical records. However, the laws of physics provide a strong platform for peeking into what may happen. A ball falling freely to earth may be an easy guess based on the Newtonian laws of gravity. However, the true difficulty in predicating the winner of Gore-Bush clash in October 2000 came out only after the election day on November 7. Guessing the winner of the 2004 election today would be yet harder. Guessing on the state of mankind beyond 2100 is a game reserved for only the best-equipped futurist minds. Predictive powers are so good in probing genius because they test all of these: (1) nimbleness of the mind, (2) extensive knowledge on the mechanics of the universe and the society, and (3) the abstractness of reasoning rules. Write down your predictions of the future today. In five years you will be amazed with your own predictive lapses. When will we be able to cure AIDS or cancer? When will we talk freely to computers? What job will you land after graduation? Would you predict the web explosion in 1990 (i.e. before the publishing of the web protocols)? Or in 1994 (i.e. already after Filo and Yang started collecting their Yahoo links)? What knowledge do you think you lack today to make your predictions more accurate? Predictive powers are the cornerstone of success in business. Those who can see the technologies and trends that will shape a market in 3-5 years are posed to do well. Here comes the value of basic sciences such as math and physics in extracting trends from the chaos of the modern world. The value of math and physics comes from the fact that it equips you with highly abstract rules with a wide range of applications. This is why it pays highly to learn artificial intelligence, neural networks, sociology, neurophysiology, systems theory, statistics, evolutionary psychology, history, etc. Those sciences formulate rules that make it possible to better understand the reality, and most of all, draw conclusions about the reality. Those rules are the tools of computation for processing the picture of reality in your mind. Here is an example: when Alan Turing developed the concept of his Turing machine, he equipped his genius brain with the tool for understanding computation. The Turing machine is a sort of a toy computer that scans a tape of symbols and stamps the tape depending on the currently read symbols and its own state. Turing's early intuition was that his toy computer, given enough time, could compute everything that is computable. If future was deterministically computable from the quantum states of subatomic particles, the Turing machine could compute it. If future was nondeterministic, the density function of individual outcomes could be computed too. The Turing machine became the simplest possible metaphor for the human brain. Turing could see the parallel between the shifting states of the Turing machine and the states of the human mind, including emotional states and the most complex computations of the human thought. Turing could then state boldly that one day machines will be as intelligent as humans. The famed Turing test is based on putting a computer in one room, a human in another, and testing if outside observers could distinguish between the two by means of a conversation (e.g. via a computer terminal). Once computers become indistinguishable from humans, they will have been said to have passed the Turing test. Most of people living at Turing's time (the 1930s) would disagree, but their predictive powers were limited by lack of tools for understanding the mind and computation. Turing machine and basic truths about its properties, equipped Turing's brain with tools that made it easy for him to see the simple parallel between the mind and the machine. For most researchers in the area of artificial intelligence, it is obvious that the Turing test will be passed sooner or later. Perhaps in 2010, perhaps in 2040, but it will happen. In the 1950s, Herbert Simon, using the same abstract rules related to computation, spoke loudly about his belief that the computer will beat the world chess champion within ten years. He was off by thirty years. This illustrates the difficulty in predicting the future, as well as the power of some basic abstract rules. In this case, Simon concluded that given the appropriate objective function for evaluating chess positions, it is only the matter of the number of moves the computer can process before it can produce better moves than a human being. He underestimated the power of human brain in simplifying (read: representing) the chessboard situation. Yet the ultimate outcome of Simon's prediction was inevitable and obviously true. This example illustrates how a simple abstract tool (Turing Machine) can be used to predict the future (fate of the Turing test) by providing a simple model of complex reality (human brain and its behavioral characteristics). Ray Kurzweil is probably best know for his improbable-sounding predictions of the future. Machine intelligence is not
only obvious to him. It should also come sooner than most AI researchers predict. Kurzweil's predictive powers come from immense knowledge of technology, sciences, and the society. Kurzweil's case shows how extensive learning equips the brain with genius powers of which predictive powers are so noticeable. Kurzweil predictions (including world wide web) have already materialized in a number of cases. Read Kurzweil's lips. That could be the shortest way towards reading the future save your own years of heavy learning. In 1977, the bright mind of Ken Olson, President of the Digital Equipment Corporation, committed a notorious blunder expressed at the Convention of the World Future Society. Olson said: There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home. Possibly reading this text on your home PC, you may wonder how Ken Olson could possibly be considered bright if he could not see an obvious value of the PC? His blunder does not detract a bit from Olson's brain powers. After all, he did not reach the top of DEC by chance or connections. He built it from the ground up. His creative powers were in this particular case curtailed by his own experience with computing (fascination with the power of VAX and VMS in juxtaposition to a weakly microcomputer). Yes, knowledge can be detrimental too. Einstein's relativity theory gained him the most identifiable status of the ultimate genius of science mostly due to the fact that he was able to extricate himself from the Newtonian mold that is so natural to our day-to-day thinking. Not being able to break the mold is not a sign of lacking genius! It is simply a sign of being burdened with the prejudice of one's current knowledge. In no way should this mean that learning on its own can be detrimental. It never is as long as we do not apply the creative mold to the learning process itself. One of the most important rules your genius brain needs to store in the very beginning is that: no rule is true for ever. Rules can be added, modified, deleted or replaced. You need to strengthen your rules related to fuzzy logic. In simple words, you have to learn to think in terms of the probability of truth SuperMemo vs. contradiction SuperMemo makes it easy to see that knowledge we are fed daily via various media is rich in contradictions. If we learn with a lower degree of retention (classical learning), new contradictory knowledge easily obliterates old knowledge. We often do not even see the contradiction. If you learn for a high retention (say 95-99% in SuperMemo), contradictions become painfully visible. This helps you to become critical in evaluating the sources of information. If this article tells you that Einstein was dyslectic, take into account the rules of memetics: this comforting piece of news propagates easily. It propagates by far more easily than the core meaning behind Einstein's theory of relativity. From article to article. From website to website. From person to person Ken Olson blundered by claiming no demand for personal computers, but his brain was able to quickly absorb the new reality (esp. in the context of DEC's rapid decline). Olson's enlightenment might have been too late for DEC, but not to Olson's ability to creatively contribute to the computer industry. Long before Olson's blunder, the founders of Apple had already known the truth: microcomputers will take the planet by storm. The power of the storm was still a surprise to Steve Wozniak. So was the fact that the clunky PC was later to displace his cherished Apple line. The PC storm surprised even the man who made the most of it: Bill Gates. The man whose predictive powers made him as valuable as the economies of whole countries. Bill Gates's wealth attracts as much envy as it attracts admiration. This is why his own blunders were studied to the last detail. Bill Gates blundered dismally on more than one occasion. And again it does not detract from his true software business genius. Gates was clearly late with noticing the power of the Internet, yet his .NET initiative shows that he and his team were able to correct the strategy on the go. Actually, the .NET credit goes to Microsoft employees who were able to contact their boss directly with their own ideas on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In the end, treating the company electronic communications as a nervous system returns credit back to Gates and his managerial skills. In 1981, Gates is reported to have said: "640K ought to be enough (memory) for anybody" thus contributing to the infamous 640K-lock. It is also Gates who predicted that OS/2 would be the most important piece of software that has ever been developed. So what? Bill Gates, as all true geniuses, keeps on learning. To err is human. As long as we do not stick to the old mold. There is no fool like an old fool Notorious predictive lapses Predictive lapses do not detract from human genius. They befell to presidents, Nobel Prize winners, CEOs, analysts
and the most amazing genius minds such as that of John Von Neumann. Because they often comfort those who are less brisk intellectually, many are a myth only: It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years. John Von Neumann, a major contributor to the design of modern computer architecture, ca. 1949 Television won't hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon tire of staring at a box every night. Darryl Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, 1946 This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is of no value to us. Western Union internal memo, 1876 (shortly before years of a patent battle with Bell Company) An amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one? U.S. president Rutherford Hayes, after participating in a trial telephone call between Washington and Philadelphia in 1876 No matter what happens, the U.S. Navy is not going to be caught napping. Secretary of the Navy, December 4, 1941 (three days before Pearl Harbor) There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom. Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize winner in physics, 1920 I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year. The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957 I think there is a world market for about 5 computers. Thomas Watson Sr., President of IBM, 1943 (probably an urban legend) Everything that can be invented has been. US Patent Office 1899 (an urban legend) For a taste of excellent knowledge-based predictive powers in action, see the highly educational and heart-warming "Long Boom" by a long-view guru: Peter Schwartz (with Peter Leyden; Wired, July 1997). Even though the article is only four years old, we can see that the authors underestimated the destructive power of investor greed for the dotcom economy. But future holds positive surprises for optimists too What is creativity? Creativity is usually defined as the ability to generate new ideas that are both highly innovative as well as highly useful. A new idea will not be called creative unless it is quite hard to come by. For example, if you decide to paint your car orange with little blue ants all over it, you won't fall into a highly creative field. After all, everyone can paint her car like this. That you do not see blue ants in the streets comes from the fact that a number of objects that could take ants' place is near to infinite. An art expert passing a judgment on your car's artistry could perhaps change the verdict. On the other hand, if you keep on churning dozens of ideas which have little or no practical value, few will consider this a highly creative effort. Similarly, potentially valuable ideas that live and die in your brain without ever being converted into a practical application will not pass the test of the definition used herein. In this article, we will adhere to the pragmatic criterion in judging creativity. Let us analyze the basis of creativity and ways to improve creativity via training and application of relevant tools and/or techniques. We will skirt around artistic creativity, which falls out of my own professional focus, and is by far more relativistic: artistic creativity is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Here are some examples of creative breakthroughs that we will use in an effort to find a prescription for: Johannes Gutenberg built upon the idea of metal blocks with letters, combined existing technologies, and sparked one of the greatest revolutions in the history of mankind Steve Wozniak combined his knowledge of electronics with a vision of a computer displaying images on a TV screen, and working with a typewriter-like keyboard. Those ideas opened a path towards a personal computer for the masses Tim Berners-Lee inspired by the idea of hypertext and in need of an efficient communication tool for large teams came up with a protocol framework for the future world wide web. He converted multiple ideas and hours of design and programming into a foundation of the greatest communication breakthrough since Gutenberg
Tim Berners-Lee In 1980, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a little program called Enquire that helped him link pieces of information together. The program itself was inspired by an old computer game Adventure. Unlike later Hypercard, Enquire would run on a multi-user system and make it possible for people to share data. Using his experience and the inspiration from the hypertext concept coined in the 1950s by Ted Nelson and derived from Vannevar Bush's Memex system (early 1940s), Tim Berners-Lee envisioned a system that could improve information exchange in large teams. In March 1989, while employed at CERN, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal for improved information management. His main concern was to improve keeping track of large projects. His proposal was to build a system that would be distributed on remote machines, allow of heterogeneity, decentralized (i.e. growing freely at its nodes independently from other nodes), and privately extensible. He proposed a team of two people to develop the project within a year. His proposal's reference section clearly points to the seminal influences of Ted Nelson and other authors. By November of 1990, Tim started working on the prototype. The world-wide-web, as it was then called, went into use at CERN in May 1991. By August 1991, its existence was announced to a number of Internet newsgroups. By 1994, the web edged out telnet to become the second most popular service on the Internet. In the percentage of byte traffic, it was only behind FTP-data. Today, the web is the single most important tool of global transformation. Tim Berners-Lee creatively combined his experience, and existing ideas into a breakthrough concept that changed the world (and we have barely seen the beginning). Building blocks of the world wide web are simple enough to be understood by a high school student. Yet their unique combination into a simple, extensible, and cohesive concept deservedly rewarded the genius of Tim Berners-Lee with the credit for the greatest human breakthrough since Gutenberg If you look at Gutenberg's, Steve Wozniak's or Tim Berners-Lee's breakthrough ideas, you may think: "That's simple. I could have invented it". The greatest power of an invention is often in its simplicity. Yet creative molds often prevent dozens of inventors from hitting the right idea. The fact that great creative breakthroughs seem so simple in retrospect gave origin to the popular saying: The darkest place is under the candlestick. Creative mold is simply very hard to overcome even to the most insightful mind. Ted Nelson had spent years perfecting his genius Xanadu ideas. Yet Tim Berners-Lee, in the course of two short years, combined a couple of simple concepts to turn the world upside down. The simplicity, and a near-obvious nature of their inventions make it hard for the inventors themselves to recognize the invention's potential early. Without Steve Jobs, Wozniak may have never gone to believe that his new computer design could be used beyond his hobbyist club, let alone by millions. Great creative breakthroughs combine luck, coincidence, timing, and persistence. They are also helped greatly by a very specific kind of creative mind: at times inattentive, hyperactive, distractingly creative, obsessive, often paranoid, and even nearly psychotic (as in the case of John Nash depicted in Oscar-winning Beautiful Mind). As for luck and timing, Gutenberg's ideas would not work had they been originally transplanted to China (see Gutenberg). Steve Wozniak without Steve Jobs might not work (see: Steve Wozniak). WWW striving for the perfection of Xanadu might not work. For your creative genius to change the world, you need to look for workable solutions that fit the present world. As Vannevar Bush noted, the genius of Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first mechanical computer, was born a century too early. Not only was his mechanical computer hard to implement. Not only would it be uneconomical and unworkable had it been constructed. Not only would it be hard to educate his contemporaries about its usefulness. The most painful mismatch in timing was that the Babbage's work has largely been misunderstood, forgotten and had little impact on the design of the first electric computers a century later. The timing was not right. Only for Babbage's 200th birthday has the machine along his design been proven workable by researchers at the Science Museum in London. One common feature of the greatest failed inventions is that their fathers gave them up upon hitting a better idea. In such cases, obsessive compulsive creativity may be a hindrance. Babbage gave up his Differential Engine as soon as a vision of a far better Analytical Engine dawned upon him. In contrast, Seymour Cray, when designing his supercomputers would maximally simplify the architecture in order to be sure his designs see the market. Cleverly balancing implementation speed against perfection, Cray has outdistanced everyone in the supercomputing field (until new creative breakthroughs set him back). Creativity and cold meticulousness are often at odds. They require a different type of mind. A biologist will notice that they are based on a different neurohormonal brain profile! Tim Berners-Lee is an excellent example of a brilliantly creative mind, which is still able to focus on a task at hand, efficiently execute the plan of action, and make things happen.
Steve Wozniak Steve Wozniak is universally credited with initiating the entry of computers into private homes. Although his contribution may be seen as a compilation of a few well-known ideas that have perfectly coincided with the technological readiness for a mass-produced computer, Steve Wozniak's ingenuity and relentless creativity made him uniquely suitable to pick up the credit for starting the PC revolution. Successor to Tom Swift Wozniak's early inspirations came from his father Jerry who was a Lockheed engineer, and from a fictional wonderboy: Tom Swift. His father infected him with fascination for electronics and would often check over young Woz's creations. Tom Swift, on the other hand, was for Woz an epitome of creative freedom, scientific knowledge, and the ability to find solutions to problems. Tom Swift would also attractively illustrate the big awards that await the inventor. To this day, Wozniak returns to Tom Swift books and reads them to his own kids as a form inspiration. Woz's values were shaped and strengthened over years by his family, Christian philosophy (turning the other cheek), radio amateur ethics (helping people in emergency), books (Swift's utilitarian and humanitarian attitude) and others. As a lasting Swift legacy, throughout his life, Wozniak loved all projects that required heavy thinking. He learned the basics of mathematics and electronics from his father. He would at times be so absorbed in his projects that his mother would have to shake him back to reality. When Woz was 11, he built his own amateur radio station, and got a ham-radio license. At age 13, he was elected president of his high school electronics club, and won first prize at a science fair for a transistor-based calculator. Also at 13, Woz built his first computer that laid the engineering foundation of his later success. First home computer With all engineering skills at hand, it was not hard for the Wizard of Woz to envisage a simple computer of his dreams. The keyboard would work like a typewriter. The messages would be displayed on a TV-like monitor. The computer could be assembled with relatively cheap circuitry. By 1975, Woz would drop out of the University of California at Berkeley and would come up with a computer that could sweep the nation. However, he was largely working within a scope of the Homebrew Computer Club, a local group of electronics hobbyists. His project had no wider ambition. As it often happens in history, Woz was just a single hemisphere of a genius brain. The other component was Steve Jobs whom Wozniak met when he was 16. Jobs, 5-years Woz's junior, who himself had dropped out of Reed College in 1972, was a perennial starry-eyed visionary who could see far beyond the possible. Jobs and Wozniak came to the conclusion that a completely assembled and inexpensive computer would be in demand. They sold some of their prized possessions (e.g. Woz's scientific calculator), raised $1300, and assembled the first prototype in Jobs' garage. Their first computer was quite unimpressive by today's standards but in 1975 it was an engineering breakthrough that would change the course of history (picture). In simplicity of use it went years ahead of Altair which was introduced earlier in 1975. Altair had no display and no true storage. It received commands via a series of switches and a single program would require thousands of toggles without an error. Altair output was presented in the form of flashing lights. Altair was great for true geeks, Bill Gates and Paul Allen were one of the first among them, but it was not really usable for a wider public. It would not even come assembled. Woz's computer, on the other hand, named Apple I, was a fully assembled and functional unit that contained a $25 microprocessor on a first-ever single-circuit board with ROM memory. On April 1, 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer Company. Wozniak quit his job at HP and became the vice president in charge of research and development at Apple. Apple I was priced at $666. Jobs and Wozniak made a killing by selling their first 25 computers to a local dealer. Wozniak could now focus full-time on fixing the shortcomings of Apple I and adding new functionality. His genius was in full creative swing. Apple I earned his company close to a million dollars. His new design was to retain the most important characteristics: simplicity and usability. Woz introduced high-resolution graphics in Apple II. His computer could now display pictures instead of just letters: "I threw in high-res. It was only two chips. I didn't know if people would use it''. By 1978, he also designed an inexpensive floppy-disk drive. He and Randy Wigginton wrote
a simple disk operating system. In addition to his hardware wizardry, Wozniak wrote most of software that ran Apple. He wrote a Basic interpreter, a Breakout game (which was also a reason to add sound to Apple), the code needed to control the disk drive, and more. On software side, Apple II was also made more attractive to a business user by the famous pioneering spreadsheet: Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston's VisiCalc. This unique combination of new ideas resulted in a screaming market success. In 1980, the Apple company went public and made Jobs and Wozniak instant millionaires. At the age of 27, Jobs was the youngest Fortune 400 man in 1982 -- a rare case before the dot-com bubble era. Incidentally, in 1978, when the company cut the price of Apple II, it helped to launch yet another meteoric software career; that of Mitch Kapor. Kapor scraped enough money to buy his own Apple. Inspired by VisiCalc and a meeting with its inventors, he went on to develop Lotus 1-2-3 and swept the spreadsheet market place for years to follow. Plane crash In February of 1981, Wozniak nearly lost his genius in an accident that could have easily claimed his life at age 30. While taking off from Scotts Valley airport, an engine failed in his Beechcraft Bonanza airplane and it crashed. In addition to facial injuries, Woz experienced a retrograde amnesia. This means that he could not recall things from before the accident. He had also problem with forming new memories. At worst, years of training could have been permanently erased from his memory. Those memories laid the foundation of his genius thinking. Luckily, five weeks after the accident, his memory powers returned. The genius was ready for more breakthroughs but his passions shifted from technology to people. Woz became less enthusiastic about his work for Apple. He got married and returned to the university under the name "Rocky Clark" to get his degrees in 1982 in computer science as well as in electrical engineering. In 1983, he decided to return to mainstream Apple development. However, he wanted to be no more than just an engineer and a motivational factor for Apple workforce. Here he demonstrated a typical characteristic of a creative mind: craving for creative opportunities away from the spotlight (cf. William James Sidis). Woz stunned the world by leaving Apple for good in 1985 nine years after setting up the company. Jobs was also forced to leave Apple as a result of a power struggle. Wozniak and Jobs are proud to have originated an anti-corporate ethic among big players of computer market. Jobs focused on not always practical innovation with his NeXT vision, while Woz went on to fulfill his other passions: teaching to fifth grade and charitable activities in the field of education. Today, Steve Wozniak's passion is to help young talent catch on the train of opportunity. He provides kids with computers, Internet accounts, and lessons in programming. In September 2000, Steve Wozniak was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame alongside Bell, Edison, Fermi, Marconi, Pasteur, Tesla and others The future of creativity Wozniak said: "Apple is not the company I had hoped it would be. I always thought that a major player in the personal computer business, with its label on the products, would be composed of top engineers and multiple labs full of scientists developing new devices out of physics and chemistry". Geniuses dislike corporate structures because corporations tend to bend creativity to commercial purposes. Creative minds tend to be in minority. At the same time they are convinced that their visions are the only valid ones. This inevitably leads to tension and disruptions at work. Some corporations create independent R&D departments and lavish their most precious brains with generous research funds. However, only leading high-tech companies can afford such solutions. Luckily, the new economy based on the Internet has provided grounds for breeding countless young geniuses sprouting here and there. Many creative minds are now operating via their small websites that provide a planetary access to the product of their intellectual effort. Two young users of SuperMemo have recently set up a website in their living room. Antimoon.com, set up at nearly zero-investment is now quickly gaining popularity. In addition to opening ways towards individual creativity, the Internet helps corporations hire geniuses without restraining their creativity. A creative mind operating from a small country over a shoddy Internet connection can be hired on conditions that provide a unique coincidence of needs. The genius gets a creative job that is not available in his area or country at a competitive pay. The corporation gets the most precious commodity their money can buy:
creative genius Ingredients of creativity All creative individuals experience periods of time when new ideas come into their mind in droves and there is hardly enough time to write them all down. A creative individual can hardly hope to implement a fraction of his or her ideas. Some people are born with highly creative minds. They are privileged from the onset, but they are also more likely to suffer from side-effects of neurohormonal aspects of creativity such as inattention, anxiety, depression, etc. For those who are born with less poetic minds, the understanding of the creative process can be of great help. Ordinary brains can be made to work in a highly creative mode. Let us list the conditions needed for the brain to churn out ideas en masse: suitable state of mind: alert, excited, and excitable suitable environment: minimum irrelevant interference from the outside word (e.g. ringing phone) and maximum creative stimulation (e.g. creative reading, incremental reading, brainstorming, etc.) time: the more time you give for an idea to grow, the greater the likelihood of a breakthrough association; two hours separated by a period of sleep may do more than two continuous hours motivation: there must be a need to come up with a solution and strong motivation to document and analyze the transition steps curiosity: the mind must curiously stray into unexplored paths when new associations and unexpected solutions can be found knowledge: knowledge in relevant areas Of the above factors, genetic endowment may greatly help in achieving the suitable state of mind, which also entails motivation and curiosity. However, the neurohormonal advantage given by the lucky genotype can be made up for with relatively simple tools and techniques such as: massive learning, cup of coffee, brainstorming, good health, etc. Computer metaphor of the creative mind A creative mind can be compared to an expert system that must go beyond its current field of expertise and generate new facts and rules. The goal is often reasonably defined but the path towards the goal is unclear. At other times, even the goal is not well-defined. It is simply supposed to crop up suddenly as a creative enlightenment in an effort hazily targeted at innovation. Let us introduce the concept of a creative computer system as a metaphor for the creative mind. Using the computer metaphor we can redefine the previously listed preconditions of creativity in the following manner: speed: the more parallel processing paths the creative system can spawn the richer its output (equivalent: state of mind). The rat maze model of creativity shows that massively parallel processing is the key factor underlying the "creative speed". It also provides hints on how the parallel processing power can be harnessed minimum interference: we want to avoid power failure, additional computational tasks (e.g. computing the factorial of one billion at the time of running the creative process, etc.) (equivalent: environment) time: the more time we allow for the exploration, the greater the number of tasks we can explore (equivalent: time). Running parallel creative processes can cut down on time needed for a creative breakthrough goal: the creative system by definition will focus on churning new ideas and recording the results with a general goal defined by its program (equivalent: motivation). Unbridled random creativity can often come with valuable outcomes (e.g. in poetry), but may be less useful in highly focused activities (e.g. engineering) branching: the creative system will use all heuristics available at hand to drive exploration of innumerable paths that could potentially result in a breakthrough (equivalent: curiosity). Curiosity will spawn conscious branching, but spontaneous branching of the creative mode is also welcome (as shown in the rat maze model of creativity) knowledge: the more rules and well-chosen facts our system has in store, the greater its explorative potential. Our system is parallel and associative. In other words, we do not need to worry much about operational overhead. We do not need to worry about knowledge overload. However, we do want to maximize relevant knowledge and the abstractness of the rules (equivalent: knowledge)
In short, our creative system can be improved by adding speed (esp. through stimulation of parallel processing), minimizing interference, improving the exploratory heuristics, adding more knowledge and allocating more time. In simple terms the above means stimulating creative powers, using creative techniques, avoiding interruption and the pursuit of lifelong learning. Rat maze metaphor of the creative mind Our brain metaphor presented earlier does not suffice to efficiently explain the mind in the creative mode. It is the creative mind where the parallel processing of neural networks comes to play in a most prominent way. Your PC can run many processes in parallel (e.g. display this article, scan TCP/IP ports, run multiple service threads, run background applications, etc.). None of these, however, comes close to what is happening in your brain right now. Zillions of neural assemblies and centers get activated and inhibited in parallel fighting for your attention, running voluntary and involuntary control processes, filtering information or amplifying it, etc. In addition, the text you are reading produces processes that are in part hidden from your attention and may, at any minute, spring up with new inspiration or a creative breakthrough. The way brain controls major parallel processes can roughly be illustrated with the rat maze model. Imagine a lab rat in a maze. It runs around until it hits the reward. Let a running rat illustrate one of parallel computation processes running in your brain. Let hitting the reward illustrate the moment when a creative association of ideas breaks through to your attention. Your brain is able to unleash many rats running in parallel. You are basically unaware of the rodential infestation crawling in your mind. Imagine your rats are able to breed on the run. One rat can breed when hitting a reward center or just breed spontaneously. If you drink a cup of coffee, your rats run faster and spawn more offspring. If you drink more coffee, rats start jumping over the maze walls and find new shortcuts and solutions. After more cups of coffee, rats start jumping one over another and scream for your attention resulting in chaos. The same happens when you get overly enthusiastic. You might transition from enthusiasm, via hypomania to a manic state that meets the criteria of psychosis. Coffee, excess serotonin, excess dopamine, etc. can breed more ideas in your mind, but you gradually lose the ability to focus on the task at hand until your mind disentangles into a psychotic chaos. The reverse happens if you take a sleeping pill. Your rats start dying out or hiding in remote corners of the maze. In bipolar disorder, a manic swing can tire the rats. Once they run out of steam, the brain may collapse into clinical depression. Once rats slow down, you run out of creative powers. If you spray a portion of the maze with a cocaine inhalant, that portion of the maze may suffer a particular infestation of manic rats. Rats jump over one another and spread out in amuck into various direction. This may happen in an overly stimulated portion of a schizophrenic brain. If the cocaine sprayed part of the maze is responsible for representing a particular place or person, you may experience hallucinations or delusions. You may hear or even see people who do not exist. Your mind becomes paranoid. If the same overexcited rats run amuck in your temporal cortex during sleep, you may experience nightmares. When the rats start running in circles you can experience obsessive compulsive behaviors. You can wash your hands many times during the day and your rats will still make you think your hands are dirty. You can step in front of the class and the circling rats will make you repeat "I am bound to fail", and you do. The same happens if you repeat "I will not fall asleep tonight" and you don't. The rats are responsible for the writer's block. There is an optimum number of rats at an optimum level of excitation for any given task; including writing. If rats are drowsy, you won't invent much. If they run amuck, you won't be able to convert the chaos of new ideas into a coherent stream of thoughts. If they run in circles, you may get stuck with a self-imposed limitation: "I won't write anything creative today"; you keep tossing balls of scratch paper into the basket. You will want to keep your rats at bay when you cross a street or when you drive. They can cost you a life. Creative minds may be unwelcome in an air traffic control tower. On the other hand, you will let rats play to their heart's content when you brainstorm a new marketing slogan or idea for a movie script. It is vital to understand that attention and creativity are two difficult to reconcile qualities. A genius mind must find the right balance. It is the prefrontal cortex that helps channel rampant creativity into focused attention. Try LSD and creative chaos will disentangle your reasoning. This happens due to the prefrontal executive inhibition. The creative mode balance will also change during the day. Your brain may welcome hyperactive creativity at work time and a complete mode switchover by the time you are ready to rebuild your neural fabric in sleep. Creativity is a blessing when needed and may be a bane for insomniacs, schizophrenics, bipolar patients, ADHD kids, OCD people, etc. It can be gently stimulated with a cup of coffee, or turn your mind into chaos with LSD, cocaine or even stress. Brainstorming, conducive social environment, incremental reading, creativity tools (e.g. Ideafisher) can stimulate creativity by non-
pharmacologically unleashing new rats without a major impact on their agility. Some people are born with highly creative minds. They invent new things faster than they can be utilized. However, the same people are at much higher risk of mental disorder. They may also show less ability to focus or persist. They may crave novelty that makes them jump on new tasks before old once are complete. However, the way their prefrontal cortex harnesses creativity may determine the thin line between a true inborn genius and mental disease. If increase in creativity was purely beneficial, it would have certainly been far better promoted in the course of evolution. However, evolutionary development of creative powers had to be matched by the development of executive powers that govern attention. Otherwise side effects of creativity would act as an evolutionary ballast: low-stress tolerance, relationship problems, increased suicide rate, increased divorce rate, risk and novelty seeking, tendency to get bored, increased risk of mental disorders, etc. To take only one example, the high suicide and low reproduction rate of people with bipolar disorder and their significant prevalence in the society (1%) clearly indicate that its genetic component (documented as very strong) must carry some evolutionary advantage. This advantage is only increasing in the knowledge economy based on innovation. See: Creativity, Evolution and Mental Illness Conclusion: Creative balance is the key! There is an optimum level of creativity for any given task. You can learn to stimulate and extinguish creativity. Your genes will largely determine how difficult it is for you to control your creativity. Your skills in that respect may determine if you ascend from average mind towards genius without falling into a variety of mental ailment traps Johannes Gutenberg Before Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1438, there were only 30,000 books in Europe. Most of these were related to the Bible and religious writings. Gutenberg combined pieces of knowledge available at his time into a breakthrough technology. The unique elements in his invention: a mold with punch-stamped matrices, a typemetal alloy, a press similar to those used in winemaking, and an oil-based printing ink. None of these elements could be found in earlier Korean or Chinese print or in woodblock printing. Little is known of the mental process which lead to the invention. Most of what we know of Gutenberg comes from documents recording his financial or legal troubles. At the time of his invention, Gutenberg worked also on less groundbreaking technologies such as polishing precious stones and mirror manufacturing. All we know about his print invention is that he started with the idea of producing blocks of metal with letters on them. The idea might have been his own or picked up from others or from difficult to track Asian sources. By combining existing technologies, he converted his ideas into a working device and initiated one of the greatest revolution in the history of mankind. Books became the world's first mass-produced items. In 50 years since the invention, as many books were produced as in the preceding millennium. Only after Gutenberg, affordable books made literacy a highly-valued skill. In consequence, sciences and technology went into a period of unprecedented growth. These also sparked social change as well as global democratization in the 20th century. It is important to add that it was a Chinese blacksmith and alchemist Pi Sheng who should be credited with the first documented invention of the print in the 11th century. He produced Chinese ideograms in clay and baked them in a fire. Then he stuck them on an iron plate with resins mixed with wax. He would cover the ideograms with ink and impress them on paper. Pi Sheng's invention, however, did not get far. Ideograms are too meaningful. As a result there are 50,000 of them. Far too many for convenience. Only the primitive Latin alphabet helped Gutenberg claim the greatest invention of the millennium. Gutenberg illustrates important aspects of creativity: 1. great breakthrough may being with a very simple association of ideas 2. the inventor himself may take long to realize the importance of his own invention. If it was otherwise, why would Gutenberg jeopardize his legacy by wasting time on gems and mirrors 3. the creative process is subject to multiple constraints that can stifle the brightest idea for the most trifling
reason. Gutenberg would probably get nowhere had he had to deal with Chinese ideograms. For someone to propose a simplified alphabet in China, it would take an entirely different size of a creativity and social leap. Take a look at the great idea of Esperanto. Via social and economic mechanisms, it is English that became international lingua franca even though Esperanto may be seven times as easy to learn and use
Enhancing creativity: summary Using the above creative system models, let us quickly list the areas where your creativity can receive a boost: suitable state of mind: nurture your mental health, get enough sleep, avoid stress, learn about the neurophysiology of the mental effort, and work on understanding your own mental states to optimize the conditions and the timing of creative effort. In a healthy, well-managed individual, the best creative results can be obtained early in the morning (e.g. after a cup of coffee). If you are rather mentally slow in the morning and prefer to work late in the night, read: Good sleep for good learning for reasons why you might be different suitable environment: turn off the phone, lock your door, turn off the radio, CD or MP3-player (even your favorite music can be distracting), and focus 100% on the studied subject. For inspiration turn to brainstorming, "creative walking", creative blackboard doodles, Ideafisher, or use incremental reading with a heavy load of related study material time: for a breakthrough solution, give up as much of little things in life and focus on your goal: keep on learning and thinking. One of the most creative times in Newton's time was when he was forced to the province as the bubonic plague closed his university in 1665. The Beagle trip gave Darwin five years to digest new observations on variability of species. Heisenberg's best time might be when he was recovering from a bout of hay fever on the island of Helgoland in 1925. Seymour Cray found his work at CDC so distractive that he had R&D facilities built out of town at Chippewa Falls motivation: this one is hard to develop. The vicious circle of bad motivation comes from the fact that once there is no motivation, you have no motivation to develop it. Luckily, the fact you are reading this article may testify to the fact that your motivation is sufficient (this may though not translate to self-discipline and execution yet). Psychogenic motivation of a creative mind comes from an unshakeable hierarchy of values, a lofty goal wellrooted in that hierarchy, and understanding of self-discipline techniques. Sticking carefully to all points of the Genius Checklist is critical for boosting your motivation curiosity: lifelong learning is a sine qua non of creativity. The more you learn the more curious you become. What is irrelevant trivia to most, may become a fascinating aspect of the universe for you. An average man curses a rock he stumbles against. A great scientist can pick up a rock and write a dissertation about it. This is exactly how the groundbreaking theories of continental drift or plate tectonics begun. The more curiosity you find in your mind, the better your creative prospects. If you doubt your own curiosity, try incremental reading on subjects that are interesting to you today. If you persist for some time and hone your incremental reading skills, you curiosity may in time grow beyond manageable limits. You will hopefully discover that even if there were twenty of you, you could hardly lick the surface of interesting things to do or study knowledge: knowledge is the software of your creative engine. The more knowledge you throw at a problem, the more new ideas and associations you will be able to generate. Most of new associations is chaff but with scrupulous recording habits you will learn how to sift the wheat. No major breakthrough in science or engineering is produced in a knowledge vacuum. Human brain works incrementally. It is basically unable of great leaps. Even Einstein arrived at his breakthroughs in incremental manner by piecing the blocks of the jigsaw puzzle produced by the non-relativistic physics of his time. Your creative breakthrough in the area of chemistry may come while studying architecture. See also: Ideafisher The shortest formula for enhanced creativity: quiet, focus, curiosity, understanding the creative process, and interdisciplinary knowledge. To boost your creativity, keep fit, work on ensuring peaceful and creative working conditions, learn to focus ("keep rats in control"), learn to boost parallel processing ("unleash the rats"), add more time to creative training, and keep on learning new things that could potentially be a source of inspiration. Ideafisher - creativity software based on associational thinking
Creativity can be molded, enhanced and directed. This is the basis of Ideafisher software. Ideafisher is based on an immense database of facts, statements, quotations and loose ideas. Combined with a set of direction questions, it can be used by writers or managers to generate new ideas; either individually or in a brainstorming group. The underlying assumption is that once you intensely focus on a subject and look at it from most unusual directions, you will be able to massively produce new associations and generate new quality. Incremental reading in SuperMemo 2004 can be employed in a similar fashion. In incremental reading, you read short pieces of articles belonging to various domains. Those pieces tend to juxtapose at random. The main purpose of incremental reading is learning; however, if you intensely focus on a single problem to solve, and appropriately select the reading material, you can use incremental reading in the creative process. The main differences between Ideafisher and incremental reading: incremental reading was designed for the purpose of learning; Ideafisher focuses specifically on generating new ideas Ideafisher comes with a ready-made database of association cues; in incremental reading you must import the relevant reading material based on your focus of interest Ideafisher can help you direct your creative effort towards a specific goal; incremental reading tends to be more explorative in nature. You can direct the exploration only by the appropriate selection of the material as well as by using prioritization tools Ideafisher capitalizes on improbable associations that might be impossible with your present knowledge. In incremental reading, high retention might lessen explorative creativity. However, overloaded incremental reading (i.e. when you import far more knowledge than you can learn) may result in a substantial decrease in knowledge retention. Such a decrease may be unwelcome in the learning process; however, it further increases associational and recall effort that is highly stimulating in the creative process
Personality factor In the 1970s, Laszlo Polgar, a teacher from Hungary, concluded that all normal children could be driven to a genius level with sufficient attention and training. If this does not happen on a regular basis, he claimed, it only comes from parental inattention and lack of patience. An average parent is busy with her or his own life and does not devote sufficient time to raising the kids. According to Polgar, it is easy for a parent to say: "Oh, this child has no genius!" and do nothing further. Interestingly, Polgar had no impressive scientific credentials in the field of child care and education (unlike Boris Sidis), so when he decided to experiment with his own kids, many accused him of using dictatorial methods for the case of a genius show. Few would take Polgar seriously, his methods even led to a clash with the Hungarian government. For details of Polgar experiment see Polgar sisters. Polgar's optimistic claim does not leave much place for genetics. Throughout history, most prodigy training occurred in families with high average IQ. Hence it is again hard to separate nature from nurture. If genetics comes into play in limiting genius, it is less so in the area of the sheer brain power, processing speed, associative power, number of neurons, creative power, etc. Human genius seems to be by far more limited by the personality profile which has a strong genetic background. In simple terms, if the child is ready and willing to be trained for genius, it will likely succeed. The main obstacle is in the fact that a child may not want to accept a heavy load of training. Except for mental disorders, important personality factors that limit overall creativity include low stress tolerance, aggression, impulsivity, depression, and the resulting poor motivation. On the other hand, traits such as curiosity, perfectionism, runaway creativity, and compulsiveness may enhance development if properly channeled and rationalized. Such largely inborn factors as the overall level of serotonin or dopamine in the brain can determine stress tolerance, probability of suicide, as well as aggressive and violent behaviors.
Destructive personality factors are highly correlated with each other. For example, non-virgin adolescent girls are 6 times more likely to attempt suicide, 6 times more likely to use alcohol, and 18 times as likely to run away from home as compared with their counterparts who were able to delay their early sexual experience. Early signs of genius personality are best described as the rage to master. By 1899 the Wright brothers had read all books in their local library that were relevant to their interest in flying. They decided to write to the Smithsonian Institution for suggestions as to further reading in aeronautics. This unorthodox approach is quite typical of young prodigies and future Nobel Prize winners. With those personality traits, the job of a parent is greatly simplified. Actually, it is often not parents that push prodigies, but prodigies that push parents who may often be worried by their child's unusual hobbies (e.g. dissecting dead animals to study anatomy). Nathan Mhyrvold, former chief scientist at Microsoft, claims that a great programmer is worth 10,000 times more than an average programmer. The number may well be exaggerated, but studies indeed show that efficiency comparisons between programmers yield much larger numbers that one might expect by studying their IQ. I had a great pleasure to work with a number of programmers, those amazing whiz-kids and those who slowly slog through the code. Those who program structurally with lots of foresight and those who produce tons of spaghetti code that is impossible to maintain. If I was to name the most important factor that differentiates programmers, I would choose personality. There are those who slug it out red-eyed until the early morning until they see the problem solved. They seem not to see the world beyond their problem to solve. There are also those who impatiently peek at their watch at 14:55 to see when they can rush back to their families. The latter are more likely to wade through manuals and ask for assistance once they get stuck with the problem. They are rather impassioned and by far easier to depress with difficulty. The young red-eyed enthusiast will rather not eat and not sleep than give up the quest for the solution. In early stages of their development, the red-eyed geeks may start with awfully buggy code but in time they will spurt ahead and develop healthy programming habits. In 4-6 years they may be in Mhyrvold's 10,000 league. Those who do not show passion for programming will never reach the necessary levels of concentration necessary to resolve pieces of programming puzzles in their mind. Those resolved puzzles gradually build strong and highly abstract models of universal algorithmic solutions to most of logic problems a programmer is likely to encounter on his way. In other words, knowledge and skills seem secondary to the personality factor here. The excellent programmer will begin his career with entangled code full of bugs and poor design but with passing months he will rapidly change his style, organize, improve day by day, and surprise others, After years, he may be unbeatable, the poorly motivated one stagnates at the plateau level and pulls it off from day to day. Motivation and belief in one's abilities may be a key to sustained development in a young man. Ask an 18-year old: What problem would you like to solve? What is important? Often, you will get no conclusive response! Then suggest to the young man to become the world's best footballer or get the newest Lamborghini and you will notice that his life is not as goalless as it seems at first. However, if you ask: How do you want to get to your footballer-Lamborghini goal? You will get no response again. The reason: the young man does not believe there is a snowballs chance in hell he will ever reach those goals. At the same time, minor goals in-between do not seem worth the effort. The net result: the young man plays videogames and gets nowhere. This is why rage to master, self-discipline and will power may be the factor that will make or break the genius in a young man. Inability to cope with stress can also stifle creativity. Stress takes your mind away from the creative problems to solve and makes you focus on yourself and petty problems that are not worth your attention. It affects your health and your self-discipline. It is also detrimental to the growth of the nervous tissue and memory consolidation (see: The Medical Basis of Stress). Lewis Terman, the precursor of IQ tests, agrees that the greatest differences between of gifted and normal kids is their greater drive to achieve and the greater mental and social adjustment. Dr Ellen Winner in her book Gifted Children (1996) presents her analysis on what makes the personality of a future genius. She tends to disagree that all kids can be made into geniuses and puts a special emphasis on the need for a child to exhibit a natural rage to master. Prodigies show obsessive fascination with a certain content such as numbers, visual patters, auditory stimulation, symmetry, etc. This fascination begets curiosity and an indomitable will to master selected domains of activity.
Polgar sisters A Hungarian teacher Laszlo Polgar had a theory about child-raising: every child can be made into a genius with sufficient training. Those ideas solidified when he got married. He decided to test his theory on his own children. As it often is the case with far-out ideas, Laszlo did not get much sympathy from others. When he started putting his ideas in practice with his three little daughters, Laszlo was accused of using his kids as guinea pigs. His determination ultimately lead to a clash with Hungarian government who attempted to stop him in his tracks. One day, armed government officials knocked at Polgar's door. His experiment was considered potentially abusive. Laszlo evoked his "parental immunity" and proceeded with his educational experiment. He and his wife Klara taught and supervised the daughters solely on their own. At some point, it became obvious that specialization may bring more tangible and measurable results. Mathematics and languages could be the fields in which Polgar's daughters could develop genius. However, the ultimate choice came by accident. When the eldest Susan (Zsuzsa) was only three and a half years old, by accident she discovered chess. She asked Laszlo what chess was, and soon she and her father where exploring intellectual challenges of the game. Early indications were that Susan could learn chess quite quickly, and it is hard to say if her father's prior training or some inborn predisposition helped her make fast progress. Laszlo decided to focus on chess which is objective and makes it easy to measure the accomplishment in championships, tournaments and player's rankings. Chess may not be as important to the future of this planet as physics or medicine; however, it was an excellent material for Polgar's experiment, which on its own could yield highly valuable insights into child's upbringing: whatever the experiment's final outcome. Laszlo explained chess to Susan like he was telling a fable, and she soon acquired a natural love for the game. Some six years later, Polgar's experiment brought first amazing fruits. Susan broke into the Guinness book of records as the youngest chess master at age 10. At age 12 she became a world champion for girls under 16. By age 15 she was the strongest player in the world in her age category! From there on, Susan progress bears typical trademarks of a young prodigy: a unique mix of genius on one hand, and problems to fit the gray reality on the other. In the heart of Susan's problem was her struggle against the male establishment in chess. For ages, male and female chess used to be disjoint worlds. Susan refused to accept sexist divisions and struggled for equal rights to participating in male tournaments. She became the third woman ever to earn the male grandmaster title. Despite her determination to avoid sex differences, Susan decided to try for the Woman's World Championship. She won it easily in 1996. She was later stripped of the title when she refused to play her mandatory challenge matches in the period when she became a young mother. Her battle with FIDE to regain her title is another example of a mismatch between feisty genius and the established rules and tradition (she won the lawsuit against FIDE in March 2001 but did not get her title back). Despite appearances, Susan is a nice, down-to-earth and complete human being. Besides Hungarian, she speaks 7 other languages (Bulgarian, English, Esperanto, French, German, Russian and Spanish). Polgar experiment worked! The theory of training for genius scored one of the most powerful case studies in history. We have no way of knowing Susan's fate had her father had different approach to education. Susan's husband observes however: Had Susan found a thermometer at home instead of a chess set, perhaps we would have cures for cancer and AIDS today. Interestingly, Susan's success does not complete the Polgar sisters story. Younger sister Sofia (Zsofia) shocked the world in 1989 at the age of 14. In a chess tournament in Rome, she defeated a string of Soviet Grandmasters and reached the highest performance rating of any chess player (male or female) in any tournament in history (2879 for scoring 8.5 of 9). In 1999, Sofia married to a Georgian chess player and now lives in Israel with chess lower on her priority list. Last but not least, the youngest of the Polgar sisters, Judit (born 1976) is an amazing and still ongoing story on her own. She started learning chess at age 5. At age 11, Judit earned an International Master title, i.e. at earlier age than Bobby Fischer or Gary Kasparov! At age 13 she was the World Under 14 Champion for boys and FIDE's highest rated woman. At age 15 she beat Bobby Fischer's record by becoming the youngest grandmaster ever at 15 years and 4 months (in 1958, Fischer became gm, at 15 years and 6 months). In 1993, at age 17, Judit defeated former world champion Boris Spassky 5.5-4.5 in a 10-game exhibition match. In 1998 she beat FIDE world champion Karpov 5-3 and also became the first woman to win the US Open Championship. She is also the only woman to ever reach the top ten FIDE list (see the current Top 100 ranking). Today, Judit is the strongest of the three Polgar sisters. She leads women rankings by a safe margin (see the current Top 50 women ranking) and may one day become a World Champion (male or female). She played Kasparov in May 2000 over the Internet and lost. Like her sisters, her meteoritic rise has ultimately plateaued as she got married in September 2000. To track her progress see:
http://www.controltheweb.com/polgar/news.htm It is known that chessplayers often experience various psychological problems. The level of concentration and the game stakes often lead to exposing and amplifying aggressive behavior. Except for an unflinching drive to win, the Polgar sisters show very little of that in their lives outside the chess world. Polgar sisters will for long remain a valuable case study for understanding the role of personality and training in developing genius qualities Could indeed any normal child be made a genius with sufficient training? Unfortunately, except for major intellectual deficiencies or physical disabilities at birth, there is also a personality factor. Not all children will be able to efficiently develop the rage to master. Of creativity factors listed earlier, curiosity, motivation and the suitable state of mind may be hard to develop in some. All great geniuses showed remarkable curiosity. Curiosity does not have to show itself in the area of sciences or art. If it extends to other areas of life, it bodes well for mental growth. If a child obsessively collects teenage magazines or devours news about pop-stars, you can take it in good part. This sort of curiosity can easily be converted into a more productive force. A more worrying sign would be to see a young person mindlessly stare in the ceiling. Motivation may be the hardest personality component to develop. It has a strong neurohormonal basis that is not yet entirely understood. Depression and bipolar disorders clearly show how the levels of hormones affect motivation. The manic state may often lead to enhanced creativity. Depression is a powerful inhibitor of mental processes and creativity. Then there is an illusive skill of delayed gratification. Those who are most successful are people who are able to wait for the reward. This is true in nearly all professions (Mike Tyson might be a rare exception in a profession were instinctive behavior might actually give one some edge). Impulsive people might differ in neural activity of the prefrontal cortex, and the component of the reward system, the nucleus accumbens. To a large degree, the impulsiveness is genetically determined. The skill of delaying gratification is particularly precious in creative individuals. Gregor Mendel's research in genetics was entirely based on scientific curiosity, and subject to a religious regimen of rigorous observation. There was no reward expected and no reward granted (in his lifetime). His groundbreaking findings waited 35 years to be rediscovered while Mendel himself focused on his duties related to being promoted to the position of a monastery abbot. The ability to delay gratification can be easily recognized by the parent. It can also be measured scientifically as well as improved by training. Children that are poor at delaying gratification are also poorly organized and show little stress tolerance. They tend to be shy, introvert, and make social contacts slowly. Some will show bully characteristics. On the other hand, children that exhibit better ability to delay gratification will also be more verbally fluent, more skilled in rationalizing their behavior, more attentive and able to concentrate. They are better at planning, more curious and open to new experiences. Early forms of training should be based on showing the relationship between the delay of gratification and the potential increase in the size of the reward ("if you do not eat this cake, you will get money that will let you buy more cakes or ... whatever you decide to buy"). In short, the ability to master one's own emotional drives may be as important as the standard school curriculum. A blind belief that every normal child can be trained to be a genius can be dangerous if there is a disparity between parent's expectations and the actual results, esp. if the parent is not emotionally ready to accept setbacks. There are quite a number of cases of prodigy kids that reached astonishing skills in young age only to fizzle out later in life. The most notorious, although frequently misrepresented, case is that of William James Sidis. His father, Boris Sidis started with similar assumptions as Laszlo Polgar. His training plan worked out great in the early years of young William. However, his rebellious nature led him to a lifestyle that many considered wasteful, esp. in the context of his amazing mental skills. In essence though, there is nothing wrong with a prodigy child leading a withdrawn or "normal" life. William James Sidis: The smartest brain in history Some sources claim William James Sidis (born 1898) was a genius that has reached the highest estimated IQ of all people in history. Yet you will not find his name among Nobel Prize winners or famous writers. William James Sidis is important for our analysis of genius mostly due to the fact that he is often quoted as a textbook example of an early prodigy burnout. Authors quote his life story to warn parents against being overly zealous in bringing up their prodigy children. Williams James Sidis became a poster child of the adage: Early to ripe, early to rot. His case is juxtaposed with that of Polgar sisters, Norbert Wiener, or John Stuart Mill. Incidentally, the latter is also attributed by some with the highest IQ in history. Note, however, that the concept of IQ has been developed decades after Mill's death in 1873
Formula for genius by Boris Sidis To understand William James Sidis case, we need to look back to the days of his grandfather Moses Sidis, an Ukrainian Jew who was a well-to-do merchant and an intellectual. Moses Sidis, along the family tradition of early tutelage, took fatherly care of his child Boris Sidis born in 1867 in Kiev. Boris Sidis was a prodigy on his own and showed an early interest in poetry and languages. His childhood experiences have probably influenced his way of thinking on the way he would bring up his own children. His life story also shows traces of an inclination for being a social rebel. During the czarist pogroms of the Jews in the 1880s, Boris was arrested for teaching peasants the skills of reading and writing. He spent two years in solitary confinement and was subject to severe torture. This may have subsequently influenced his nature of an intellectual with a profound scorn of ignorance. Hopeless and penniless, Boris Sidis emigrated to the US and quickly become a respected physician, innovative psychologist and a pioneer in the field of psychopathology. He was an intellectual of wide interests and extensive reading. He wrote profusely on a variety of subject showing deep concern for the future of society. In Philistine and Genius (1911) he wrote: "We spend on barrack and prisons more than we do on schools and colleges. What is the level of a civilization in which the cost of crime and war far exceeds that of the education of its future citizens?"). His writings are peppered with radical ideas that might have been but did not have to be the root of his problems in bringing up William James Sidis. Boris Sidis writes: "the school-system should be abolished and with it should go the present psychologizing educator, the schoolmaster and the schoolma'am". Boris Sidis showed deep-rooted contempt to mindless memorization, irrational tradition, superstition, myths, creeds and dogmas. An opposition to irrationality should be harmless unless it was tainted with negative emotion. In Philistine and Genius (Chapter II), Sidis wrote angrily: ... uncritical belief in authority, meaningless imitation of jingles and gibberish, memorization of mothergoose wisdom, repetition of incomprehensible prayers and articles of creed, unintelligent aping of good manners, silly games, prejudices and superstitions and fears of the supernormal and supernatural, are censured in adults, why should we approve their cultivation in the young? "At home and at school we drill into the child's mind uncritical beliefs in stories and tales, fictions and figments, fables and myths, creeds and dogmas which poison the very sources of the child's mind. At home and at school we give the child over as a prey to all sorts of fatal germs of mental diseases and moral depravity Boris dedicated a substantial effort to making his son an example of what education can do to a young human brain: "Education must aim at the bringing out of the genius in man"; "I appeal to you, fathers and mothers, and to you, liberal-minded readers, asking you to turn your attention to the education of your children, to the training of the young generation of future citizens". Unfortunately, Boris's early success with bringing up William James showed little warning of sad things to come. In the spirit of avoiding "uncritical belief in authority", his son went on to defy the authority of others', including that of his own father's. Ultimately William James Sidis estranged his parents. Unorthodox father, Boris Sidis, died suddenly in 1923 of a cerebral hemorrhage at an early age of 56 Amazing prodigy Young William James Sidis was tutored relentlessly from the cradle. He could read English at the age of 3. He amazed everyone around at the age of four when he would use a typewriter to write in English and in French. When he was five, he could already speak five languages. He would read Plato in Greek. At the age of nine he was ready to pass entrance exams to Harvard but was not admitted as not being mature enough for college life. At 11, after three years of trying and being refused on the grounds of his youth, young Sidis entered Harvard. His stardom begun with a lecture about "Four-Dimensional Bodies". After the lecture, Prof. Daniel Comstock of MIT hailed him to be a material for the greatest mathematician of the 20th century. New York Times picked up a story and gave him national prominence. Norbert Wiener, William's Harvard contemporary, wrote in 1953 about the lecture: "The talk would have done credit to a first- or second-year graduate student of any age. Sidis had no access to existing sources so that the talk represented the triumph of the unaided efforts of a very brilliant child" Prodigy downfall
At Harvard, young Sidis appeared to be rather poorly adapted emotionally and socially. His colleagues considered him to be an eccentric. He was reclusive and did not make many friends. He is said to had suffered from various mental problems at that time and had to be treated in his father's Psychotherapeutic Institute. In 4.5 years, William James Sidis nevertheless graduated from Harvard cum laude in 1914. At about the same time, other Harvard prodigies graduated without receiving a fraction of attention granted to Sidis. The list includes Norbert Wiener, Buck Fuller, and Roger Sessions. On the graduation day, Sidis was in the company of students such as Julius Spencer Morgan, Gilbert Seldes, Vinton Freedley, and Laurence Schwab. Sidis told a reporter "I want to live the perfect life, and the only way to live the perfect life is to live it in seclusion". He went on to study law at Harvard Law School, which he quit shortly before graduation. In 1918, Sidis began teaching mathematics at Rice University, Texas. Rice students would ridicule their childish teacher for eight months. Sidis was constantly annoyed with the attention of the media. Not feeling well in academia, William James Sidis left his academic pursuits once and for all in 1918. In the meantime, he espoused leftist ideas and became a budding Marxist. In 1918, he was arrested during a May Day antiwar rally in his home town of Boston. He was accused of inciting a riot and sentenced for 1.5 years in jail. With his father's backing, the sentence was not served. However, young genius Willam James Sidis disappeared from the public eye. In 1923, a reporter found him in New York working a menial job. Sidis told him he was not a genius people want him to be. He also declared his wish to become anonymous in his life. Sidis expressed a simple desire to focus on undemanding jobs that give him more satisfaction. And that seemed to be the end of William James Sidis miracle. In 1937, the New Yorker dug out the young prodigy story again and run a piece entitled "April Fool". In the article, Sidis is reported as saying: "I hated Harvard (...) anyone who sends his son to college is a fool -- a boy can learn more in a public library". The article paints a picture of an incredible young Harvard genius that went on to live a life of a low-paid bookkeeper. Sidis considered the article a gross violation of his privacy and sued ultimately receiving a small out-of-court settlement (see: US Supreme Court decision) One of the reasons for lasting ridicule of Sidis was one of the books he wrote. While most people never write any book in their lifetime, when it transpired that Sidis, the future greatest mathematician, wrote a lengthy hobby book about streetcar transfers, the eyebrows went up. A transfer is a piece of paper given to passengers who want to take a particular transfer route. Sidis collected streetcar transfers obsessively, and considered it a "reasonable" hobby, which he called a peridromophila. His classification of transfers was Aristotelean. His scrupulousness Darwinian. Yet, the book published in 1926 under a pseudonym of Frank Folupa was not found to be a reason for admiration. Supposedly, this was "the most boring book ever written". Throughout his life, Sidis struggled to escape the publicity and the aura of expectation. To no avail. When he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1944 at the age of 46, he sparked yet another suspicion in reference to early prodigy training: "too much thinking can harm your brain, too". Sidis's father died early of the same affliction (see above) Fallen star or an anonymous giant It is not true that Sidis contributed little to society beyond providing a remarkable study case for the growth and decline of genius. The only book he published under his own name was The Animate and the Inanimate in 1925 at the age of 27 (as befits a true rebel, he argued spuriously therein against the second law of thermodynamics). In 1979, another giant of the centry, Buckminster Fuller rediscovered the book and wrote in a letter: "Imagine my excitement and joy on being handed the xerox of Sidis' 1925 book, in which he clearly predicts the black hole" (Subramanyan Chandrasekhar came up with the idea only a few years later). Incidentally, Buck Fuller was Sidis's classmate at Harvard and was saddened by William's story. Unlike Sidis, Fuller bloomed late into his life. In 1927 at the age of 32, bankrupt and jobless, he was on a verge of suicide. However, he decided to embark on an experiment: what a single individual can contribute to change the world and benefit all humanity. Documenting his life scrupulously in a half-century daily diary, Fuller went on to produce miracles of the mind (an array of inventions and 47 honorary doctorates are just a drop in the bucket of Buck's achievement). Fuller got Sidis's book from Dan Mahony, a researcher who decided to unearth the truth about Sidis and answer the question: Where has all the genius energy gone? Mahony notes that Sidis's interest in Okamakammessetts Indians may have resulted in espousing the principle of anonymous contribution to society. Mahony begun a search for possible anonymous contributions of Sidis. One of the fruits of this search is a remarkable 600-page unpublished
manuscript on the history of the red race in America dug out from a dusty attic: "The Tribes and the States". Lots of evidence indicates that this book packed with most unusual theories had been written by young Sidis. The search continues (see also: Sidis discoveries; incl. Sidis's patent on a perpetual calendar and its picture, Unconscious Intelligence where teenage Sidis self-analytically writes about how subconscious brain works, Sidis's letter written shortly before his death with his troubles attributed to being a conscientious objector, http://home8.swipnet.se/~w80790/Q&A/Q&A_2.htm. and http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi969.htm) Sidis Fallacy Multiple studies indicate that young prodigies end up better adapted to life in society than their peers (incl. the famous Terman Study). Sidis case is an exception rather than a rule. One theory says that an increase in IQ is welcome only up to a certain point beyond which it leads to extreme attitudes and social problems. Another theory says that there is an optimum span of time in which a domineering father figure helps child's development. The inflection point comes at the moment when a young man crystallizes his own views on how to run his life. Once father's and child's goals diverge, fatherly domination may spark negative emotions in immature mind. Instead of fostering further growth, this emotions may channel young energy in the wrong direction. The spiral of negative emotions escalates and parent-child partnership becomes a struggle for dominance in goals and values. Parental dominance shows up, for example, in a strong correlation between the occupation of parents and children (e.g. among doctors, lawyers, musicians, etc.). In Sidis's case, fatherly supervision may have gone beyond this theoretical inflection point, and William James Sidis was transformed from an admired prodigy to a haunted freak forced into behaviors incongruent with his mental profile and his own set of values. There is no hard evidence Boris Sidis made any major upbringing errors. His unrelenting tutoring and scorn of ignorance might have put too much burden on William, yet this could well be measured only in retrospect. Boris's radical views might have affected the family atmosphere: less love, more rigor (in contrast to warm atmosphere of families of Bohr, Darwin, etc.). The theory of reserve energy might have pushed Boris to neglect natural circadian underpinnings of healthy mental effort. Early in the 20th century, the knowledge of the function of sleep in learning was little. Even today, many students fall into the treacherous trap of belief that you can learn more by adding study hours by cutting down on sleep (this is how the cruel myth of polyphasic sleep gained a foothold in numerous young lives). Kathleen Montour believes that Sidis Fallacy has badly affected the education of the gifted children. In her view, a rational approach to special education for the gifted children can only lead to positive results, and the main problem on the way is, what she calls, a creator parent with excessive ambition for the child's future in proportion to the knowledge of the psychology of growth. Yet, as a psychiatrist, Boris Sidis could not have been better primed to be a good educator. The case may never be answered satisfactorily Young rebels The world is populated with young rebel geniuses. They tend to be radical. After all, only genius mind fully exposes the imperfections and contradictions of the surrounding world. Young geniuses power rebel environmentalist movements, animal-right groups, open source community, human rights organizations or groups for legalizing narcotic drugs. They espouse socialism, communism, or ... vegetarianism. They struggle to abolish nuclear power, GM foods, human cloning, urban sprawl, MacDonalds, air-polluting car, stem cell research, animal testing, etc. They often abhor the riches of Bill Gates, look with horror at George W. Bush presidency, or glorify Linus Tornvalds, Mike "Gorbie" Gorbachev or Nelson Mandela. Driven by similar but often not completely crystallized motives, they join opposing camps. Some end up fighting for monolingual world, others struggle for "language ecology" against the "linguistic imperialism of English". Some will fight for the United States of the World, while others see globalization as a veil under which global corporations exploit poorer countries in Africa, Asia and South America. Those radical minds usually end up being highly productive and balanced individuals. They learn to temper negative emotions and start to favor maths over myths. William James Sidis has definitely grown to be a young rebel. It is difficult to diagnose how much of his attitude was pathological or neurotic. His fascination with Indian tribes and support for anonymous contributions to society could have concealed his true opus vitae. The peer-review pressure and publish-or-perish principles have driven many bright minds away from academic pursuits. A contemporary little-known dyslectic rebel genius Dr Robert Skoyles writes: "I prefer to be without an income and academic address. I would rather starve than be ignorant. I am
puzzled why many bright people allow themselves to be time-lobotomized by the constraints of an academic career. At university, I witnessed many a bright and curious student eager to know give that up to prosper in the academic treadmill. What had once been a means now either swallowed them up or slowly seeped in and became an end. They became deadwood preoccupied with marriage, mortgages and a pension". Doubtlessly, similar sentiments were common to William James Sidis. His complete story has not been told Conclusions The case of William James Sidis contributed to several dangerous misconceptions. It is not true that child prodigies inevitably burn out with time. There is little evidence to confirm that brain tumors or brain hemorrhage may be caused by "too much thinking". Just the opposite, most research indicates that learning is a blessing for the brain's health. Sidis case shows how easy it is to propagate rumor and how difficult it is to recover the truth. Along the rules of memetics, the self-comforting story of a fallen prodigy spreads like wildfire. The carriers of the message seem to say "I have not been a prodigy and I like it that way" Lessons learned from Sidis case: Personality is critical for developing true genius. Lack of social skills can ruin creativity. It can also ruin the life of a genius Genius is a virtue in itself and it does not require a spotlight. The attention genius attracts may actually inhibit creativity. Genius is its own reward, and does not need to strive for gratification Parents need to exercise utmost caution when pushing their prodigies toward success. Ignorance is the source of trouble here. A modern parent needs to study child care literature and keep up to date with the principles of developmental psychology
In contrast, another prodigy child of early 20th century, Norbert Wiener, went on to establish the science of cybernetics and a new way of looking at the surrounding world. Incidentally, the computer metaphor used to model human genius in this article, is derived directly from the approach proposed by Wiener: using systems theory to represent reality and simplify its analysis. In conclusion, Polgar's statement "every normal child can be trained to be a genius" is largely correct. However, the main stumbling block on the way towards accomplishing the goal is the mental profile of the child as well as the interaction with its tutors. Genetic limitations will manifest less in the overall intellectual potential and more visibly in overcoming psychological obstacles such as motivation, curiosity, delayed gratification, self-control, discipline, etc. The neural network of the human brain is highly plastic and compensatory. It's qualities, reduced in more severe disorders on the like of Down syndrome, are less of a limiting factor when compared with the child's personality. Every normal child can be trained to be a genius as long as utmost attention is paid to its appropriate psychological development. Some personality profiles may be particularly hard to crack, and an intense "genius training program" can also pose major developmental dangers Creative environment For genius accomplishments and high creativity, you need to pay lots of attention to the right working and living environment. If your job is full of stress, human conflict, anxiety, disruption, etc. your creative potential will easily go to waste! In modern society, nothing pays back better than genius, creativity and novel ideas. It is better to get a poorly paid job that will let you grow than to enslave your mental potential in an environment that will pull you into the proverbial rate race. Here is a basic checklist for inspecting your conditions for creative effort: sleep: are you able to get as many hours of sleep as your body needs? Are you able to go to sleep then when you feel sleepy? Lack of sleep, poor sleeping conditions, or wrong sleeping hours are top causes of suppressed creativity. Without meeting your sleeping needs, you may not even live up to a quarter of your creative
potential! See: Good sleep for good learning stress: are you able to isolate yourself from the surrounding rat race? Are you surrounded with good people of good hearts? Stress along sleep deprivation are the most important suppressors of creativity. When you leave for the toilet, your brain should still live with the creative problem that consumes most of your attention; it should not stray to ruminate over a conflict at work, or in the family, or in a traffic jam. The damage done by stress is not only related to lost time and attention, but also due to lost health, and the negative impact of stress hormones on memory consolidation and neuronal degeneration. In contrast, serotonin, the "optimistic hormone", increases neurogenesis. See: The Medical Basis of Stress health: never skimp on time you should devote to exercise. Quality circulation and a healthy respiratory system are needed to nourish your brain during a creative effort and during sleep. Stick to a healthy diet. If you are overweight you may miss lots of quality creative time by simply being less alert and energetic. Smoking is a bad short-term alertness booster, over years, your mental power will be curtailed dramatically. If you believe smoking helps your attention, note that similar effects can be accomplished with exercise; without inhaling a carcinogenic mix of poisons (see: QuitNet.org) Charles Darwin (1809-1882) The roots of Darwin's scrupulous scientific research can be traced back to his childhood. Except for the death of his mother when he was just eight years old, Darwin's childhood was a truly golden one. He was taken care of by his sisters and an older brother Erasmus as well as his extensive family. Not by accident, at 22 he was chosen to take part in the voyage of the Beagle as an unpaid naturalist. At that time, he was already a very capable and knowledgeable biologist. In December 1831, Darwin sailed on the Beagle from Plymouth. The long voyage was planned for two years but ultimately lasted five. Throughout the trip Darwin kept meticulous logs and collected numerous specimens on geology, botany and zoology. The isolation of the trip provided Darwin with excellent opportunity for creative thinking and detailed analysis of the observed phenomena (even though he was seasick most of the time). He was as good at theorizing as he was scrupulous at observation. The idea of biological evolution that is largely attributed to Darwin was not new. Many authors before Darwin hinted at the possibility. Following a natural intuition, Lamarck had even drawn a diagram that showed the transition from simple to more complex organisms. After his Beagle trip, Darwin had his evolutionary ideas well established; however, it took him two decades to crystallize the details in a form he thought acceptable for publication. Both socially and legally, his views could bring Darwin trouble. As early as in 1837, his notes included remarks on how species change from place to place and from one era to another. In 1838 Darwin read Thomas Malthus' An Essay on the Principle of Population. Malthus argued that populations grow at geometric speed while the food supply increases arithmetically. This lead Darwin to formulate his struggle for survival principles in which favorable species variations would be preserved while the unfavorable would fall prey to evolutionary elimination. An extremely important component of creative thinking is the ability to focus entirely on a problem to solve. The Beagle trip provided such an opportunity. After the trip, Darwin was fortunate to be able to work alone at home. The privilege of being an independent scientist was quite unique in Victorian England. Family endowments made it possible for Darwin to focus on his creative pursuits without the need to seek employment and worrying about downto-earth concerns. Darwin also took science to his family life when in a scrupulously scientific manner he proposed to his cousin Emma Wedgwood. His choice made it possible to spend forty years on creative investigation despite the fact that his marriage with Emma resulted in procreation of ten children (three of which died at young age). Only his health, which may have suffered as a result of his Beagle tripe, could have been a limiting factor. For decades, however, Darwin relentlessly persisted in his endeavor. Part of his success can also be attributed to his social skills. He did not want to publish his theories early knowing these could alienate many. He realized that the theory of evolution stood in sharp contrast to the teachings of the church (esp. the literal interpretation of the book of Genesis). He was able to work with other scientists without offending their feelings. He even had to restrain his comments at home as his wife Emma was a devout Christian who could not accept the heretic claims of the organic evolution. What ultimately prompted Darwin to make his work public was a paper by Alfred Russel Wallace, which indicated
that Wallace has independently arrived to similar conclusions as Darwin himself. Darwin read the paper in 1858 and was disheartened by the fact that his effort could have been preempted. A month later, Wallace and Darwin announced their theories in a joint paper read to the Linnean Society of London on July 1, 1858. A year later, Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was published. This was one of the most influential scientific works in human history. Throughout the rest of his prolific life, Darwin worked on explaining the implications of his theory and on easing the acceptance of the direct link between humans and animals. Even today, Darwin's theory is hard to swallow to religious fundamentalists. Creationists oppose evolution as being contrary to the Bible. In 1999, despite the official stand of the Vatican, fundamentalist Christians on the Kansas board of education removed evolution from the state science curriculum. As a result of public criticism and ridicule, board members who supported de-emphasizing evolution were defeated in GOP primaries in August 2000. In 2001, the new board voted 7 to 3 for the new standards to again require the secondary schools to teach evolution. Darwin's scientific genius changed the world. The roots of his creative success could be found in his rich upbringing, extensive and always growing knowledge, decades of freedom to focus on his research, social skills in maneuvering the acceptance of his theory in evangelical England, unrelenting and scrupulous spadework, and persistence through difficulty Negative and positive emotions Human emotion is a powerful driving force. It can be highly creative as well as highly destructive. It could drive a young Nazi to a red-hot frenzy of hatred, but it could also drive Einstein's brain to awe and admiration of the symmetry of nature. Human emotion is often rationalized, i.e. it may lay at the root of an endeavor that is otherwise covered up with rational excuses. Again, rationalized emotion can result in a disaster or can prevent it. Hitler's blind hate, backed-up with pseudoscientific rationalization, lead to the holocaust. At the same time, the heroic global defense of the world peace in the 1940s would not be possible without the sense of outrage against those who disrespected the principles of peaceful coexistence. Emotions are very difficult to control and will often determine a person's chances for success or failure. Negative emotions, such as anger, are counterproductive and contribute little to a person's growth. Positive emotions, such as well-dosed passion, help one overcome obstacles that are bound to be found on any race-course. Emotions are also transitive and tend to amplify in social groups. Anger begets anger. Cordiality begets cordiality. Your effort to beget positive emotions, in suitable circumstances, will send positive ripples through social circles you interact with. One of the basic premises of developing a genius brain is: learn to capitalize on positive emotions and circumvent negative emotions. Emotion management skills may actually be the most important factor that will determine if a person will or will not develop its full genius potential. As argued throughout this article, personality factor seems overall more important than low-level information processing powers of the brain. Negative emotions are probably the number one cause of the scarcity of genius in industrialized nations. The power of emotion comes from the fact that they are wired into the low-level brain structures that cannot easily be controlled by rational thinking originating in the prefrontal cortex. An angry individual can command its brain to cool down; however, it cannot instantly reduce the level of adrenaline that has already been released into the bloodstream. A drug addict can decide rationally to give up drugs, but when the physical effects of craving hit his system, his rational brain is often powerless. In the course of evolution, the emotional circuits of the brain played a critical role in survival. Emotions help translate the inner needs of the organism into behavioral modes and actions. Once your blood glucose level drops down, one of the outcomes will be the activation of the appetite center. As a result, thinking of food will pervade all your actions. With time, all your attempts at genius endeavor may fade into insignificance as your brain will keep on reverberating the hunger message. In this case, your need for food is converted into hunger, and your brain is turned into a foodhunting mode. Similar mechanisms are involved in satisfying thirst or reproductive needs.
Human mental and emotional characteristics are strongly rooted in genetics and may limit or enhance intellectual development. It takes only a few generations of controlled breeding to influence the fierceness of dogs. Not-so-natural genetic selection of modern societies promotes a wide spectrum of behavioral characteristics. As a result, we all are driven by a mix of emotions that may be either valuable or unwelcome. All healthy human beings are prone to experience negative emotions. However, in the course of upbringing most of us gain a sufficient rational control over emotion centers. Nobody has seen the pope swinging his crosier. And pictures of Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe against the UN General Assembly pulpit in 1960 belong to the footage of the century. Incidentally, Khrushchev is said to have been in full control of his emotions and put his show up purely for political reasons. Apart from a strong genetic component, upbringing also plays a huge role in the way a human being copes with emotion. A recent US study found that children who spend long hours in day care are more likely to be aggressive, disobedient, and defiant. Those negative characteristics were correlated with the number of hours spent by kids in day care centers. At the same time children in high-quality day care programs got better scores in problem solving tests than children who stayed at home. Entirely different emotion management techniques must be used for different emotions. Some emotions are generated at high levels in the central nervous system, others may have a longer lasting hormonal basis. For example, psychogenic anger can easily be controlled by rationalization. The simplest technique here is to determine and avoid stimuli that could generate negative emotion. On the other hand, hormonally based depression may be harder to combat. Mild sadness can be combated with exercise, caffeine, occupational techniques, etc. However, more violent mood swings may have a genetic background and require professional consultation or pharmacological intervention. A great deal of emotional life in modern society is related to human interaction. As such, emotions can often be influences by molding one's circle of contacts and modes of communication. You can easily eliminate a great source of negative emotions by simply avoiding interaction with individuals who seem to have negative influence on your emotions and ways of thinking. When your Mom used to say: "I do not like this new friend of yours", she kept expressing a universal truth: people do strongly influence each other. Look for people who will have positive influence on you. At the same time, never forget that you should strive at having a positive influence on others! Again, positive emotions beget positive emotions. Your life philosophy will have a powerful impact on your emotions. Neither striving at genius nor striving at happiness should determine your philosophy. After all, you should not mold the truth to serve arbitrary goals. However, I believe that helping people reach the truth via promises of happiness or intellectual accomplishment is of no harm as long as the means and the ends all are compatible; which I believe they are. At the root of your philosophical choice will be the classic conflict between stoic and epicurean trends in philosophy. 19th-century utilitarian Henry Sidgwick construed the hedonistic paradox to demonstrate that seeking happiness is a straight way to misery. Personal power guru Tony Robbins justly suggests to condition yourself to love what you decide is best for you to do. In other words, instead of living to be happy, you should rather happily live up to your highest ideals. If you cross chemistry on your pathway, rarely will you study it with enthusiasm as of the first day. You will need to condition yourself to love the subject. Your increasing understanding of chemistry is likely to contribute to this new love, yet it is worth noting that all sciences are most approachable from their historic perspective. This is the best way to illustrate the fascinating human struggle with mystery. No wonder Dalton or Avogadro were ready to devote their lives to the subject. Chemistry is fascinating if you just learn the right way to look at it. A genius entrepreneur and inventor Dean Kamen promotes his father's formula for success: Pick something you love and make it your life's work. Do what is important and not what is easy. Apart from being guided by reason rather than emotion, you need to be aware that measuring your progress by accomplished goals is not always the optimum strategy (even though this is exactly what all modern corporations do). You may actually be able to get further if you derive satisfaction from your little daily accomplishments. Do not wait for the great trophy. Let the little good deed be its own reward. Once you reach a higher level of satisfaction with little things, your brain may work on a higher gear and carry you beyond your original target. Some highly-driven young people set ambitious goals: earn $5 million in 5 years. Seemingly such a goal could put you on a high alert and you could hope to float towards the target on a good rush of adrenaline. Interestingly, Bill Gates
made similar vows and had succeeded. Although many would like to attribute to him some carnivorous instincts that made him win numerous skirmishes and battles, Bill Gates has always been a genius visionary. His success derives from the strategy based on understanding (most of the time) the future of technology, the mechanics of competition and the cybernetics of management; not from his predatory ambitions. After all, there are many wolves out there who get nowhere. As we enter the Knowledge Age, aggressive strategies will pay less and less. More and more, the brain power will be in demand, and brain power feeds well on positive emotion. Small-steps good-night-sleep philosophy serves as a good medium for breeding brain power. With a $5 million target on your mind, once you miss it, or do not find yourself on the right trajectory, your life can enter a frustrating path. Instead of multiplying your strengths, you might slide a slippery slope of struggle with your own emotions. Your optimization algorithm should not set a numeric target in conditions of insufficient information. If you set it too high, you will experience frustration. If you set it too low, you will not get motivated enough. Instead of optimizing for your goal, maximize the results of your day using the criteria determined by the goal. This benefits the mankind (you are very productive), it is also optimum for you: you get maximum results/expectations ratio that powers a selfpropagating spiral of creativity. A popular belief says that money, fame or luxury are the main factors that drive young people. Famed psychologist Abraham Maslow disagreed. By studying motivation in subjects ranging from monkeys to human geniuses, he developed his widely quoted Hierarchy of Needs with self-actualization at the very top of needs that come to play in genius minds. To experimentally show the real source of today's young man's positive experience, Dr Kennon Sheldon of the University of Missouri refined Maslow's theories, and then proved them accurate with an experiment. He asked university students to recall most satisfying events in their life (see: What makes people the happiest?). The students derived most satisfaction from self-esteem, relatedness (relationships with other people), autonomy (being in control) and competence (being productive). They derived minimum satisfaction from popularity, influence, money or luxury. Stoic philosophy is likely to help you capitalize on those sources of internal harmony identified by Sheldon. Lack of internal peace might be one of the most important factors that prevents people from reaching genius levels of intellectual achievement. Of positive emotions, passion and the rage to master count most. However, these are highly elusive. Every parent who tried to sparkle passion in his child knows that at times this seems like a losing battle. Few techniques exists to efficiently spark passion. Adults are able to rationalize their actions and generate psychogenic motivation. However, if a young individual lacks passion, his development will suffer immensely. It may be highly valuable to find a "passion hook" to influence a young man's action. If a poorly motivated individual finds passion for computer games or Lego blocks or collecting beer cans, he or she demonstrates his or her ability to act passionately. The difficult job of an educator is to find a pathway towards converting these passions into productive and educational activities. For developing genius, the original motivation for learning and self-growth is of lesser importance. It can be rational or purely emotional, based on high aspirations or on greed, it can be religious, cultural or material. Whatever the starting motor of change, once the change is underway, growth and continual learning will help steer an individual towards universal truths. Have a look at the summary below. Invite all positive emotions that help you execute your grand plans. Love your work, people, and the world. Run away from sources of negative emotion. Although ultimately rooted in ignorance, negative emotion has been the source of war and conflict that dominated human history. Newton's quarter-century battle with Leibnitz (see earlier) is an excellent illustration of a destructive impact of negative emotions. Even the greatest genius can fall prey to low-level emotion with nothing positive to come out in return except for yet another lesson for future generations. Human characteristics derived from emotions can be divided into those of negative impact and those of positive impact. In addition, our ability to steer and control emotions provides for the third class of characteristics: Negative emotions are often strongly rooted in genes. These include aggression, anger, maliciousness, envy, sadness, low stress-tolerance (incl. anxiety, introvertedness, fearfulness, etc.), mental disorders (e.g. manicdepressive disorder, schizophrenia, depression, etc.) Positive emotions can often become negative if overdosed. These include: optimism (not mania), passion (not
obsession), enthusiasm, curiosity, love (not infatuation), openness, compassion, constructive patriotism (not nationalism or chauvinism), scrupulousness (not obsessive compulsiveness), laughter (not risibility), love of music, movies, sports, etc. Emotional control is the ability to make a constructive use of one's emotional drives. It may be strongly rooted in prefrontal control and rationality (superiority of reason over low-level drives), self-discipline (impassive adherence to one's own resolutions), patience (absence of emotion in face of adversity), and ability to delay gratification (i.e. being motivated by positive emotions for long-term strategies) Thomas Edison Thomas Edison contributed greatly to our understanding of genius. On one hand, he easily meets the strictest standards of genius. He still holds the record of the total number of submitted patents (over 1000 of which 400 came in a single year). On the other hand, of the geniuses discussed in this article, Edison seems to have been most visibly self-analytical. Using his own experience, he formulated quite a number of rules on how genius develops, including the immortal encouragement to augmenting the mind with hard work: genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Edison's approach to creativity made a philosopher Alfred North Whitehead proclaim in 1926: "The greatest invention of the 19th century was the invention of the method of invention, which has broken up the foundations of the old civilization". According to his own account, the root of Edison's genius can be found in his self-education and in a warm family environment. As for Darwin, loving motherly care was essential: "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint". His tireless work habits formed in childhood. He started losing the sense of hearing early. His formal education lasted only three months, and he was not considered bright at that time. He had problems with math. One teacher even called him "addled". Few had noticed the sure early sign of genius: Edison asked "too many" questions. Child's curiosity is the basis of early learning. Kids who ask zillions of questions learn faster than their reticent counterparts. They often cause more trouble than the conforming ones, and consequently get lower ratings from the teachers. Overactive kids get labeled with ADHD even though a great deal of geniuses match the symptoms. In Edison's case, his mother decided to take him out of school and teach him at home. He develop a love for reading. At the age of 9 he got a book about scientific experiments. He did all experiments in the book and became interested in chemistry. His hearing disability helped him focus entirely on his experiments. As a result of his self-instruction, he developed a deep-rooted contempt for formal schooling. He believed that schools only focus on memorizing facts instead of developing highly applicable skills and abstract rules of reasoning. Along the laws of memetics, his words have often been quoted in a distorted form: "Don't just memorize it. Reason it out". As a result, a false perception has taken root: memorizing is wrong, reasoning is good. As discussed earlier in this article, reasoning is not possible without memorizing the necessary facts and rules needed for derivation. Edison definitely understood that but his ideas were put into a misleading slogan of learning. Memorization is more important to genius than the sheer brain power. This comparative statement is justified by the fact that most of us are born with sufficient brain power, but only few use it to develop high quality knowledge rich in abstract rules of reasoning. Using the language of this article, Edison's statement was: schools provide knowledge that is poorly applicable and poorly represented. Alas, in most cases, true until this day. Another misconception born from distorting Edison's statements is: learning by doing or by playing, as opposed to memorization, is nearly a panacea for success at school. The truth is that some skills are better learned "by doing" while others simply "by understanding". Images of a dissected cadaver leave far more permanent imprints in medical student's memories than a verbal description of the same anatomical structures. Using mathematical formulas for solving particular tasks is by far more efficient that just memorizing them. Yet the cost of "doing" must be taken into the account, too. Few advocate learning geography by traveling to all remote corners of the world, or learning history solely via reading voluminous source materials in Hebrew, Greek or Latin. What is essential though, learning must be a pleasure to be effective, and should follow, as Edison put it, "the natural instincts of the human being". Edison believed that the education he gained at home was an excellent preparation for his future success in engineering. He was also acutely aware of the limited perimeters of human brain to acquire knowledge as well as the unlimited ocean of knowledge that is left to be uncovered by the mankind: We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
Asked about the most important factors of his success, Edison replied: "hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and common sense". We can translate it to the terminology used in this article to (see: Components of genius): hard work: lifelong learning hard work: persistent execution of plans molded strictly towards achieving one's goals (see below to see why Nicola Tesla was weaker in this area) stick-to-itiveness: persistence, will-power and well-chosen specialization common sense: learning and applying highly abstract rules of general reasoning Edison's genius could then be summarized as an obsession for solving a specific problem, sticking to the problem for as long as it takes to solve it, acquiring necessary knowledge (including new rules derived in the process of reasoning), and thus acquiring "common sense" that will help solve more problems in the future. Edison vs. Tesla Nicola Tesla was a lesser know but possibly even a greater genius than Edison himself. He was born an Orthodox Christian Serb in 1856 in today's Croatia, which was then part of Austria-Hungary. His mind conceived what could be one of the first visions of the Internet. First, as a teenager, he envisaged a global postal system based on hydraulic pipes. Later in life, he unsuccessfully tried to convince J. P. Morgan to work on building a world brain-like system of wireless communications to broadcast phone conversations, texts, pictures, and music. Unlike Edison, Tesla received strong formal schooling and was at amazing ease with math. Tesla arrived as a poor immigrant to New York in 1884 only to discover to his disappointment that, culturally, America was ages behind Europe. With a letter of recommendation from Edison's European friend, Tesla was hired as a young apprentice and got a job that was supposed to earn him $50,000. He completed the task to Edison's instructions in several months but did not get his pay. Edison explained that the huge dollar award was not what Tesla expected it to be: "When you become a full-fledged American you will appreciate an American joke". Tesla quit disgusted. This is how TeslaEdison battle begun. Although Tesla's ideas were considered superior, he was unable to convert them into a financial success. Tesla was immensely creative and would always neglect the business part of his activities. The neglect of less creative side of life by inventive minds gave origin to the "Shoot the inventor" phenomenon. Creative people are easy to "shoot" because craving for creativity is an inherent feature of their brains that makes them vulnerable. Creativity becomes more important than honors, luxuries, money and other rewards. Tesla's alternating current approach was by far superior to Edison's stubborn exploration of the direct current (Edison's stubbornness could be excused by his prior sizeable investment in DC). Tesla arrived to America with some designs ready in his head but Edison would not listen to Tesla's ideas. The AC-DC battle was won by Tesla's brainchild, but he sold his patents early and earned little. A rumor says that Tesla and Edison were supposed to be chosen to share a Nobel prize in physics but Tesla declined to share the award claiming that Edison is not scientific enough. They have never received the prize. Tesla was also the early inventor of the radio but it was Marconi who received the highly valuable patent and a Nobel Prize in 1909. Marconi's patent was reversed in 1943 when the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's earlier patent, but it was too late for Tesla himself. He died a few months earlier. Tesla could have been more creative than Edison but he was less efficient in carrying his battles for recognition and financial awards. Edison and Marconi always wielded a substantial advantage in contacts and connections. The last thirty years of Tesla's life were severely damaged by the wounds he suffered in this unequal struggle. Edison would also beat Tesla as a team player. Tesla's social skills were inadequate in that respect. Like many highly creative individuals, he preferred to work alone. His imperfect execution of his own plans deprived him of the most prominent place in the history of mankind. One of Ronald Reagan's favorite sayings taken from Robert Woodruff was "there is no limit to what a man can accomplish if he does not mind who gets the credit". However, Tesla could have completed dozens of his unfinished ideas had he backed up his creative genius with skills for choosing appropriate partners that would protect his work from being overshadowed, stolen or forgotten. Tesla was also slightly naive in a blind trust in justice. In 1904 he said about Marconi: "He is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents". The new economy of the 21st century seems less ruthless than that of the late 19th century America. Today's bright minds live in much less fear that their efforts will not be appreciated and rewarded. Naturally, as many more geniuses are able to fulfill their potential, they also face a much stiffer competition in the field. Our perception of genius remains the same, we
reserve the word to top 1% of the population. However, the bar is being raised with each passing decade, esp. with the advent of the new global economy based on the Internet. Creative skills of the 19th century genius might not be as impressive in today's highly educated population. Interestingly, Tesla and Edison shared a remarkable ability to sleep little and work a lot. Edison would go on for days taking only occasional catnaps on a sofa in his office. While employed at Edison's, Tesla working day would last from 10:30 am to 5 am. In this context, it is important to remember that the actual demand for sleep depends on individual characteristics and no creative individual should ever contemplate cutting down on sleep in hope of reaching the intellectual heights of the two geniuses. Least of all, should the alarm clock be used to regulate sleep. If you happen to sleep little, wake up naturally and feel refreshed, you may have more time for creativity. But there is no reason to be alarmed if your natural sleep demand goes beyond nine hours as long as you wake up refreshed. For comfort, Einstein, whose theories Tesla contested, sported a healthy brain that required nine hours of sleep for best performance. Unlike Edison, Tesla preferred to make a meticulous mental picture of his ideas and invention before proceeding with actual experimentation. As a youth, he developed a remarkable ability to run computations in his mind without the help of paper or a slide rule. On the other hand, Edison would get down to trial-and-error "perspiration" as soon as he had a nugget of an idea. Which approach is better? Definitely you can save hours by being well-prepared for "perspiration"; however, the moment when you switch from thought to action will mostly depend on the expected cost. Tesla might have had more ideas in his mind but Edison have beaten him in practical applications Lifelong learning: Rebirth of the Renaissance man Recent years have demonstrated a tremendous potential of interdisciplinary science. Findings from different fields can lay fallow for years due to poor communication between scientists from different fields. Then a simple association of known ideas produces a major breakthrough. Many geniuses of this century complained that we, and scientists in particular, get overly specialized. Norbert Wiener painfully noticed that if the difficulty of a physiological problem is mathematical in essence, ten physiologists ignorant of mathematics will get precisely as far as one physiologist ignorant of mathematics, and no further. The consensus is that specialist knowledge is necessary for scientific progress; however, there is no escape from interdisciplinary communication and getting a broader education in all fields of science that would make such communication possible. A future expert will need to find an optimum balance between the specialist knowledge and general knowledge. With popularization of techniques such as spaced repetition and incremental reading, it should be possible to see the rebirth of the Renaissance man. Rational control of the learning process should make it possible to combine intense specialist exploration with well-rounded strengthening of one's overall educational background. Lifelong learning is becoming a necessity that will spread from intellectually most demanding professions to other fields of labor. Rapid changes in technology demand a quick adaptation process via efficient well-targeted learning. With tools such as SuperMemo, it should be possible to cast your net wide for new knowledge and avoid the tunnel vision that might lead you into a blind alley. Accelerated learning is also a prescription for a real-time problem solving. Once a problem to solve looms large, you can throw more knowledge at it. Overpower it with incremental reading. This refers not only to problems related to your profession. It can be anything from a technical problem with your computer to an unexpected health problem in the family. With the access to the Internet, an amazing number of problems can be solved by means of knowledge that is literally available at your fingertips. Once things get hard to crack, you can methodically flood your memory with new relevant information until new solutions start coming up. In the end, as illustrated with many examples throughout this article, a single piece of information stored in the human brain can change the course of history! SuperMemo 2004: Dealing with incomprehensible articles In incremental reading, you will often encounter material that is difficult to understand. You will need to develop analytical skills that will help you identify the reasons. If the culprit is the author, delete the article. If you need to digest other pieces of your collection first, delay the article. If you need more knowledge, delay the article and import more knowledge that will be needed to boost understanding. Do not forget that some texts make an inherently poor material for incremental reading (e.g. descriptions of scientific experiments, mathematical derivations,
programming examples in source code, case studies, etc.). In such cases, use a traditional thorough analysis methods, summarize results of your analysis, and use SuperMemo only to keep track of such summaries. This is how you can approach complexity in incremental reading: 1. Start reading the article from the top. Once you find a difficult fragment, analyze it and diagnose the reasons for your comprehension problems 2. If the rest of the article does not depend much on the difficult fragment, keep on reading (at the bottom of the article you could leave a "read again" note to indicate that it might make sense to read the whole article again and return to the difficult fragment later) 3. If the rest of the article cannot be understood without understanding the difficult fragment choose one of the following: if you need more knowledge to understand the fragment: postpone the article (Learning : Jump interval or Ctrl+J) if the fragment is hopelessly intricate and leaves no hope for the future (e.g. because of wrong grammar, wording, formulation, logic, etc.), delete the article and search for alternative material 4. If you decide to postpone the article with Ctrl+J, decide what new knowledge you will need before getting back to the difficult fragment. List dictionary entries, encyclopedia articles, articles on the net or library books that you will need to process before going any further 5. Schedule the review of the new knowledge or try to search for it immediately (e.g. by searching the net) 6. Estimate the earliest time when you hope you will be able to understand the difficult article and use the appropriate interval with Ctrl+J. If the article includes high priority knowledge, it is always better to err on the safe side and provide a too early review
Major Genius Fallacies: 1. You must be born with a creative mind! False! Some kids indeed show an incredible curiosity and rage to master. However, there are many techniques that can help you multiply your creativity. Start off with the Genius Checklist below. Once you ensure healthy and peaceful environment for creative work, be sure you try incremental reading as the best way to (1) quickly gain new knowledge and (2) boost your associational thinking and creative output 2. If you miss childhood, your genius is lost! False! Human brain is plastic by definition. In many fields of learning, childhood neglect is difficult to recover later in life; however, training can always produce miracles. Young Jean Jacques Rousseau lost his mother within a week of his birth. His violent-tempered father encouraged reading but abandoned him at ten. His family found him incompetent. He run away at sixteen and begun his adventure with philosophy at the encouragement of somewhat disreputable Madame de Warens who become his lover. One thing Rousseau was probably born with, however: curiosity. He read Plutarch's Lives in childhood, which indicates that this period has not been entirely lost. Childhood is very important for growth, but if you lost it, you can still catch up in many areas with intense training 3. Do not memorize! False! You can track this belief back to Rousseau's novel mile. Its fallacy comes from the fact that many sources fail to delineate the full spectrum of knowledge applicability from dry useless facts to highly abstract reasoning rules. Understanding, thinking, problem solving, creativity, etc. are all based on knowledge. This rule should rather be formulated as: Knowledge selection is critical for success in learning. The correct and non pejorative definition of the word memorize is to: "commit knowledge to memory". Along this definition, I exclaim: Do memorize! Just make a smart selection of things to learn. A recent report on Japanese schools stated an overemphasis on memorizing and a deficit in promoting creativity. However, solutions proposed for such an imbalance are often quite zany (e.g. spending a substantial proportion of school time on playing with colorful sheets of paper for the sake of creativity). The report lead to a media buzz that produced a harmful misnomer equating memorizing with cramming. I hear again and again that SuperMemo is just a tool for cramming. See: Smart and dumb learning for a discussion and examples 4. Proliferation of geniuses is a threat to humanity. False! Most of the good things that surround us are a product of nature, love, or human genius. It is true that the output of genius minds is often used for evil purposes; however, halting genius would be equivalent to halting or reversing the global progress. Few would advocate a
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return to pre-print Middle Ages or voluptuous times of the Roman Empire. Instead, we should rather proliferate genius and employ innovative minds to ensuring future harmonious, sustained, and measured progress of humanity If you do something stupid, so are you! False! Human brain is an imperfectly programmed machine. It never stops learning and verifying its errors. Its knowledge base is painfully limited. The same brain may be able to disentangle the complexities of the string theory and then slip on simple sums. We measure genius by its top achievements, not by the lack of failures. It may be an enticing media tidbit to see the US Vice-President fail to spell the word potato; however, the blame should rather be put on the irregular spelling of English (when I typed potato here in my word processor, I did see the ominous red wavy underline again). The misspelled word might actually indicate the politician who would rather spend his time on solving the problems of the nation rather than waste time on cramming thousands of spelling patterns of English. If you do a very dumb thing, do not blame it on your mental powers. Actually, one of central characteristics of geniuses is self-confidence. Geniuses do silly things and often go around in circles. What makes them succeed in the end is self-confidence and the unshaken belief in the solvability of problems Geniuses do not forget things! False! Genius brains are made of the same substance as average ones. Consequently, their memories are subject to exactly the same laws of forgetting. All knowledge in the human brain declines along a negatively exponential curve. Forgetting is as massive in a genius mind as it is in any other. The best tools against forgetting are (1) good knowledge representation (e.g. mnemonic techniques) and (2) review (based on active recall and spaced repetition). Geniuses may hold an advantage by developing powerful representation skills that make learning much easier. They often develop those skills early and without a conscious effort. However, the science of mnemonics is well developed and you can see a dramatic difference in your knowledge representation skills after a week-long course. With help of SuperMemo, you can also solve the problem of forgetting by optimizing the review and detecting your weak spots in knowledge representation (see: knowledge leeches). In addition, a welcome side-effect of using SuperMemo is the subconscious increase in your mnemonic powers. In other words, mnemonic techniques and SuperMemo can help you forget about forgetting. Paradoxically, absent-mindedness is also often associated with genius. The proverbial absent-minded professor indeed tends to forget things by focusing on what is important and neglecting minor things in life. The current location of car keys is in a longer perspective by far less important than the newest inspiration on developing the theory of everything. Actually, due to their absent-mindedness geniuses should be banned from driving! Their intense focus on a problem to solve may pose danger to others. If you tend to forget little things, this may actually be an indication of your strong creative focus. Use MS Outlook's Calendar to free your memory and your mind from worrying about details. You can also use SuperMemo tasklists if the number of tasks is by far higher than your ability to execute them Geniuses sleep little! False! When looking at Edison and Tesla it is easy to believe that cutting down on sleep does not seem to pose a problem in creative achievement. Those who try to work creatively in conditions of sleep deprivation will quickly discover though that fresh mind is by far more important than those 2-3 hours one can save by sleeping less. A less visible side effect of sleep deprivation is the effect on memory consolidation and creativity in the long term. Lack of sleep hampers remembering. It also prevents creative associations built during sleep. It is not true that geniuses sleep less. For example, Einstein admitted that he would work best if he got a solid nine-hours block of sleep. The difference between Edison and Einstein could be a combination of physiology and working mode. Edison would spend hours on manual experiments, which may involve less demand for sleep as compared with highly abstract reasoning. Edison also used to run his own business affairs that could add some adrenaline to affect the sleep physiology. Apart from the difference in the working mode, the sleep physiology can differ between individual. In an extreme case, it is possible that Einstein's brain was "slower" in sleep and required more time to do the same job. His sleep could also include a larger proportion of non-optimizing stages (i.e. stages that are likely to act as transition between physiologically most important Stage 4 NREM and REM sleep). Whatever the underlying cause, you should follow your natural sleep demand and never cut down on sleep Early to ripe, early to rot! False! Terman Study contradicts this claim. See the section devoted to William James Sidis for a discussion You need a degree! False! Edison got only 3 months of formal schooling. Lincoln spent less than a year in school. Benjamin Franklin's formal education ended when he was 10. Graham Bell was also mostly family trained and self-taught. Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Dean Kamen, and Bill Gates were all college drop-outs. If you have a strong personality and an unswerving drive for self-improvement, in the era of the Internet, you may
actually gain more knowledge on your own as long as you choose a field that does not require expensive labs, hands-on experience, close social interaction, etc.. Universities tend to be inefficient and wasteful with outdated teaching methodology. However, if you do it on your own, you always have to keep in mind that you need to learn what is important; not what is easy or just interesting. Universities are still hard to beat in forcing you to learn things that are hard but important. Secondly, universities are a great source of inspiring human interaction. If your social skills are poor or you find it hard to meet new people on-line, you should at least experiment with the traditional schooling system. Naturally, if your motivation and self-discipline are not of the highest mark, going through the formal system of education may be a must 10. Genius can be evil! False! Evil, by definition, is stupid. One can show genius skills in a narrow field and still be an evil person, but an evil human being does not deserve a title of a true genius if his or her wisdom does not reach beyond the narrow field of specialization. This is why all true geniuses are deeply concerned with the future of humanity. Mistakenly, some use Hitler as an example of an evil genius quoting the efficiency of the holocaust machine, and some of his early political and economic successes. Hitler grew in power not by his genius but by his anger. He was a byproduct of the Treaty of Versailles and ensuing discontent and nationalism among German population. The truth about Hitler is illustrated by the utter failure of his plans, his philosophy, and his dreams. The holocaust was not powered by anything but hate that spread far beyond the mind of one evil man. Last but not least, the second law of thermodynamics should teach everyone that there is nothing genius about destruction. Your PC is an incredible product of the collective human genius, yet it takes a hammer and an untrained hand to terminate its usability. 11. Be unique! This boosts creativity! False! The relationship between uniqueness and creativity is reverse. It is true that many creative people are unique or strange in behavior. This comes from their creative way of looking at things and unwillingness to stick to those form of tradition that defy reason. By no means an effort towards uniqueness will boost creativity. It is true that Einstein smoked a pipe, but it does not mean that you will be more of a genius if you take on smoking a pipe. If Bill Gates comes to meet you in a crumpled old shirt, it is because he values comfort and his own time more than canons and conventions. Crumpled shirts do not augment mental powers. David Boise may come to the US Supreme Court in sneakers because these do less damage to his circulation and his course of thought. Guys at Yahoo sleep in their offices and walk around the company barefooted. Only because that is ergonomic. Wozniak and Jobs started the company in a garage hoping to follow the footsteps of Hewlett and Packard. Better in a garage than not at all. This all does not mean that if you start bare-footed in a garage you stand a better chance for success in the dot-com economy. Nor will it help if you paint your hair green. Unless, naturally, the green color will have some positive and tangible effect on your psyche, your boss, your wife or your bank clerk. Creative people look strange or unique, but that is not by design! Originality does not carry any value in itself and striving for it is wasteful. Whole philosophies have been built on the concept of the unique value of strong individual with not-so-good outcome for the mankind 12. TV makes you stupid! False! TV or radio can be harmful if you are unable to control what you watch or listen, or if you are unable to optimize the proportion of your time spent on broadcasts. Otherwise, TV is still hard to match in its ability to present to you a pre-selected and emphatically graphic video material for the purposes of education or getting informed. Video education based on the material from reputable channels may be the most efficient form of tutor-less education. Rather than getting drawn into Jerry Springer or Survivor, you can get a quick lecture on evolution, history of the Ottoman Empire or Islamic Revolution in Iran from the Discovery Channel, BBC World or CNN. Do you know that CNN has spent $12 million to produce their 24-part series "Cold War"? As I write these words, BBC World is running an excellent 26-part "People's Century". Huge production budgets have been converted here into a superb video-documentary that will give you the best rate of knowledge and inspiration per minute. The following rules can help you avoid potential damage of television to your creative work: choose the right channel and programming in advance. Your decision should be conscious rather than spontaneous. Do not let emotions or curiosity override your true needs for information and learning use a VCR to make sure you can watch the material at designed time. By no means should TV schedule affect your own schedule. Neither should TV schedule determine what you watch and learn. VCR will also help you fast forward over advertising and less relevant material choose the appropriate timing. Watching TV is by far less demanding to your brain than, for example, learning with SuperMemo. This is why you could choose the timing where your brain is less alert, e.g. after meals or before sleep (remember to avoid emotionally-charged content before sleep) to boost positive results, you could also add some priority to foreign language channels to add some
foreign language learning. If English is your second language, you should actually give English channels a strong preference due to the fact that no creative mind can truly benefit of the Knowledge Age without a fluent command of English 13. Curiosity killed the cat! False! Forget this proverbial eye-wash. Even in the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica rationalized curiosity by noticing that the vice of curiosity cannot be about intellective knowledge (Summa Theologica : Question 167). As long as you stay within the boundaries of politeness, live by a better proverb: Curiosity is your pass to the kingdom of knowledge 14. George W. Bush won't make a good president! False! Do not be belied by W's poor knowledge of foreign leaders or his not-so-excellent command of English. Both are indeed indicative of his learning priorities and will somehow affect his leadership. However, despite the appearances, presidency is a collective effort and being a genius of social skills, delegation of duty or diplomacy may be equally or more important. The truth about Bush jr. will only come out after his presidency, and its true historical impact can only be evaluated decades later. Someone has noticed that knowledgeable Al Gore might show a tendency to be more autocratic with "I know better" attitude. Knowledge is indispensable to a great leader but is not the only factor. Future will tell (see FAQ) Summary: Genius Checklist To summarize and solidify the formula for genius advocated by this article, I list below the most important factors underlying brain power. I sorted these factors so that to begin with those that are most likely to be the stumbling blocks on your own road to genius. The categories inevitably overlap. For example, all the first three preconditions for genius are strongly related: stresslessness, good sleep and self-discipline, and may provide the key to answering why we are not a planet of geniuses. I listed individual points separately on the basis of their ability to motivate your or inspire to improve your own attitudes, behaviors and self-growth techniques. Before you start reading, however, remember what Herbert Simon said about genius: it takes about ten years to develop it. Not only will you have to meet all the criteria listed below, but you will yet need lots of patience before you climb your summit! 1. Eliminate stress: Stress is understood here as rapid change resulting in an increase in stress hormones (catecholamines, ACTH, cortisol, etc.). Stressful change can come from conflict, illness, death of a relative or unemployment. Stress can also result from seemingly happy events such as a marriage or a slap-dash vacation. Please do not fail to read: The Medical Basis of Stress. A simple test here is to make sure that creative problems circulate in your mind while you are brushing your teeth. You will fail the test if instead of creative thinking you are preoccupied with problems at work or in the family. Stress will cut down your creative efficiency manifold if it takes your mind away from problem solving. Most of all, however, it will affect your self-discipline: another cornerstone of genius. In addition, sustained stress will result in hypercortisolism, overactivity of the sympathetic system, and a resulting inhibition of the neural growth and memory consolidation 2. Sleep: Make sure you always get as much quality sleep as your brain requires. The simplest first step: throw away your alarm clock! Lack of sleep delivers a quadruple whammy: (1) it prevents memory consolidation, (2) it eliminates memory optimization responsible for valuable associations, (3) it makes you tired and unwilling of mental effort, and (4) it undermines your self-discipline. Please read: Good sleep for good learning 3. Self-discipline: Lack of self-discipline aggravated by stress and lack of sleep is the number one cause of reduced productivity worldwide. In essence, it explains why capitalism appears to be economically superior to communism today. If you develop self-discipline habits early, your life is likely to take an entirely different course. If you believe you are lacking in this fields, try the following exercise: as soon as an activity comes to your mind that you really are unwilling to do, do it. Your rational brain must be the master of your body, not the other way around. Stand over a pool of cold water. Do you hate jumping in? The more you hate it, the sooner you should jump. And in the end you will love it. Cold shower is a minor inconvenience once you experience the volitional power of the brain. You need to master the skill of a perfect execution of your own plans. The more precise your plan, the harder it is to execute, yet the most tangible the results. Learn to delay gratification. If you focus on your long-term goal, your daily inconveniences will by far be more bearable. A strenuous quest towards the goal is the best reward to a genius mind. Minor awards of laziness do not befit a true genius. Think of self-discipline daily. Even strongest minds can relax it all too easily. Remember about stress and sleep (two previous points). Stress and sleepiness are chief factors that undermine self-discipline 4. Learn day and night: Knowledge is the substance you convert to ideas. Although it is possible to learn in stress
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and with sleep deficit, learning is listed here behind stress, sleep and self-discipline. This is because humans exhibit inborn curiosity that makes them crave for learning. Watching TV and reading gutter press also comes from the the same need for learning. Most people understand the importance of learning but are prevented from executing their plans due to stress or lack of sleep or lack of self-discipline. To breed genius, your whole life should revolve around learning. You should use every single and slightest opportunity to learn something new. This can be Einstein's biography or a talk with a homeless junkie. Read, talk, watch, surf, and keep on thinking. Do not avoid hard subjects (e.g. mathematics). Mold your learning strictly to your creative needs, but do not fail to explore a wide range of topics. Touch all the bases! Avoid tunnel vision. Remember that your success in learning will require appropriate knowledge representation and timing of review (as in SuperMemo). Lacking university education? Never mind. Look at Edison, Lincoln, or Leibnitz to see the power of self-instruction. See: Formula for success in learning Abstract knowledge: except for lots of learning, you will need to pay attention to the quality of knowledge and its abstract applicability. You cannot just memorize thousands of facts. You have to consciously explore areas such as logic, probability, statistics, game theory, decision theory, computing sciences, optimization, as well as other branches of mathematics and other sciences. You have to develop a love for logical thinking, scientific method and skepticism. Even if you are a movie critic, you will still need a quality logic to frame your judgment. Remember that all knowledge is volatile and may be subject to falsification at any time. Keep your mind open to new truths even if they seem to turn your present vision of the world upside down. See: Smart and dumb learning Knowledge representation: the main thing that makes genius brains stand out is their ability to store quality knowledge in a way that is easy to remember and easy to use. Genius brains can see complex things in a simple form. They look at the same text or picture and see a dozen times more than an average individual. An average reader will say: "I understand, so what?". A genius reader will say: "Eureka!" and list several applications of the just acquired piece of knowledge. Geniuses simplify while learning. They build abstract models. They develop abstract languages for representing knowledge. Those representation skills can also be developed by training. Have you ever tried to learn Kanji (Japanese language symbols)? If you see Kanji as a tangle of confused sticks, you are a typical beginner. With time; however, Kanji symbols should begin to sing to you and talk to you in their own language. Once you pass the first few hundred, the next thousand should go smoothly. The same happens if you learn 20x20 multiplication table. With time you learn simple tricks for running simple and repetitive calculations. Instead of memorizing 20x20 combinations, you limit yourself to a standard 10x10 table (just 25% of all combinations) and add to this a few rules for manipulating numbers in your working memory. The best way to develop good representation is to (1) understand the way the memory works (see: 20 rules of formulating knowledge), (2) consciously modify representations in the learning process (e.g. reediting items in SuperMemo) and (3) working on abstract knowledge (the more you learn the easier it becomes). If you encounter a difficult problem in incremental reading, postpone it. With luck, some other source or article will hand down a better representation that will better nourish your understanding. For example, the brain metaphor presented in this article is supposed to simplify the representation of genius. Hopefully, it should demystify genius by comparing it to a well-programmed computer. In the end, it should encourage your to start programming (your own brain). See also: Dealing with complexity in SuperMemo Health: take an obsessive care about your health! Keep your blood pressure down (high blood pressure damages your brain), do not abuse alcohol (any dose that visibly affects your mental performance may be poisonous to your nervous tissue), use medication only when absolutely necessary, forget smoking or illicit drugs, exercise, learn medical sciences!!! Your brain is a highly sensitive organ that needs a healthy environment to operate in. Health and understanding the biological needs of your brain may dramatically affect your performance in the long run Avoid negative emotions: learn to control and eliminate negative emotions that blur your mind and long-term vision. The only acceptable feeling towards others should be love, compassion, admiration, inspiration, and other positives. If other not-so-nice feelings tend to creep in, emigrate into your creative world. Don't get swayed or discouraged by the nasty things in life. Ride on regardless. See: Negative and positive emotions Optimism and patience: drive your life into the optimistic track! Do what you love and develop a strong sense of purpose. Optimism and patience rooted in stoic philosophy are critical for your brain to peacefully engage in a creative effort. Optimism has a hormonal basis and as such can be manipulated and enhanced. Although, it is more than just stresslessness, you will find lots of inspiration in: The Medical Basis of Stress Positive stimulation: things that you love doing should find a place in your schedule. Due to its intimate and
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direct impact on the reward system, efficient learning belongs to the best sources of positive experience; however, to many it can also be a drudgery. For counterbalance you need to find time for highly enjoyable activities that will widen your enthusiasm for living in general. Be it music, art, movies, sports, religion, love, etc. Clear goal: even the smartest and the most knowledgeable brain does not deserve the status of genius if it lives in a vacuum. If you switch your focus and interests indefinitely, you may end up with little creative output to show for your talents. Establishing a clear goal for your life should be your first priority. If you are very young and still do not understand yourself or the surrounding world, you can safely commit yourself to enhanced learning. Until your goals crystallize, learning itself may be your temporary goal. However, you cannot keep on learning for the learning sake indefinitely. At some point you need to focus on a big goal and your learning should be focused on achieving that goal. Choose your goal by a combination of your own talents and its utilitarian impact. What do you think is the best thing you could do to make the world a better place? If you know it, make it your obsession. The greatest minds in history tended to focus intensely on a single problem and neglect all minor things of life. Young Bill Gates would sleep under his desk because he did not want to waste time on coming back home. David Boise, Al Gore's star lawyer, would live in a dirty house and run in worn-out suits to economize more time on getting prepared for his cases. Lincoln would dress nicely only to please his wife. Einstein would become entirely irresponsive to the outside world once he focused on his relativistic ideas. Edison would work for days nearly without sleep. Andy Grove of Intel stated justly: "Only paranoid survive!". You need a clear goal and you need to pursue it obsessively. As for Gates and Edison, remember that quality sleep was listed second on this checklist Rational optimization: Your goal can be great but what if a greater goal looms on the horizon? First of all, your ultimate goal should be ultimate. If it is not, you must generalize your hierarchy of value until you reach the root of human existence to answer what lives at the end of the infinite chain of whys. However, your subgoals can be plastic. To be sure you do not fall into Babbage-Tesla-Nelson trap of grandeur design and endless improvement, your decisions must be purely rational and probabilistic. Remember Cray? He would give up bells and whistles only to be the first with a workable solution. If the expected payoff of the new goal is greater than that of the former goal, switch it. Otherwise persist even though your emotions may tell you that the new thing seems so much bigger Balance learning and productivity: On one hand, this checklist asks you to work hard to achieve your goals. On the other, it asks you to spend your whole life on learning. Naturally, you need to find an optimum balance between learning and productive creativity. This is what Steven Covey calls P/PC ratio (i.e. the ratio of effort put into production as opposed to developing the production capacity). A simple rule of thumb is: start with allocating your time fifty-fifty to learning and creativity. Gradually, you will see where the bottlenecks develop and you can change your allocation (if you use SuperMemo 2004, Tools : Plan can help you stick to the chosen proportion). Each time you swing away from the optimum, your optimum output will be diminished. Your genius cannot be like a pink Cadillac in a glass showcase. Neither can you neglect developing genius while pursuing your goals Ambition, motivation, energy and persistence: the internal drive and the rage to master are the precondition of a true genius. Only these will make it possible to build extensive expertise and skills. The bad news is that those factors are strongly genetic. The good news is that you are probably already sufficiently endowed: after all you arrived that far digging into this lengthy article. Even the mere fact that you got down to reading is a big plus. See: Personality factor Balance focus and generality - One one hand, this checklist asks you to specialize in a narrow area in which you can become number one in the world. On the other, it asks you to never neglect wide multi-disciplinary learning. Naturally you need to balance the two, and its all intermediary forms. Again, you can try to cut your learning time in half and spend half of your time of specialist knowledge and half on general learning. Then you can make further subdivisions and optimize time allocation for individual subjects, sub-subjects and sub-subsubjects. By far the best way to effectively prioritize your learning is to use incremental reading. Each time you discover painful gaps in knowledge, you can toss in more material to incremental reading. Incremental reading puts no limit on how much material you can import into the learning process and it makes it possible to spend only as much time on learning as you can afford. You cannot overload incremental reading. If you add more biology, all other subjects will proportionally be compressed in priority. This also makes sure that you do not break down under a load of temporary fad. Whatever subjects declines in priority, it can be rescheduled (i.e. reduced in priority) or deleted. Reprioritization is actually done as you go with learning. In incremental reading,
you nearly do not need to allocate time for planning the learning process. Your prioritization can go concurrently with the learning process. You will not belong to those people who lose their chance for success by spreading it all too thin. Neither will you develop tunnel vision. With consciously controlled incremental reading, you will easily find an optimum balance between specialization and the big picture and all that falls in-between 16. Life philosophy - the way you look at the world and your most basic beliefs will strongly affect your ability to develop a genius mind. Particular political affiliations or religious convictions are of lesser concern as long as these do not interfere much with points on this checklist. Your views will crystallize along the genius itself. Your reason will be your best judge. However, two factors come to my mind as worth mentioning in this context. They both can be likened to always seeing the glass half-full: measure the day: measure your progress by your daily effort and not the distance remaining to the ultimate goal. Only with this paradoxical approach will you be able to follow the optimum trajectory. For one, today's effort is more tangible than the tiny difference a day often makes on your road. Productivity is the most satisfying feeling that will drive you to your greatest heights. Sensing productivity may be the most important positive emotion of a creative mind. As long as you derive your primary satisfaction from a perfect execution of your plans that lead to the big goal, your motivation will remain high and trajectory correct. Occasionally, your genius may end up unfulfilled as it was with Charles Babbage's differential machine or Ted Nelson's Xanadu. But this is no excuse for not trying forget about money: if you follow the money trail, you will in part optimize against creativity! Money-oriented optimization, at least in today's world, will prevent you from developing a clear creative focus. Very few true geniuses were motivated by money. Most were motivated by utilitarian goals or for simply being the best in their field. Of geniuses listed in this article, none were motivated by money (as for Gutenberg, we know too little to judge). You need to bend your creativity down to earth only as much as to ensure this checklist is left untouched (esp. in points related to health, stress, sleep and time for creative effort). For comfort you should keep in mind that Bill Gates'es of the future will be recruited from the creative elite. All nations work in concert to develop planetary mechanisms for rewarding geniuses for their invaluable effort. Genius's sole job and responsibility is to create and contribute value 17. Incremental reading: incremental reading is a new idea you may have never heard of. It makes it possible to read thousands articles at the same time (see: Incremental reading). I started using incremental reading only 1.5 years ago. However, it has already become the key component of my daily schedule, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to all creative people. For a thorough description of incremental reading see: Devouring knowledge. It may take you up to a month to learn the most important skills of incremental reading but the benefits are immense: dramatically increasing the speed of learning optimizing the structure of knowledge in your mind in terms of coherence, integrity and representation enhancing creativity by association of ideas (see also: Ideafisher) maximizing memory consolidation while you focus on knowledge representation prioritizing the acquisition of knowledge in various fields as well as fine-tuning the balance between specialization and general knowledge overcoming the boredom factor in digesting complex material minimizing the stress related to information overload and making learning fun 18. Write down new ideas: never trust your memory to keep your new ideas. Once you come up with an idea, write it down instantly. Write it down even then when it is only a hint on how to solve a problem. Write it down if you are not sure if it is correct. You cannot predict how your hint or a shadow of an idea will affect your future thinking. If the idea seems weak, so is its memory trace. Charles Babbage said: Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable. Graham Bell kept meticulous notes of his ideas that collectively could help Bell break the Edison's patent record. Botvinnik kept meticulous notes of
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his chess game ideas and encouraged his students to follow the same practice. Bohr's office had a wall with narrow drawer in which he would keep multiple manuscripts in various stages of preparation for publication. He would not hurry the creative process, but would always want to preserve the current state of thinking. Today, the best way to follow Bell and Bohr is to write down nuggets of ideas straight into the incremental reading process. Once you write down an idea, describe all associations of the moment. Gradually, in the incremental review process, you will reanalyze individual pieces, build upon them, consolidate, enhance with new knowledge, etc. In the process of incremental reading, add new ideas to topics that sparked them. This will also help you understand the impact of associational thinking and incremental reading on creativity Brainstorming: discuss great ideas with your colleagues: in a group or in relaxed one-to-one encounters. Do it in a park or by the lakeside. Avoid distracting or stressful surroundings such as offices, crowded places, etc. Learn brainstorming techniques. You will find lots of materials on the net or at Amazon.com Time-management: learn time-management techniques to maximize the efficiency with which you use your time. If you double the time spent on creative activities, you can increase your lifetime output manifold. Your efficiency may not double due to the fatigue factor, but the results of creative output tend to cumulate, consolidate, and self-amplify in time. Tesla's AC patents were second most valuable to that of the phone and Tesla's speed here could have ensured lifetime creative security had he not sold the patents early. His early invention provided him with material for numerous ideas later in life. Creativity is a great investment that carries a huge interest that will produce a snowballing effect throughout your life. To enhance your time-management skills, start from making an exact record of your work in a couple of exemplary days. See how much times goes to waste or to low-priority activities. If you have never done such an exercise before, you are bound to be surprised with the amount of hidden potential. Time management will release that potential. Use software such as MS Outlook to scrupulously schedule and prioritize your tasks. Learn to use e-mail instead of a phone or a car. Use tasklists in SuperMemo to manage unmanageably long lists of tasks and ideas. Use Above&Beyond software to dynamically manage your schedule. Regular and repetitive schedule works best for creativity. If you can afford a repetitive schedule, Tools : Plan in SuperMemo will be of great help in optimizing the realistic allocation of time to individual activities in proportion to their priority. You will find lots of materials about time management on the net or at Amazon.com Study great people: few things are as inspiring as the lives of the greatest individuals that have walked the planet. Look for strategies that could be helpful in your own effort Study yourself: try to document how you got your best ideas in the past, and what serves your brain best. Most of all focus, you should focus on your optimum working environment, mental state, and the methodology Grow social skills: do not neglect skills needed to interact with other people! Teamwork and cooperation can produce miracles. By alienating people you may block your ideas from surfacing. Make friends, and avoid bad lot. Listen to advice but politely refuse to follow it if you disagree. Never let other people dominate your path in any other way than through a superior advice. Good people are often driven by their nose as others abuse their politeness. Learn to say "No" Slug it out: if you need to solve a hard problem, allocate many hours to the goal. For a period of time, try to forget about the whole world. Toss lots of new inspirational knowledge to incremental reading. Slug it out as much as you can, and then sleep over it. Learn, think, create, sleep, learn, think, create, sleep until the problem is solved. Remember that your memories are reorganized during sleep. This is why you will need plenty of sleep at the time of high creative effort. Most likely, on one beautiful day, you will wake up with an idea ready for consumption in your half-awoken mind. It is only the matter of choosing the right problem for your agenda. The greatest scientists and inventors had a good nose for spotting solvable problems. If the problem is solvable with present means, slugging it out in a smart way will produce a satisfactory outcome Warm family: to perpetuate genius, please provide the best and most inspiring environment to your own kids. Parental attention is highly correlated with future young man's achievements. History of the greatest minds shows that loving, caring, inspiring, and warm family was the key to developing brains that change the world (see: Edison, Darwin, Wozniak)
The shortest synthesis of the above 25 rules is expressed by the point suggesting you work on gaining highly abstract knowledge. All the above rules form criteria for decision making, and are highly abstract and highly applicable to shaping your behavior from minute to minute. These rules can be evoked dozens of times during the course of a single day: either as guidance for decision-making or implicitly as part of your schedule, automatic behavior, or ground for more precise rules of conduct. Even at this moment some of the rules could kick in. For example, if it is late in the
night and are you sleepy, stop reading this article, go to sleep, and come back tomorrow. If you cannot focus on reading due to high levels of stress, try to resolve the stressful situation first, or work on stress management (e.g. go for a 30-minute jogging). If you have an important exam tomorrow that could cost you a year, invoke self-discipline rule and stick to your high-level resolutions first, etc. In short, genius develops over years of daily remolding of your neural connections. Work hard, make it smart and be patient: Rome was not built in a day Further reading at supermemo.com: Genius FAQ Modern education based on SuperMemo - this text written in 1990 as part of my Master's Thesis claims that training based on spaced repetition can enhance creativity. The controversy it sparked was among the factors that lead me to writing the presented text It's more than just memorizing - how we tend to obscure the link between knowledge and wisdom No force in the world can convince me to SuperMemo! - a typical opposition to the views presented in this article Further reading on the net: The IQ paradox resolved by Dickens and Flynn - how minor genetic differences get amplified to produce major IQ differences
Do intelligent students learn faster?
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Contents : Publications
Investigating the correlation between the intelligence and the performance in repetitive learning tasks
E.J.Gorzelanczyk, P.A.Wozniak, H.Chrzastowska, 3rd Congress of the European Federation of Neurological Societies, Sevilla, 1998

The article presented below seems to indicate that your IQ does not really matter much in learning with SuperMemo! It has been shown earlier that the learning process in SuperMemo correlates strongly with your learning results. Strangely, good students showed lower retention as measured by SuperMemo! This can easily be explained by the fact that SuperMemo is based on self-grading. Critical students provide lower grades and thus reduce their retention measurements. However, their high self-criticism pays off when it comes to exams that verify the learned knowledge. The fact that little correlation has been found between the same learning parameters and the IQ and its components, indicate that the motivational factor may really play a much higher role in learning that it is popularly perceived. The conclusions for you, the user of SuperMemo: Never say: "I am too stupid to learn it". If you cannot understand something, you probably miss some facts needed to complete the picture or perhaps the book you are studying is just badly written. Do not blame yourself! If you really try and you cannot, it probably is not your fault Never say: "I have too bad memory to really learn it". The experience of thousands of students of SuperMemo is that on average we differ very little as far as basic memory properties are concerned! Some students can really better structure the material to learn and thus learn really fast but with SuperMemo ... you will be forced to develop better mnemonic techniques (ways to structure the material in your memory). Otherwise the intractable material will make your repetitions a living hell. With time, you will see that your speed of learning does not differ much from the speed of other students. What really counts most in learning is motivation! If you really want to learn something, the only true limitation is time and the availability of a well-written (or well-structured) learning material. With SuperMemo, your memory no longer is a factor!
The authors have been investigating the applications of repetition spacing algorithms in learning (note that SuperMemo algorithm is a repetition spacing algorithm). As significant variations in the speed of learning have been observed among the tested students, the question has been raised about the possibility of finding a correlation between the components of intelligence and personality and various measures of the learning process in a group of students. In the presented study, thirteen different measures of the learning process have been juxtaposed against fourteen components of intelligence as measured by the Wechsler test for Polish population. Thirty students participated in the test. Their IQ has been measured and they all have been subject to a learning process based on repetition spacing lasting twelve months. Earlier studies have shown that such a learning process, when based on self-grading, often shows surprising negative correlation between the measured knowledge retention and final knowledge tests. Better students, i.e. those who fared well in the final test, have consistently showed lowered retention measurements throughout the learning process. In self-grading procedure, it appears that more critical students provide lower grades at repetitions and consequently show lower retention as measured by SuperMemo (i.e. not necessarily lower retention in general); however, their self-criticism and increased repetition workload make them fare better in verification tests. In the presented study, the authors have been looking for correlates between the parameters of the learning process and various components of intelligence. No significant correlates have been found. This seems to indicate remote relationship between the overall intelligence and the learning process that is probably most visibly affected by motivational factors. Additionally, memory-related components of intelligence do not play a visibly more significant role in learning than other components. This indicates that the basic memory properties of individuals are much less varied in a population than other factors affecting learning such as motivation or persistence. Description of the measures of the learning process: Last 1.3s Burden Grade Lapses Cases Retention Day/Rep The date of the latest scheduled repetition after 12 months of learning The number of items causing significant difficulties in learning The measure of the average number of repetitions per day The average grade given in repetitions (0..5 scale) The number of times an average item has been forgotten The total number of repetitions made in the entire learning period The average retention throughout the learning process The average interval between repetitions of an average item
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Interval Factor Rep Workload Time
The average interval between repetitions at the moment of completing the process of repetitions The average difficulty of items as measured at repetitions The average number of repetitions afforded an average item in the learning period The average time spent on repetitions per day The average time spent for a single repetition
Learning-Intelligence correlation coefficients (absolute values).

All rows and columns have been sorted for the highest averages (best correlates at the top-left). Highest correlation has been found for the following pairs: picture ordering vs. latest repetition dictionary test vs. the number of most intractable items similarities test vs. average number of repetitions per day No absolute value of any single correlation coefficient has passed the 0.5 barrier. Most notably, the correlation between the overall IQ and the retention was nearly zero!
test/parameter
similarities dictionary ordering pictures understanding math repeating digits knowledge missing pictures non-verbal scale verbal scale
Last
1.3s
Burden
Grade
Lapses
Cases
Retention Day/Rep Interval

0.217379 0.261952 0.101342 0.205431 0.172424 0.255651 0.161296 0.01551 0.008464 0.267287
Factor
Rep
Workload
Time
Average Maximum
0.251435 0.115108 0.186151 0.357474 0.192339 0.044872 0.19587 0.447874 0.085428 0.201719 0.274271 0.3069 0.459928 0.007164 0.280348 0.355465 0.104795 0.0405 0.158112 0.32479 0.1063 0.219757 0.237604 0.255267 0.158216 0.220544 0.003081 0.067041 0.293845 0.280389 0.118939 0.03909 0.260202 0.08776 0.098316 0.034617 0.303862 0.243793 0.080728 0.048178 0.143129 0.203255 0.246656 0.087238 0.285121 0.239839 0.053011 0.02366 0.287654 0.126439 0.2887 0.242132 0.079844 0.056562 0.068362 0.263983 0.14222 0.089241 0.145248 0.10665 0.042247 0.125142 0.171178 0.065187 0.158327 0.147416 0.005454 0.198295 0.003 0.06796 0.014984 0.176467
0.446996 0.33504 0.02327 0.126113 0.096549 0.292984 0.219493 0.446996 0.245754 0.109595 0.360766 0.129229 0.010174 0.041797 0.196172 0.447874 0.325604 0.232347 0.172744 0.098151 0.19341 0.152299 0.191012 0.459928 0.0492 0.10988 0.219496 0.179659 0.148656 0.083561 0.1575 0.0698 0.32479 0.093783 0.138667 0.139241 0.064291 0.112015 0.189514 0.150478 0.293845 0.050837 0.252497 0.11774 0.296262 0.119755 0.134654 0.296262 0.182687 0.119038 0.046969 0.076874 0.039605 0.12319 0.132473 0.303862 0.209288 0.159637 0.026145 0.133331 0.210475 0.01678 0.131344 0.285121 0.03229 0.072185 0.058815 0.127781 0.206032 0.047984 0.118959 0.006614 0.0153 0.2887 0.198578 0.032647 0.063951 0.18209 0.118753 0.267287
IQ
digit symbols bricks puzzles
0.025154 0.065028 0.029696 0.156907 0.123413 0.201409 0.230099 0.11278 0.230099

0.088343 0.066777 0.052283 0.135664 0.267287 0.154987 0.188677 0.118531 0.343025 0.00761 0.016567 0.10832 0.343025 0.000828 0.003613 0.105972 0.16183 0.010296 0.099978 0.09095 0.331007 0.013961 0.054225 0.041374 0.110118 0.164811 0.056728 0.076434 0.17159 0.134133 0.130028 0.127611 0.126876 0.125804 0.118095 0.320742
0.212143 0.000299 0.106088 0.040137 0.04751 0.139224 0.007805 0.051645 0.17159 0.065381 0.103362 0.114531
Average coefficient 0.179763 0.160815 0.15501 0.153376 0.139042 0.137879 Maximum correlation 0.459928 0.447874 0.2887 0.357474 0.293845 0.3069
0.446996 0.33504 0.360766 0.343025 0.296262 0.292984 0.219493 0.459928
For more on the same subject see: Analysis of data collected from a group of students using an algorithm for spaced repetition
file:///C|/Users/CENIZA/Desktop/iFiles/Genius/iq.htm[4/19/2012 9:12:56 PM]
Formula for success in learning
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Formula for success in learning. The power of knowledge
Dr Piotr Wozniak, September, 1998
This article defines key points needed to build rock-solid knowledge for lifetime. Some points may be obvious to you, some may be new. Those which require further discussion provide links to further materials on this website and on the net. This article is also available in Simplified English: Six steps to excellent memory If you have found this place in the vast cyberspace of the web, you are probably not the one to convince that knowledge is power, and that solutions to most problems facing humanity could be found if we were armed with more understanding of how the world works. While knowledge is power, information can be overpowering. An increasing proportion of the population suffers from Information Fatigue Syndrome, i.e. from stress related to being overwhelmed with an unmanageable glut of information. This text introduces you to simple steps toward managing information and toward rock-solid knowledge. No cheap miracles. Just a clear and straight approach based on facts and science. Within the bounds of the possible. I have been working on the problem of effective learning for 16 years now since, as a student of molecular biology, I first understood how I could greatly change the quality of all my actions were I able to improve the recall of what I studied for exams (and not only). Now, I would like to share my experience with you for one major reason: I want to see more people enjoy the blessing of empowering knowledge. If we all could learn and understand more, the world would definitely look better for all of us. Although I represent a company that is involved in commercial distribution of software tools and material for enhanced learning, I guarantee that after going through my 20-minute course you will be armed to experience noticeable improvement in your learning ability without spending a penny! You may find the first three points obvious. Please do not stop reading if this is the case. This is the shortest path to empowering knowledge: 1. Nurse your hunger for knowledge - if your motivation for getting knowledge is weak you can stop reading this text. The rest of my advice will not work. Your motivation cannot be shallow (like for passing an exam, showing off at a party, impressing the boss, etc.). You have to find the clear-cut link between knowledge and the value it brings to life. Do you like science programs? Are you interested in how your computer works? Do you surf the net looking for news? If the answer is yes, you are probably on the right track. Can you spend more than 30 minutes on a totally uncreative and non-intellectual activity (e.g. gossip, adult magazines, unadulterated laziness, etc.)? If yes, you may have a motivational problem. The hunger for knowledge grows as you get more educated (the more you know the more you know you don't know). So there is an excellent remedy for poor motivation: learn more and see how it can impact your and others' life. Research shows that strong motivation may actually count more than your IQ. Do not forget about your health! A strong body makes it easier to nurture a well motivated mind 2. Determine what you really need to know - you must first clearly identify the areas of knowledge that are most likely to positively influence your future. You will not even be able to skim the surface of the world's knowledge resources in your lifetime! The earlier you realize this the faster you will reach the point at which you will see that three well-selected pieces of knowledge may have the power to blast the entire shelf of ill-picked books. You must first see how much time you can spend on learning daily. Only a lucky few can afford to learn new things for more than an hour per day. If this is the case with you, the problem of knowledge selection is yet more burning. Take a long-term perspective. Do not get obsessed with learning just one subject, e.g. English,
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Excel or Economics! To assume a responsible position in society, you will need strong general knowledge on health, sociology, history, natural sciences, etc. Only those who can grasp the full picture are well positioned to be successful in their efforts 3. Locate sources of information - unless you are in your student years, going through a collection of thick books may not be the best way to accomplish your goals. Limited time gives preference to an incremental approach. You can study lots of sources in parallel and pick only information of the highest priority. Have you discovered the power of the Internet? Lots of answers can now be found on the net (as this article: short, free, and, hopefully, making an impact). Obviously you should cast your net wide. TV, news magazines and the library are still irreplaceable in many areas. See also: Devouring knowledge and Incremental reading to find out about efficient strategies for collecting, prioritizing and processing knowledge from the web 4. Formulate knowledge for active recall - this is the first point on the list that will require some convincing. Effective learning must be based on repetition. Otherwise whatever you learn will sooner or later be forgotten. Do not trust theories which tell you that you can develop memories lasting for lifetime! Everything you remember for life is somehow rehearsed by your memory (even if you are not aware of the repetition). The concept of permastore (indelible memory) is true only if you understand it as long-lasting memories that reach beyond your expected lifespan. No acquired memories last for ever; as a result, repetition is necessary to remember. An effective repetition must be based on active recall. This means that your brain must generate the answer. You cannot just passively process information. It is not enough to read that George Washington was the first US president. You need a question! For example: Who was the first US president? You will be disappointed to find out that most of the learning material available worldwide still does not comply with active recall! Additionally, whatever is based on active recall may not meet your expectations. Do you like running through exercises at the end of a course book? Probably not. The painful truth is that you will certainly have to formulate most of the knowledge yourself. After all, you will be getting it from various sources: CNN, Internet, Newsweek, encyclopedias, business journals, science journals, etc. These sources are not best suited for learning. They do not comply with the active recall principle. The time you invest in formulating knowledge for active recall will be returned manifold as long as you stick with the remaining principles of the presented formula for success in learning! (esp. Point 2: selecting only material that you need, and Point 5: repeating it in a rational manner). You will yet need lots of time to perfect the skill of adequately formulating knowledge for learning. You will find more details in The 20 rules of formulating knowledge in learning (including Tony Buzan's mind maps, cloze deletion, handling enumerations, etc.) 5. Use spaced repetition (i.e. repeat the material in properly selected intervals of time) - this point is most likely to enhance your learning skills even if you are a seasoned student! As mentioned earlier, you must repeat the learned material to make sure it really remains in your memory. The most difficult problem to solve is how to properly select the timing of repetitions. This problem has been solved for you and is immediately available as the SuperMemo method of fast learning (the name SuperMemo is derived from super memory and has nothing to do with memos). You can start using SuperMemo in minutes. You have three options, two of which are free: you can read Using SuperMemo without a computer and start using the method today you can download older versions of SuperMemo freeware if you have a credit card, you can order SuperMemo in minutes (Windows, Palm, Pocket PC, etc.) Once you learn how to use SuperMemo, you will remain for ever free of worries about being or not being able to remember the knowledge you learn. In newer versions of SuperMemo software, you can even tell the computer what proportion of knowledge you want to retain in memory (between 90-99%) 6. Do not neglect knowledge management - once you start learning using the previously mentioned principles, you must not forget that your needs change in the same way as the world around you. This fact must find its reflection in learning! Repetitions of the learned material must become a standard fixture in your daily schedule. This time will be spent well if you carefully make sure at each repetition that the material you learn is really worth the time you put in it. It must be up-to-date, useful, and properly formulated. You may be saving 70-90%
of your time if you remove or reformulate the hardest 5% of your learning material! The newest version of SuperMemo (see pictures) makes it possible to reschedule, postpone, dismiss, reedit or simply delete all material whose place in the learning process is changing. For more information about effective learning based on active recall and SuperMemo read: Learning Decalog You may be now skeptical of whether the above procedure is really worth the initial investment of time and adapting your mind to a new approach: Is knowledge really so central to my life? Is this active recall idea really critical? Why should I reformulate whatever I hear or read? Isn't it an awful waste of time? Is the SuperMemo method really a must? Aren't my currently used methods sufficient? Reading a 5-page article, searching for shareware or shelling out a couple of dollars might be barriers many of you will not be ready to pass! Sticking with regular repetitions may be an even steeper obstacle I have devoted all my academic and professional life to promoting the above approach and I guarantee results to anyone who will have the will to try and the persistence to continue. If you have any doubts, please do not hesitate and write to SuperMemoMail with your questions
Further reading
Devouring knowledge - how to maximize the speed of learning Roots of genius and creativity - how to maximize one's creative powers 20 rules of formulating knowledge - some tricks that will help you remember better Good sleep for good learning - basic knowledge on the importance of sleep for learning Forget about forgetting - popular scientific article about the role of repetition in learning Learning Decalogue - ten commandments of effective learning with SuperMemo Incremental reading - how to use SuperMemo to read many articles at the same time and convert them to lasting knowledge Build your vocabulary - an article about using SuperMemo for learning vocabulary
(Six Steps mind map generated in Mind Manager 3.5, imported to SuperMemo 2004, courtesy of John England, TeamLink Australia Pty Ltd)
See also: Recommended websites
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Contents : Articles
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Good sleep, good learning, good life
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Contents : Articles Dr Piotr Wozniak, July 2000 (updated)
The good educator Foreword insists on exercise, I have for years been interested in sleep research due to my professional involvement in memory and learning. This article attempts to produce a play, and synthesis of what is known about sleep with a view to practical applications, esp. in people who need top-quality sleep for their learning or creative plentiful achievements. Neurophysiology of sleep is an explosively growing branch of science. Many theories that are currently contested will soon be sleep: forgotten as a result of new findings. Consequently, this text is likely to grow old very quickly. Yet some basic truths about sleep are well"the great established, and practical conclusions can be drawn with the benefit to human creativity and intellectual accomplishment. In this text, I provide cordial of some links to research papers and popular-scientific articles that advocate disparate and contradictory theories. Please consult other sources to be nature", certain you do not to get a one-sided view! This article includes some indications on how to use free running sleep in the treatment of insomnia, John hypersomnia, advanced and delayed phase shift syndromes, and some other sleep disorders. If your own experience can contribute to the ideas Locke presented herein, I will gladly hear from you (esp. in the context of learning and creativity) (16321704) Contents: Sleep deprivation in society Function of sleep Two component model of sleep regulation Free running sleep Alarm clock Physiology of sleep Lark-owl misconception Delayed sleep phase syndrome Insomnia and hypersomnia Napping Learning during sleep Alcohol Caffeine Cigarettes Exercise Myths and facts Summary References Links FAQ Sleep deprivation in society Few people realize how important sleep is! The alarm clock is an often-used fixture in an overwhelming majority of homes of the modern world. By using the electric lighting, alarm clocks, sleeping pills, and shift-work, we have wreaked havoc on the process of sleep. Over the last hundred years of the twentieth century, we have intruded upon a delicate and finely regulated process perfected by several hundred million years of evolution. Yet only recently have we truly become aware that this intrusion may belong to the most important preventable factors that are slowing the societal growth in industrial nations! In a couple of years from now, we may look at alarm clocks and "sleep regulation", in the same way as we look today at other "great" human inventions in the league of cigarettes, asbestos materials or radioactive cosmetics Check this list below and see which applies to you: I often have problems with falling asleep at the right time I often find it painful to get up in the morning due to sleepiness I am often awfully drowsy at school or at work I regularly cut my sleep by 2-3 hours as compared with what my body seems to need I use the alarm clock and truly hate it I drink buckets of coffee or coke I often take 2-4 hour naps in the evening one of the above is a source of regular stress or reduced productivity The chances are around 90% you could subscribe to one of the above. It is also highly likely you have already learned to accept the status quo, and you do not believe you can do much about it. This article may hint at some remedies; however, the bad news is that for a real solution you will probably need to change your family life, your work, your boss, or some social rules!
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Sleep isn't just a form of rest! Sleep plays a critical physiological function, and is indispensable for your intellectual development! Those who do not respect their sleep are not likely to live to their full mental potential! Yet modern society has developed well-entrenched rules that keep sleep in utmost disregard. This has been driven to pathological levels in American society. Here are some bad rules that hurt sleep: it is ok to use alarm clock to cut sleep short it is ok to work in shifts it is ok to travel people around the world without much notice of the jet lag problem it is ok to save time by sleeping less and working more it is ok to pull kids out of bed in time for school it is ok to skip nights before important exams, etc. Cutting down on sleep does not make people die (at least not immediately). It does make them feel miserable but the ease with which we recover by getting just one good night of sleep seems to make sleep look cheap. Even the reports from the Guinness Record attempt at sleeplessness (Randy Gardner's awakathon in 1964 lasted 11 days [1]) trivialized the effects of sleeplessness. Many books on psychiatry and psychology still state that there aren't any significant side effects to prolonged sleeplessness! This is false! In 1992, when Bill Clinton was running for president, he proudly admitted that he went 48 hours without sleep because he really wanted to become the next president. Former Senator Bob Dole "improved" the record in 1996 presidential campaign: We have been going 78 hours. We've got to go 96. We have been going around the clock for America. Dole's feat was matched by Vice President Albert Gore jr. who kept campaigning for three days before the election of November 7, 2000. After the election, Gore still kept on his feet by going into extra hours of the concede-retract cycle of his cliffhanger contest against Governor George W. Bush of Texas. The bad example of disrespect for sleep comes from the most important people in the nation! Yet some dramatic facts related to sleep deprivation slowly come into light. Each year sleep disorders add $16 billion to national health-care costs (e.g. by contributing to high blood pressure and heart disease). That does not include accidents and lost productivity at work. For this, the National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimates that sleep deprivation costs $150 billion a year in higher stress and reduced workplace productivity (US, 1999). 40% of truck accidents are attributable to fatigue and drowsiness, and there is an 800% increase in single vehicle commercial truck accidents between midnight and 8 am. Major industrial disasters have been attributed to sleep deprivation (among these, at least in part, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, the gas leak at Bhopal, Zeebrugge disaster, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill). It has been known since the 1920s that sleep improves recall in learning. However, only recently, research by Dr Robert Stickgold, assistant professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, has made international headlines. Dr Stickgold demonstrated a fact that has long been known yet little appreciated: sleep is necessary for learning! Without sleep we reduce the retention of facts we have learned the previous day (and not only). Studying nights before an exam may be sufficient for passing the exam, yet it will leave few useful traces in long-term memory. The exam on its own replaces knowledge as the main purpose of studying! By cutting down on sleep we learn less, we develop less, we are less bright, we make worse decisions, we accomplish less, we are less productive, we are more prone to errors, and we undermine our true intellectual potential! A change in societal sleep habits can spell a social revolution in learning, health, and productivity on a scale that few imagine! "Judging from history, it would seem that fundamental changes in the way we think about sleep will be required for policy changes that would protect society from sleepy people who make catastrophic errors in industry and transportation" (Merrill Mitler, PhD) I have studied student personalities among users of SuperMemo for over ten years now. There are a couple of determinants that make a good, efficient and persistent student. Here are some characteristics of a person who is likely to be successful in learning: highly optimistic sleeps well knowledge hungry stress-tolerant energetic but able to slow down at the time of learning Here are some unfortunate characteristics that do not correlate well with the ability to study effectively (esp. in the context of SuperMemo): depressive problems with sleep (esp. insomnia) high levels of stress overexcited low stress tolerance (smokers, people with a drinking problem, abusers of mood altering substances, etc.) Sleeping well appears to be one of the most important factors underlying the success in learning! The physiological function of sleep For long, the physiological function of sleep has not been clear. In most people's mind, sleep is associated with rest and time for mental regeneration. Restorative, protective and energy-conserving theories of sleep have been quite popular until quite recently when it became apparent that one long-lasting sleep episode with suppression of consciousness does not seem to be the right way for the evolution to tackle depleted resources, toxic wastes or energy conservation (e.g. your muscles do not shut off completely to get rest). The critical function of sleep is dramatically illustrated in experiments in which rats chronically deprived of sleep eventually die (usually within 2.5 weeks). See: Is REM involved in memory formation? In evolutionary terms, sleep is a very old phenomenon and it clearly must play a role that is critical to survival. Only quite recently, it has been proven beyond
doubt that the function of sleep is related to learning! ([2] not all scientists agree!) Researchers have long known the particular importance of the hippocampus, a small brain organ, for memory formation. Yet it has always been difficult to find out what is special about the hippocampus that distinguishes it from other areas of the cerebral cortex that also show synaptic plasticity, i.e. the ability to store memories. Ground-breaking theories of Dr Gyrgy Buzski and his two-stage model of memory trace formation have inspired further research that sheds new light on what is actually happening during sleep [Buzski, 1989] (do not confuse this two-stage model with the two-component model of memory or with the two-component model of sleep regulation below). Using his knowledge of neural networks, ingenuous experiments on neuronal firing, and sophisticated mathematical analysis of spatiotemporal firing patterns, Buzski provided an good model explaining how the two components of sleep, REM and non-REM sleep, work together to consolidate memories. The hippocampus acts as the central switchboard for the brain that can easily store short-term memory patterns. However, these patterns have to be encoded in the neocortex to provide space for coding new short-term memories. This complex process of rebuilding the neural network of the brain takes place during sleep. Unlike rest or conservation of energy, this highest feat of evolutionary neural mathematics, requires the brain to be shut off entirely from environmental input! This automatic rewiring is the main reason for which we sleep and why there is no conscious processing involved! During sleep, the brain works as hard as during SAT or GRE exams. It rewires its circuits to make sure that all newly gained knowledge is optimally stored for future use. If you have some basic understanding of neurophysiology and neural networks, here is an article that makes an excellent reading about the neural functions of sleep: Slow wave sleep contribution to memory consolidation. Two component model of sleep regulation Electric lighting and stress are the two chief culprits that have converted the natural process of sleep into a daily struggle for millions. In the new millennium, we can rarely hope to get a good night sleep without understanding the science and the art of sleep. Currently, the societal understanding of sleep and its functions is as dismal as the understanding of the health risks of cigarettes in the 1920s. A majority of the population inflict pain, misery and mental torture on themselves and their children by trying to regulate their sleep with alarm clocks, irrational shift-work patterns, sleeping pills, alcohol, caffeine, etc. For a chance to break out from unhealthy sleep habits, you need to understand the two-component model of sleep regulation: There are two components of sleepiness that drive you to bed: circadian component - sleepiness comes back to us in cycles which are usually about one day long homeostatic component - sleepiness increases with the length of time we stay awake Only the superposition of these two components determines the optimum time for sleep. Most importantly, you should remember that even strong sleepiness resulting from the homeostatic component may not be sufficient to get good sleep if the timing goes against the sleep-high in the circadian component: Circadian component - there are around hundred known body functions that oscillate between maximum and minimum values in a day-long cycle. Because these function take about a day's time to complete, the term circadian rhythm was coined by Dr Franz Halberg of Germany in 1959 (in Latin circadian means about a day). The overall tendency to maintain sleep is also subject to such a circadian rhythm. In an average case, the maximum sleepiness comes in the middle of the night, reaches the minimum at awakening, and again increases slightly at siesta time in the afternoon. However, the circadian sleepiness is often shifted in phase as compared with your desired sleep time. Consequently, if your maximum sleepiness comes in the morning, you may find it difficult to fall asleep late in the evening, even if you missed a lot of sleep on the preceding day. In other words, the optimum timing of your sleep should take into consideration your circadian rhythm. Homeostatic component - homeostasis is the term that refers to maintaining equilibrium or balance in physiological and metabolic functions. If you drink liquids containing lots of calcium, homeostatic mechanisms will make sure that you excrete calcium with urine or deposit it in the bones. This is used to make sure your blood levels of calcium remain the same. Similar mechanisms are used to regulate overall sleepiness and its multiple subcomponents. The longer you stay awake, the more you learn, the more you think, the higher your tendency to fall asleep. On the other hand, caffeine, stress, exercise and other factors may temporarily reduce your sleepiness. The homeostatic mechanism prepares you for sleep after a long day of intellectual work. At the same time it prevents you from falling asleep in emergencies. Let us now formulate the fundamental theorem of good sleep: To get high quality night sleep that maximizes your learning effects your sleep onset should meet these two criteria: strong homeostatic sleepiness: this usually means going to sleep not earlier than 15-19 hours after awakening from the previous night sleep ascending circadian sleepiness: this means going to sleep at a time of day when you usually experience a rapid increase in drowsiness. Not earlier and not later! Knowing the timing of your circadian rhythm is critical for good night sleep (see below for more hints) Additionally, you should be aware that using the circadian component will only work when all its physiological subcomponents run in synch (as it is the case in free running sleep). People with irregular sleep hours and highly stressful lives may simply be unable to locate the point of ascending circadian sleepiness as this point may not exist! For a visual illustration of circadian and homeostatic components see Fig. 5. Later in the article, we will convert this theoretical formula into the more practical recommendations. Before that you may want to understand factors that greatly complicate the two-component model presented above. Most of all, you may be surprised to find out that your internal circadian oscillation is based on a period that is closer to 25 hours than to 24 hours! To be exact, it varies between individuals, seasons, and other daily factors such as stress, timing of sleep, timing of the light period, intensity of light, exercise, and many more. Usually it falls into the range from 24.5 hours to 25.5 hours. Most of us are able to entrain this 25 circadian rhythm into a 24-hour cycle by using factors that reset the oscillation. These factors include intense morning light, work, exercise, etc. German scientists have named these factors zeitgebers (i.e. factors that give time). As a result of the influence of zeitgebers, in a well-adjusted individual, the cycle can be set back by 30-60 minutes each day. However, the entrainment to the 24-hour cycle may come with difficulty to many individuals due to factors such as:
blindness (i.e. the inability to use the main zeitgeber: light) short-sightedness (i.e. reduced sensitivity to light zeitgeber) increased demand for sleep (e.g. as a result of intense learning, highly creative job position, etc.) stress endocrine disorders sleep disorders adolescence Important! A great deal of sleep disorders can be explained by entrainment failure (i.e. the failure to reset the 25-hour circadian rhythm to the 24-hour daylight cycle). In other words, in the interdependence between sleep disorders and entrainment failure, the cause-effect relationship will often be reversed! Due to the physiological function of sleep, which is the rewiring of the neural network of the brain at the synapse level, we can naturally expect that the demand for sleep be associated with the amount of learning on the preceding days. This link may also explain a decreased demand for sleep in retirement due to a decrease in intellectual activity. This age-related drop in the demand for sleep is less likely to be observed in highly active individuals. For similar reasons, the entrainment failure can often be found among students during exams. It is not clear how much of this failure can be attributed to stress, or to the desire to do more on a given day, or to the actual increase in the demand for sleep. To find out more about the circadian component see: Biological Clock Tutorial Free running sleep There is a little-publicized formula that acts as a perfect cure for people who experience continual or seasonal problems with sleep entrainment. This formula is free running sleep! Free running sleep is a sleep that comes naturally at the time when it is internally triggered by the combination of your homeostatic and circadian components. In other words, free running sleep occurs when you go to sleep only then when you are truly sleepy (independent of the relationship of this moment to the actual time of day). The greatest shortcoming of free running sleep is that it will often result in cycles longer than 24 hours. This eliminates free running sleep from a wider use in society. However, if you would like to try free running sleep, you could hopefully do it on vacation. You may need a vacation that lasts longer than two weeks before you understand your circadian cycle. Even if you cannot afford free running sleep in non-vacation setting, trying it once will greatly increase your knowledge about natural sleep cycles and your own cycle in particular. Free running sleep algorithm: 1. Start with a meticulous log in which you will record the hours in which you go to sleep and wake up in the morning. If you take a nap during the day, put it in the log as well (even if the nap takes as little as 1-3 minutes). The log will help you predict the optimum sleeping hours and improve the quality of sleep. With some experience, you will need the log no longer; however, you will need it at the beginning to better understand your rhythms 2. Go to sleep only then when you are really tired. You should be able to sense that your sleep latency is likely to be less than 10-20 minutes (sleep latency is the time between going to bed and falling asleep). If you do not feel confident you will fall asleep with 10-20 minutes latency, do not go to sleep! If this requires you to stay up until early in the morning, so be it! 3. Be sure nothing disturbs your sleep! Do not use an alarm clock! If possible, sleep without a bed partner. Keep yourself well isolated from sources of noise and from rapid changes in lighting 4. Avoid stress during the day. Stress hormones have a powerful impact on the timing of sleep. Stressful situations are also likely to keep you up at the time when you shall be falling asleep 5. After a couple of days, try to figure out the length of your circadian cycle. If you arrive at a number that is greater than 24 hours, your free running sleep will result in going to sleep later on each successive day. This will ultimately make you sleep during the day at times. This is why you may need a vacation to give free running sleep an honest test 6. Once you know how much time you spend awake on average, make a daily calculation of the expected hour at which you will go to sleep (we will use the term expected hour later on). This calculation will help you predict the sleep onset. On some days you may feel sleepy before the expected hour. Do not fight sleepiness, go to sleep even if this falls 2-3 hours before your expected time. Similarly, if you do not feel sleepy at the expected hour, stay up, keep busy and go to sleep later, even if this falls 2-4 hours after your expected time 7. Here is the list of cardinal mistakes to watch for: do not go to sleep before you are sleepy enough - this may result in falling asleep for 10-30 minutes, and then waking up for 2-4 hours. Ultimately you can experience an artificial shift forward in the entire cycle! unless for natural reasons (no sleepiness), do not go to sleep well after the expected hour. This will result in missing the period of maximum circadian sleepiness . Your sleep will be shorter and less refreshing. Your measurements will be less regular and you will find it harder to predict the optimum timing of sleep in following days do not take a nap later than 6-7 hours before the expected hour. Such a nap is likely to affect the expected hour and disrupt your cycle. If you feel sleepy in the evening, you will have to wait for the moment when you believe you will be able to sleep throughout the night try to avoid taking a nap longer than 30-60 minutes. Except for conditions of major physical or mental exhaustion (e.g. heavy exercise, illness, dehydration, etc.), such a nap is a likely result of not sticking to other rules of free running sleep and is also likely to disrupt the cycle In free running conditions, it should not be difficult to record the actual hours of sleep. In conditions of entrainment failure, you may find it hard to fall asleep, or wake up slowly "in stages". In free running sleep, you should be able to quickly arrive to the point when you fall asleep in less than 10 minutes and wake up immediately (i.e. without a period of fading drowsiness). In other words, you can remember the hour you go to bed, add 10-15 minutes and record it as the hour you fell asleep. As soon as you open your eyes in the morning, you should record the waking hour. Usually you should not have any doubts if you have already awakened for good (as opposed to temporarily), and you should not fall asleep again (as it may be a frequent case in non-free running sleep). Fig. 1 shows an exemplary free running sleep log in a graphic form:
Fig 1. An exemplary 5-months free running sleep cycle graph in conditions of negligible isolation from standard zeitgebers. In the picture, the average time of night sleep is 7 h 5 min, time before the midday nap is 7 h 48 min, the average nap takes 25 minutes and the time before the nap and the night sleep is 9 h 46 min. The whole cycle adds up to 25 hours and 4 minutes. Note that the distance between nap and sleep in the graph is less than 9 h 46 minutes due to the fact that the blue retirement-line refers to the previous day sleep as compared with the red nap-line. Consequently, the nap-tosleep band is horizontally shortened by 64 minutes, i.e. exactly as much as the daily time-shift in the cycle. If you have collected your own free-running sleep data, please contact the author (even data from periods as short as one week are of value).
Sleeping against your natural rhythm If you sleep against your natural rhythm you will often experience tiredness or drowsiness that can be resolved by adjusting your sleeping hours. In healthy individuals, the daytime alertness is primarily determined by: 1. 2. 3. 4. circadian phase and homeostatic sleepiness total sleep time the night before amount of slow-wave sleep sleep the night before (see Physiology of sleep below) regularity of the sleep-wake schedule
Free-running sleep provides the best way to satisfy all above criteria Free-running sleep is likely to shift the minimum temperature point from the early morning closer to the beginning of your sleep. You should notice increased sleepiness before going to sleep and reduced sleep inertia upon awakening! If you cannot free-run your sleep, it is very important to understand the relationship of your homeostatic and circadian sleep drive as compiled in the table below. In the course of the day, you should move in synch between the yellow areas of the table, i.e. from perfect alertness to maximum sleepiness, and then back to perfect alertness. The gray areas illustrate when your sleep falls out of synch: High circadian sleepiness Low circadian sleepiness Insomnia: You are tossing and turning in bed. You are very tired but you cannot fall asleep. Your temperature, blood pressure and pulse are raised.
Peak of the night: You are very drowsy and fall
High homeostatic sleepiness
into refreshing sleep with latency of less than five minutes
Your thoughts are racing Solution: Wait for the arrival of the circadian phase. Delay going to sleep by 3-6 hours
Low homeostatic sleepiness
Hypersomnia: You are drowsy throughout the day despite long sleep hours. Napping does not help. You show minimum energy levels. Your muscles are weak and atonic Solution: Adjust your sleep phase to your circadian (e.g. try to go to sleep 3-6 hours later)
Peak of the day: You are alert, energetic, and full of new ideas
Should we free run our sleep? As it will be discussed later, free running sleep can be used to solve a number of sleep disorders except those where there is an underlying organic disorder that disrupts the natural sleeping mechanisms. However, you will often hear two arguments against adopting the use of free running sleep: Argument 1 - free running sleep will often result in a day that is longer than 24 hours. This ultimately leads to sleeping in atypical hours. This seems to go against the natural 24-hour cycle of light and darkness. Less often, the cycle will be less than 24 hours Argument 2 - sleep can be compared to eating. Your body will always try to get more than it actually needs. This will result in spending more time in sleep than necessary. In other words, free running sleep is time-inefficient Let us consider the validity of these two arguments: Argument 1 - It is true that free running sleep will often run against the natural cycle of light-and-darkness. However, the departure from the natural rhythm is a direct consequence of electric lighting and modern lifestyle. Our ancestors could expect little but darkness and boredom past sunset. Darkness and boredom are quite efficient in lulling us to sleep. If we stubbornly refuse to use electric lighting beyond a certain hour, we will still find it difficult to run away from the excitement of modern lifestyle. To shut your brain to sleep efficiently in the early evening your would probably need to quit your current job and pick some uninspiring one, give up your intense family life, give up your hobbies and interests, give up the Internet, evening TV, etc. We live more exciting and more stressful lives than our grandparents. Turning the lights off in the early evening would probably only be wasteful. Additionally, shortsightedness, the ailment of the information age, makes us less sensitive to light zeitgebers and artificially prolongs the circadian cycle. There are a number of downsides to free running sleep. The worst shortcoming is a difficulty in establishing an activity cycle that could be well synchronized with the rest of the world. Later in the article we will discuss the positive aspects of free running sleep. Ultimately, everyone needs to balance pros and cons to make the ultimate decision: to free run or not to free run Argument 2 - It is true that people who try to free run their sleep may find themselves sleeping outrageously long in the beginning. This, however, is not likely to last and may be a body's counter-reaction to prolonged sleep deprivation. Unlike in the case of foods, there does not seem to be any evolutionary advantage to getting extra sleep on days we can afford to sleep longer. In the course of evolution, we have developed a tendency to overeat. This is a protection against periods when food is scarce. Adipose tissue works as a survival kit for bad times. However, considering the function of sleep, the demand for sleep should be somewhat proportional to the amount of new learning received on preceding days. In ancient times, we did not have exam days as opposed to lazy days. Consequently, the link between learning and demand for sleep is quite weak. The body clock will still make us sleep 7-8 hours on nights following the days of total inaction. Secondly, every extra minute of sleep might improve the quality of neural wiring in the brain. Sleep would better be compared to drinking rather than eating. We do not have much capacity to survive without drinking due to our poor water storage ability. Similarly, we cannot sleep in advance in preparation for a double allnighter before an exam or important deadline The claim that free running sleep increases the natural need for sleep is false! If you happen to sleep longer in free running sleep, it indicates that you had been sleep deprived before running free. This longer sleep stage is transient. On the other extreme of free running sleep debate is the argument for changing the way society works by ... introducing the 28-hour day. To read more about this concept see A New Clock for A New Age. Although a 28-hour day sounds today more like a legislative science fiction, the free running sleep argument actually significantly bolsters the proposition. It is not difficult to imagine that in the newly emerging cyber-society, people will find it easier to adopt 28-hour schedule. Even if the average free running circadian cycle lasts 25 hours, it seems physiologically easier and less damaging to prolong the cycle by three hours than to shorten it by one! Kill the alarm clock! Few upwardly mobile people in the modern rat-race society can live without an alarm clock. Increasingly, time becomes the most precious commodity in society where achievement is often associated with speed and perfect time-management. However, alarm clocks introduce two harmful side effects: stress and sleep deprivation. The art of time-management makes it possible to live at a high speed with an alarm clock at your side, and still be free from stress. However, the societal damage inflicted by alarm clocks used to regulate sleep is unforgivable. An alarm clock that interrupts your sleep damages your memories, your ability to learn, your mood and temper, your relationships with other people, your ability to focus and your overall intellectual performance! Dr Robert Stickgold has showed that people who learn a skill during the day, do not show significant improvement until they get a sound 7-8 hours of properly structured sleep. There was a noticeable correlation between the degree of improvement and the quality of sleep received. Forgetting is so painless that we rarely notice its effects. In a natural way, forgetting will proceed even if you get as much sleep as you need, and it is difficult to point to specific memories lost as a result of not sleeping enough. Moreover, sleep deprivation may leave your memories intact while their storage will be sub-optimum. The difference may be impossible to spot without measurement. We are more likely to notice sleepiness, reduced mental agility or bad mood. Yet societal respect for sleep is dismal (esp. in America and other highly industrialized nations).
Men's Health's Dan Vergano writing for ABC News in "No More Rude Awakenings" suggests a seven-day system for fighting sleepiness: "The secret is to fuel that arousal system so it can beat the pants off the sleep system. By creating the kind of feel-good expectations that trigger hormones to wake the brain, youll override the need to sleep and be able to jump out of bed like a man on fire". The article capitalizes on the fact that stress hormones help keep you alert. However, there is a simple and the only rational remedy for "rude awakenings": get enough sleep! Jumping like a man on fire is not likely to have a positive effect on your creative potential! You may often notice that waking up with an alarm clock gives you a quick start into a day. You may then come to believe that using the alarm clock might help you keep alert later during the day. This is not the case. The alarm signal simply scares your brain into wakefulness disrupting the carefully planned system for memory consolidation. As a result, you get an immediate injection of adrenaline and your levels of ACTH and cortisol also increase. This is cortisol that peaks at awakening in natural sleeping rhythm that provides you with the fresh-mind impression. With passing time, this cheaply gained alertness will wear thin unless you continue abusing your physiology with more "remedies". You may use more scare tactics for keeping yourself alert, abuse caffeine, or even get a more profound effect with cocaine. Alertness should be achieved via sufficient sleep, not despite the lack of sleep! Apart from your reduced ability to learn new things, all unnatural anti-drowsiness methods will produce a great deal of side effects that can be pretty damaging to your health in the long run. If your life without an alarm clock may seem like an impossibility, you will probably need to use all methods in the book to be sure you get enough sleep and minimize the damage. However, you can at least start from changing your mindset about the importance of sleep and ensure you do not impose wrong habits on your children. Perhaps the young ones will be lucky enough to work in a flex-time system that will make it possible to get sufficient amount of undisturbed sleep. At least, do not set a bad example! President Bill Clinton was woken up twice by telephone during the night of April 22, 2000 before the infamous I.N.S. raid on the home of Miami relatives of the young Cuban exile Elian Gonzales. In all likelihood, the memories the president had built from his previous day experience were affected! This could influence his performance on the next day and the quality of his decisions! Has anybody thought of a rule: Do not wake up the president? A rule that could only be revoked in national emergency? Physiology of sleep This inset has been provided to deepen your understanding of sleep, its dynamics and functions. It requires some basic understanding of biology. You may skip this section without missing on practical aspects of this article. Many aspects of sleep physiology are hotly debated and highly hypothetical. Thus this short compilation may soon appear outdated as new research data sheds light on disputed areas Human brain looks like the highest achievement of biological evolution. It all started from a simple ability to conduct impulses. Then the genius concept of neural network was developed. The brain of primitive vertebrates started adding new structures as well as new mechanisms for optimizing the jungle of neural connections. Sleep is a relatively old invention used to consolidate memories via predominantly molecular mechanisms. Circadian rhythms are known in plants and in animals independent of the need for sleep. The evolution has, however, conveniently hooked sleep to circadian rhythms to efficiently alternate between the explorative state (i.e. the use of the brain for learning new things) and the consolidation state (i.e. sleep). The circadian cycle has been associated with around a hundred known physiological functions and parameters that change in concert during the day. The most important, and most closely related to sleep are cycles in the level of hormones such as serotonin and melatonin, ACTH and cortisol, acetylcholine, adenosine, and growth hormone. There is a circadian function that we can observe on our own without complex measurements: changes in temperature (see Fig 2):
Fig 2. Temperature changes in the course of the day in degrees centigrade (courtesy of: Prof. Luiz Menna-Barreto, State University of Campinas, Brazil)
At the time when we usually go to sleep, there is a substantial circadian increase in melatonin released from the pineal gland. Melatonin is one of strong contributors to drowsiness. However, it is possible to sleep against the melatonin-serotonin cycle, which clearly indicates it is not the only sleep regulator. At the same time, there is a significant drop in ACTH and cortisol, which are our alertness hormones. Similarly, the levels of serotonin drop and so does the body temperature. At the same time there is a increase in firing in brain sleep inducing nuclei, esp. the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO). These have an inhibitory impact on the ascending reticular activating system (RAS) which is a group of neural structures that keep our cerebral cortex in the active waking state. Before retirement, the basal forebrain, the chief NREM-inducing organ, begins a firing pattern that is characteristic to initial stages of sleep. With the depression in the activity of the RAS, we quickly lose interest in demanding intellectual activities. Soon the only thing we can think of is sleep. Once we rest in an undisturbed place, we drift into the dreamland. Actually, this is only the case in a well regulated sleeping cycle. People who cannot succumb to natural body rhythms will often be unable to follow the above scenario. You are quite likely to belong to this group -- after all, the majority of industrial nations' population suffers from a varying degree of a number of sleep disorders! In the course of the night, we alternately enter two phases of sleep (see Fig 3):
NREM sleep (named for non-Rapid Eye Movement) REM sleep (named for Rapid Eye Movement) Using EEG measurements, scientists are able to distinguish four phases of NREM sleep, which correspond to progressively deeper sleep. As we close our eyes, it takes 3-15 minutes to enter Stage 1 NREM sleep (in a healthy and well-regulated individual). In this stage we will often experience little jerks associated with the impression of falling. Minor disturbances will wake us up and often we will even deny we were asleep! Once State 1 NREM solidifies, we move towards Stage 2 NREM sleep which is still relatively light. After that we move to Stage 3 and Stage 4 NREM (also called slow-wave sleep or deep sleep). In those last stages, SPW bursts (sharp wave bursts) can be recorded in the central memory switchboard of the brain: the hippocampus. Scientists believe that this may be the critical moment of memory consolidation in which the hippocampus works as the neural trainer for the neocortex in which long-term memories will be stored. During SPW bursts, the experience of the day will optimally be transferred to neocortical networks via neural training. This will be followed by the initiation of gene expression and protein synthesis. Both these processes are needed for modifying long-term synaptic weights (for more details see: Gorzelanczyk, Wozniak, Molecular correlates of the two-component model of long-term memory). Protein synthesis makes up the beginning of memories that will last for months and years (if sustained by repetition, e.g. with SuperMemo). Those long-term memories cannot be formed without entering appropriates stages of the sleep cycle! You cannot learn effectively if your sleep gets cut short in the morning. Or if it gets interrupted during the night. Even if you try to sleep 15 hours per day in short pieces of interrupted sleep, your learning results will be dismal! (see: the cruel myth of polyphasic sleep)
Fig 3 . NREM-REM cycling through a typical night
After 60-90 minutes of NREM sleep, there is a gradual increase in the activity of cells in the pontine tegmentum which is responsible for triggering REM sleep. A small pontine structure called the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus (PPN) is highly active at that stage and is considered the internal REM trigger. PPN sends acetylcholinergic signals to the thalamus and the brain behaves as if it woke up internally! Injections of acetylcholine into the pons during an ongoing NREM episode may trigger REM sleep, which illustrates the importance of this neurotransmitter in sleep cycle regulation. During REM sleep, the cortex behaves as if you were awake. You experience dreams that seem to be generated by random impulsation sent from the brainstem to the cortex. The cortex produces best possible and most coherent imagery it can. You experience connected events, real people, realistic scenery all put together in most improbable configurations. Yet you cannot act upon your dreams (except for people with disorder called violent sleeping). Your pontine structures make sure your cerebral output gets cut off from motor nuclei that move your muscles. You often want to act in sleep (e.g. to escape a ferocious dog) yet you remain motionless. You feel as if mired in molasses. Only your eyes move rapidly and the muscles in your middle ear twitch. REM sleep is philogenetically younger than NREM sleep. Fish, amphibians or perhaps most reptiles do not show typical REM sleep. Yet interestingly REM sleep is present in both mammals and birds. This made some evolutionists hypothesize that REM sleep has been invented twice by the evolution! The conclusion is that REM sleep plays a role critical for survival of creatures with bird-mammal IQ levels ( see: How much do animals sleep) REM sleep is characterized by intense neural activity, increase in blood circulation and the use of oxygen, as well as an increase in the uptake of amino acids by the brain tissue. The brain in REM sleep is a hard-working brain that has little to do with the notion of energy-conservation and rest in sleep. During REM sleep, acetylcholine supplies in the PPN get gradually exhausted and this may be the main regulatory factor that drives you back towards NREM sleep. As the activity of the PPN decreased, the activity in the noradrenergic locus ceruleus (LC) increases. LC is considered to be the REM-off switch. A typical night will see you go five times through NREM-REM cycles with each cycle lasting around 90 minutes and getting slightly shorter as the night progresses (cf. Fig 3). The sleep regulatory system might act as an infinite seesaw were it not for the circadian component. Towards the end of sleep, the circadian component strongly regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) will produce decline in sleep propensity, and you will wake up from one of your REM episodes. It is the SCN which provides the link between the strongest zeitgeber, the light, and the circadian cycle. SCN generates the rhythm endogenously, but is able to be reset by light. Light impulses from the retina travel to the hypothalamus and SCN to produce a stop signal for the release of melatonin. Instead, another neurohormone is released: serotonin. A high level of serotonin is what you feel as the morning sunshine happiness. It is also serotonin that is boosted by the popular antidepressant: Prozac. Unless you suffer from sleep phase advancement, always make sure the sunshine streams into your sleeping room in the morning to wake you up. There are many theories on the functions of REM sleep. It has long been known that dreams occur mostly in REM sleep, yet some scientists see dreams and REM sleep as separate though temporally overlapping phenomena. It has been found in a number of experiments that REM sleep is important for learning, yet some scientist question those findings pointing to experimental errors or to the fact that antidepressants do not damage memory even thought they are potent REM suppressants. Some scientists believe REM is needed to reinforce little used synaptic connections, others that REM optimizes the memory storage, other that REM helps the brain recover from slow wave sleep, and yet other believe that REM evolved just to fine-tune bifocal vision or to prevent corneal anoxia (eye movement stirs aqueous humor and provides nourishment for the cornea). Even advocates of the old psychoanalytical interpretation of dreams originated by Sigmund Freud can be sparsely found among scientific community. Some researchers believe learning is possible during REM, others contest it, and yet others insist that REM has nothing to do with memory. On one hand, the percentage of REM sleep decreases with age which might indicate a correlation with the demand for learning. On the other, the percentage of REM during the night increases. Some researchers believe that if REM was to be involved in memory, it should rather begin quickly as we fall asleep. The best ground for questioning many of these theories is evolutionary! We need to point to the evolutionary value of a particular function REM is postulated to fulfill. For example:
reactivation of infrequently used circuits - if activation of infrequently used memories was necessary to prevent forgetting, evolution might have simply employed molecular mechanisms in which once synapses were potentiated, they would spontaneously build up synaptic strength in time without secondary activation. Naturally, this would abolish a valuable evolutionary mechanism of forgetting. Similarly, random REM activation for the purpose of memory fixation would simply be wasteful. Forgetting played a specific evolutionary function and the increase in synaptic strength should only result from a repeated exposure to a specific experience (for example, a repetition in SuperMemo serves exactly this purpose) recovery from slow-wave sleep - if REM was a recovery stage, why should it happen several times during the night. Would it not just better come at the arrival of zeitgebers indicating the end of the sleep period? Or is slow-wave sleep that deadly? corneal anoxia - if REM was to nourish the corneas, would not just waking up do the job (if eyeball movement was the only purpose of REM)? consolidation of memory - if memories get consolidated in REM, what is the purpose of NREM? How can this be that antidepressants do not damage learning even if they are strong REM suppressants? Why does the REM brain behave like a waking brain? restoration theories - why would restoration require cutting off sensory input if the brain is actually as active as in the waking state Only one group of REM theories provides plausible answer to its evolutionary function among intelligent creatures! These theories originated in the head of one of the greatest scientific geniuses still walking this planet. Born in 1916, Francis H.C. Crick, together with James Watson unraveled the mystery of the DNA double-helix for which they were awarded a Nobel Prize in 1963. In 1983, Crick and his colleague from Salk Institute, Graeme Mitchison argued in Nature [Crick, 1983] that human memory can get overloaded and REM sleep is used to run a garbage collection process on memories. They called this process reverse learning, and originally attributed it only one purpose: forgetting the unnecessary memory ballast. Crick's seminal 1983 article was taken further by many researchers who have ultimately concluded that REM sleep must serve optimization of memories expressed by synaptic weights of the neural network of the brain! If REM sleep was only to be used for forgetting the excess information, Crick's theories would run into the same evolutionary trouble as other theories listed above. After all, spontaneous loss of synaptic information with passing time would be a metabolically much cheaper solution. However, the value of the network optimization goes far beyond forgetting. Rewiring of the network might bring some of the following advantages: converting poorly associative memories into highly associative memories (the origin of the ancient phrase: let me consult my pillow) eliminating knowledge interference; a REM bout should help you avoid confusing two similar concepts extracting common properties of objects and building models (pictorially: instead of holding 100 pictures of someone's face and searching on each encounter, recognize all common model characteristics are execute recognition in milliseconds) optimizing procedural reflexes (some researchers even proposed that REM is mostly targeted on consolidation of procedural skills which seem to suffer most from REM deprivation, while NREM sleep indeed mostly serves consolidation of declarative skills) transferring memories from overloaded circuits (e.g. the hippocampus) to spacious areas of the neocortex According to Buzski, the optimization may be executed with the mediation of the hippocampus that would work in (1) explorative mode during the REM sleep (in which neocortical information is used to train hippocampal circuitry), and (2) in consummatory mode during the NREM sleep (in which the hippocampus is used to train neocortical circuits). The network optimization hypothesis explains why it is hard to detect rote learning deterioration in REM deprivation. REM defined as above should have less bearing on the output generated by same inputs in reference to low-level associations (such as stimulus pairing). To detect the damage induced by REM deprivation (REMD) more complex tests should be used. Indeed some research by Dr Carlyle Smith has already been able to show the difference in the impact of REMD on paired associate learning (which suffers little damage in REMD) and complex logic tasks which are most affected by REM sleep deprivation [Smith, 1993]. Dr Georgi Buzski's two-stage model presents a computational approach to explaining the role of REM in retraining the neocortex through the hippocampal activity: A two-stage computational model training long-term memories in the entorhinal-hippocampal region (to understand this article you will need some rudimentary knowledge of neural nets and the hippocampal anatomy). In the same way as sleep in general, REM is controlled via homeostatic and circadian components. Slow-wave sleep builds homeostatic REM propensity, and the best REM comes from the combination of slow-wave "exhaustion" and the circadian REM peak which comes in the last hours of sleep. There is also a strong homeostatic link between learning and the demand for REM sleep. The more you learn, the stronger the drive towards REM. There is an increase in both the number of minutes of REM sleep and the density of REM sleep following intensive learning [DeKoninck et al., 1989]. It is not clear if learning affects REM demand directly or via NREM demand; however, it is more than clear that heavy learners should be heavy sleepers! Sleep deprivation increases both NREM 4 and REM sleep propensity. Short sleepers have less NREM 2, but there is little data on their actual quality and effectiveness of sleep. Thomas Edison or Nicola Tesla on one hand are well-known for sleeping relatively little, while Einstein is a well-known long sleeper (well over nine hours per night). Interestingly, they all belonged to notable nappers. It is true that by getting less sleep you compress the less critical NREM 2 sleep, but there is no evidence this can become your regular habit without hurting the quality of your NREM4-REM combination. With the currently available sleep data the conclusion is: do not try to compress NREM 2 by sleeping less. You are likely to hurt your memory consolidation and optimization! Further reading: an excellent all-inclusive on-line sleep physiology manual: Sleep Syllabus Lark-owl misconception Research shows that 15% of people would classify themselves as "morning type" or lark. Another 20% would call themselves "evening type" or owl. The remaining 65% are indifferent or "mid-range". What is your type? See: Lark-owl test Few people know that they can easily adapt to a completely different schedule by means of chronotherapy (e.g. by shifting their sleeping hours by 30-45 minutes per day). If you ask a typical owl to go to sleep 30-45 minutes later each day, the owl will initially sleep during the day and soon will find itself going to sleep in the very early evening just to get up before the larks! Surprisingly, even the most committed owl can then comfortably stick to the early waking hours for quite long! There seems to be no natural preference as to the sleeping time of the day!
However, there is a factor that drives people into believing they are of a given sleep-time preference type. This is the length of the circadian cycle and their ability to entrain it to 24 hours. As mentioned earlier, typical circadian period lasts about 25 hours. Those whose cycle is particularly long, tend to go to sleep later each day. They push the limit of morning hours up to the point when their compulsory wake-up time results in unbearable sleepiness. In other words, people will long cycles will tend to work during the night and sleep in the morning as long as it is only possible. Larks and owls do not differ in their preferred timing of sleep in reference to daytime! The difference comes from the length of the circadian cycle and sensitivity to zeitgebers. You can easily make a lark work comfortably late into the night and make an owl get up at 3 am. This can be done by chronotherapy (cycle adjustment)! (consequently, lark-owl test is substantially flawed as it asks for specific time ranges that will only apply to people with normal working schedules!) A smaller proportion of people, will experience short circadian periods and experience extreme sleepiness in early evening. This is the lark type. Life forces larks to go to sleep slightly later than their natural preference (family, work, light, etc.). This keeps larks in line with time and they will often claim that the quiet of the morning, the singing of birds or the beauty of the sunrise that keeps them getting up early. Yet it is still possible to forcibly push a lark to gradually shift sleeping hours and behave like an owl! As for "indifferent type", these are people with a steady 24.5-25 hours circadian cycle and healthy sensitivity to zeitgebers, or, rarely, people with a nearly perfect 24 hour clock. Those people tend to sleep in "normal hours" and can also easily be shifted to getting up early or to going to bed late. Unlike the "indifferent type", owls shifted to a morning schedule will gradually tend to advance to their standard late-night rhythm. Similarly, larks will quickly shift back to getting up with the birds. Some correlation studies showed that owls (as defined by the timing of melatonin release) exhibit slightly higher IQs than larks. Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome When a tendency to go to sleep later each day is strongly pronounced, it may become a serious problem. People with particularly long circadian cycle or with insufficient sensitivity to zeitgebers are classified as suffering from Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS for short). The term non 24-hour sleep/wake syndrome or hypernychthemeral syndrome is occasionally used to refer to the most severe cases. Research shows that DSPS is very frequent in adolescence [Carskadon, 1995; Dahl & Carskadon, 1995]. Teenagers with DSPS will often find it difficult to adapt to normal school time. They will experience maximum daytime sleepiness at 10 am (in the middle of the school day) and a peak in alertness right after the school. For many teenagers with a natural tendency to go to sleep late, school becomes a torture and a true waste of time! Educators have already taken on this subject; however, students dozing off during classes are still a norm! Sleepy students learn little, and may naturally develop a strong negative feelings for the school in general. This is a problem of colossal proportions! If you are a parent of a teenager who finds it difficult to wake up for school, you will need to act now! Otherwise young man's school years will be a monumentally wasted time! It won't be enough to demand an early hour for going to bed. If you ban the late evening Internet surfing, you will just swap a dose of evening education for an idle tossing and turning in bed. Actually, there is only one simple solution, let the kids get up at their natural time but ... this may not be realistic in most cases. Your sleep therapist may not be able to help either. The whole school system might need to be changed to accommodate the prevalence of DSPS among adolescents. There have been positive results noted in schools that decided to start classes 1-2 hours later. However, long circadian cycles may result in students staying up yet later in the long-run. Researchers suggest schedule stabilization and gradual realignment. Those measures may still be largely ineffective. For a discussion of this subject see: School Start Time Study. For a popular scientific article see: Sorry, I'm late ... it's my circadian rhythm Insomnia 50% of Americans have problems with falling asleep! Except for various underlying organic reasons, the overwhelming majority of these are problems resulting from entrainment failure. In other words: Most of otherwise healthy people who cannot fall asleep in the evening suffer from the combination of two chief factors: going to sleep too early in reference to the natural circadian rhythm suffering from the associated stress: if I do not fall asleep immediately, I will be totally wasted in the morning If the same people were allowed to sleep as much as they wanted and go to sleep only then when they are really tired (perhaps 2-5 hours later), the problem would likely not exist! Psychophysiological insomnia can often persist for years, and result in untold damage to a person's life. If this is your case, you might benefit by trying to increase the time you stay awake. Naturally this may collide with your work schedule as the net result will often be a sleep-wake cycle lasting longer than 24 hours. There are tons of lengthy books written about sleep onset insomnia and there are a zillion tricks that people use to be sure they fall asleep "in time". The sad truth is that all those tricks only fight the inevitable: the natural sleep mechanism. They are based on slowing down the brain at the time when it simply does not want to slow down. Yet these tricks rather tend to blow the problem of insomnia out of proportion by adding to the sleeper's stress: so much effort, so many tricks in use, it still does not work ... I probably just have to live with this! Some typical sleep expert's or grandma's unworkable advice (see example): Count sheep - this is nothing else than trying to slow neural firing in the brain. This will often work but there is an increased risk of waking up after 20-60 minutes of sleep. As a result, the chances for early slumber may be gone for good. The slowdown in firing can come naturally. However, it can only come at the right circadian time which may be 2-5 hours later than you would want Thought dispersion - by trying to "think about nothing" you can indeed increase the chances of falling asleep; however, this may be of value only for a limited length of time before the ascending circadian slope. If you try it early, you will likely hover in superficial sleep with substantial chances of awakening spontaneously. It is the circadian sleepiness that stands for your ability to maintain sleep Cut down on sleep - this has some power to reset the circadian cycle, however, you will feel more tired, your insomniac's stress factor will triple, and most of all ... you will not benefit from the last REM-rich hours of sleep! Cutting down on sleep may be an unavoidable solution among those who experience DSPS and cannot free run their sleep
Sleeping pills - pills change the sleep physiology and may affect the quality of sleep. As they often have little impact on modifying your actual circadian cycle, they can quickly become a serious addiction. Additionally, they will affect your short-term memory and reaction time. These are major enemies of a creative individual! Warm bath, quiet room, rituals, cup of milk, etc. - all these work to reduce the stress factor and slow down the brain. However, again that won't work well against the circadian cycle Drink milk, tryptophan is used in the synthesis of serotonin - this is again a method for a mild slow down with negligible effectiveness Do not nap - short naps have little influence on the circadian cycle and not napping may only have a residual homeostatic influence at the cost of evening alertness. It may help slightly but will not solve the problem Few things can produce so much wasted time in highly effective people as trying to fall asleep at a time when your body does not want to! Do not listen to sleep advice based solely on methods for slowing down in the evening or making you mentally or physically tired! Do not go to bed until your body slows down on its own! Go to bed only then when you are really sleepy! The real culprit in insomnia is the relationship of working hours to your circadian rhythm! This is magnified manifold by the associated stress factor. For many, insomnia produces an unsolvable vicious circle that just has to be lived with. However, everyone with a chance for a flex-time work system or telecommuting should realize that the greatest benefit of these may come from increased productivity as a result of better sleep that complies with natural body rhythms A very specific degree of morning misery is needed to reset the clock sufficiently in people with DSPS. In the equilibrium state in which misery is sufficient to keep a regular schedule, the whole night sleep is cut substantially. Daily sleep deficit and daily struggle with tiredness results. In such circumstances, it is best to go to sleep right before the expected sleep hour! This way you can reduce stress, on one hand, and help your homeostatic component on the other (by making yourself tired for sleep). If you cannot free run your sleep -- make your morning misery as regular as possible to reach the equilibrium state. Once you know the equilibrium, stick to your standard bedtime hour. Morning misery solution should only be used as a last resort! There is yet a big question of weekends. Many people catch up on lost sleep during weekends. This naturally unbalances the system and results in the Monday Morning Blues. Sleeping it out on weekends, you should weigh up your pros and cons: on one hand you entrain your sleeping cycle to later hours and make it harder to stick to your misery equilibrium on the other, this is your only chance for quality sleep There is no simple answer to the weekend dilemma! If you want to maximize the effects of sleep on learning, skills and experience, you would need to quantify how much you lose as a result on never actually getting enough sleep (the losses could be dramatic!) and how much you lose as a result of departing from the misery equilibrium on weekends thus tripling sleep disturbances early in the week The most effective solution for people with persistent insomnia or work-schedule-related sleep deprivation is free running sleep! (see above) Hypersomnia Hypersomnia is excessive sleepiness in conditions of getting physiologically sufficient sleep. Hypersomnia may be related to serious health problems. If you suspect hypersomnia, consult your physician! There is a simple home-grown diagnostic method for the cause of your hypersomnia: try to free run your sleep for a week or so. Very often, the phase adjustment will resolve hypersomnia! Quite frequently, sleep initiated too early in reference to the circadian sleepiness will last very long and paradoxically result in the feeling of not being refreshed in the morning. If the circadian low comes in the middle of your day, you may experience overwhelming drowsiness, yet you will not be able to fall asleep for longer than 20-30 minutes and you will still wake up unrefreshed. Even buckets of coffee may not help in such circumstances. If you do not notice a significant improvement in the quality of sleep after 1-2 weeks of free running sleep, you may have a problem that will require a professional consultation. The most frequent cause of poor quality sleep is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) which affects up to 10% of male population (it is about half less frequent in women). OSA involves a loss of muscle tone in the throat and tongue areas. These structures tend to collapse during sleep and block the flow of air. As a result, the patient will wake up temporarily (often a hundred times in a single night) without completing the natural NREM-REM cycle. Patients with OSA wake up feeling unrefreshed. The simplest way to check for OSA is to ask one's bed partner for signs of interrupted breathing during the night. You can also videotape yourself when sleeping. Most often, OSA affects obese and heavily-snoring males. There are multiple support sites for OSA on the web (including recordings of snoring patients and typical signs of interrupted breathing) Siesta and catnapping The natural sleep cycle makes you feel less alert in mid-day. This period can easily be visualized using EEG measurements. In tropical countries this is the time for siesta. The drop in alertness is magnified by a rich meal and a short nap is likely to quickly bring you back to full alertness. However, the industrial nations do not seem ready to adopt a healthy habit of postprandial nap. Just the opposite, when the Mexican parliament debated the law on statutory nap, politicians and comedians north of the border had a good laugh on "lazy Latin Americans". Even the self-improvement guru, Tony Robbins, blunders when providing his advice: replace a nap urge with press-ups. Press ups will improve circulation and raise the level of catecholamines, yet they won't budge the homeostatic sleepiness that can only be cleared effectively with a temporary transition to the sleep state! There are few theories on the physiological purpose of the mid-day dip in alertness. Most people believe that humans, as all other highly developed tropical animals, have developed a siesta habit as a way of getting around the midday heat. This explanation has also some cultural background as napping is by far less popular in moderate and cold climate. However, the alertness dip can be resolved by a short nap in minutes. This can make us active again long before the mid-day heat is over. Another explanation is that the alertness dip is an atavistic remainder of the polyphasic sleeping mode that might have characterized human ancestors. Many animals and young babies sleep many times during the day. This would seem quite advantageous considering the natural memory consolidation sequence.
However, consolidating sleep into a single night rest period might have offered some evolutionary advantage. Early humans might have been less efficient in hunting and gathering activities at nighttime. This is why it might be advantageous to spend that time on memory consolidation while being awake in daylight. However, the circadian control system needed new variables that would enable the consolidation of sleep phases into a single period. Possibly, the consolidation went gradually from polyphasic sleep, through biphasic sleep to monophasic sleep in modern humans. Actually, similar consolidation can be observed as we get older. By the time of adulthood we are more or less monophasic with a clear dip in alertness that may be resolved with a nap. However, giving up the afternoon nap has not been documented as detrimental to learning. In a healthy individual who is not sleep deprived, the nap will usually last from 10 to 30 minutes, which may not be sufficient for any advantage to memory consolidation. There is naturally a substantial alertness boost which by itself my increase your learning performance in the evening. As we near retirement, we again seem to tend to be biphasic. This may be a result of the fact that working people are forced to suppress their biphasic tendency (not much data exists to support this hypothesis). In other words, it is possible that we remain strongly biphasic throughout the lifetime, and the monophasic model has been imposed as an industrial habit. Here is a short summary of pros and cons of afternoon napping: Pros: Siesta naps, rich in NREM sleep, result in a significant increase in alertness that will be highly appreciated by people in creative professions Napping may play a role in memory consolidation (this has not be proved one way or the other) Napping may be a way of combating severe sleep deprivation. Some people even prefer to sleep in two four hour portions throughout their lives! Cons: Late naps may worsen insomnia and as such are often discouraged (see notes on insomnia above) Long naps (above 60 minutes) may result in temporary grogginess typical of awakening from Stage 4 NREM (so called sleep inertia). As a result, nonnappers and sleep-deprived people will often notice a decline in mental performance after a nap Long naps (above 60 minutes) can severely worsen insomnia. This is why so many sleep experts counter-recommend naps Napping requires good rest conditions, as well as solid napping skills and habits that may be difficult to develop for most people in industrial nations Important! All the cons listed above do not apply to people with free running sleep except for the fact that naps may increase the tendency of the sleep phase to drift Notable nappers include Winston Churchill, Napoleon, and J. F. Kennedy. Interestingly, this group also includes a famous long-sleeper, Albert Einstein and a famous short-sleeper Thomas Edison. Even Bill Gates admitted to taking naps under his desk in his creative programming years. You should not confuse the healthy concept of siesta with a very unhealthy idea of polyphasic sleep. Dr. D. F. Dinges has spent many years investigating the problem of alertness at workplace and has shown substantial benefits, which napping can bring to professions where the alertness may be the difference between life and death. His research showed a substantial alertness boost coming from a nap [Dinges 1989]. He has also noticed relatively little impact of napping on the night-time sleep in regular nappers (see Fig 4):
Fig. 4. Sleep onset times among nappers an non-nappers (percentage)
More and more companies in the US have already decided to make a switch from a coffee break to a napping break with special cubicles designed for nappers. In the future, this trend is likely to become more prominent as caffeine is not a fraction as effective as a nap in combating fatigue. Coffee, doughnuts, press-ups, and other methods taken together will never prove as efficient in mental restoration as a nap. At the same time, our society drifts strongly towards information processing where alertness is central to productivity. And when the productivity comes into the equation, US companies will definitely avail of the up-to-date research on napping. Napping advice: Do not use the alarm clock! Contrary to popular belief, well-scheduled nap will not last longer than 20-30 minutes (at least in people with free running sleep) Measure exactly the optimum length of the period between the natural awakening and the nap to maximize the effectiveness of a nap (see Fig. 1). The nap should come at the nadir of alertness. Napping beginners often miss the right timing! Drink coffee or other caffeine drinks only after the nap
You can drink alcohol in only very subtle doses, and the best timing is shortly before the nap (see below for more) If you nap for more than 40-50 minutes, you probably need more sleep in the night (check free running sleep section above!) Avoid stress 2-3 hours before your nap. Even things you love can make you excited and make it harder to avail of the benefits of napping Exercise is good. Try to finish your exercise at least 30-60 minutes before the nap Meal before the nap is recommended. Your main meal of the day should actually come right before the nap! This is usually 5-9 hours after awakening Sex before the nap is recommended Stick to your ritual (e.g. stick to your best sequence: exercise, bath, meal, beer, quiet place, nap, music, or similar) If the above advice does not work, you may need a month or so of training. Mental slow-down is critical here! Many people do not discover the benefit of napping until some circumstances put them into the routine (e.g. heart condition diagnosis). Even if you cannot fall asleep, you may still need a nap! It may only be a result of habit or your inability to forget the worries of the day If it all won't make you fall asleep in 10 minutes even after a month of trying, you can probably safely give up napping for good Learning during sleep You may have heard of sleep tapes that offer effortless learning during sleep. Your investment in such tapes will not be money well spent. Learning during sleep should be discouraged! It is possible to occasionally recall a fraction of the material presented during sleep (probably only then when it enters your brain during short periods of transition from REM to temporary waking). There is also ample evidence that some circuits in the brain can be conditioned during REM sleep; however, the connection between the senses and the brain in sleep is rather focused on awakening in danger rather than on processing complex information. Whatever you might gain from your sleep tapes will by far be offset by damage to the quality of sleep. If the learning stimuli do not reach a certain threshold, they will simply be ignored. However, past a certain value they may prevent the progression of NREM sleep toward stages 3 and 4. They can also shorten REM sleep. Interestingly, memories acquired minutes before falling asleep do not get consolidated! Even a few minutes of sleep leave a short window of waking time with a complete memory erasure. Luckily, we rarely learn mission-critical information shortly before dozing off. Counter-recommendation for learning during sleep, does not imply that falling asleep with TV or radio turned on should be discouraged. If you would like to get a dose of education yet before falling asleep, be sure your tapes, TV or radio meet these conditions: they turn off automatically no later than in 30 minutes they have no ability to wake you up from a properly timed sleep. If you wake up from initial minutes of sleep you may experience a dramatic shift in the homeostatic component that would delay the sleep onset (awakening may also indicate that you went to sleep too early in reference to your circadian cycle) they do not include highly emotional content, distressing messages, shrill sounds (doorbells, phones, timers and alarm clocks; these have all been designed to produce sounds that tend to most effectively rouse the central nervous system) Moreover, if you find it difficult to fall asleep due to stresses of the day, subtle news channel may actually help you fall asleep by keeping your mind away from the thoughts that might trigger the release of ACTH, cortisol, catecholamines or other alertness transmitters. TV, radio or tapes in the morning are OK too, on condition you turn them on manually (i.e. they should not work as an alarm clock substitute). If you wake up slightly ahead of your expected waking time, turn on the news and stay in bed. Test your brain for signs of sleepiness. Occasionally, you may still be able to fall asleep and go through one cycle of sleep that will be beneficial to your intellectual performance. Be sure that this does not become a routine, esp. if you are awakened early due to the pressure in the bladder[3]. Unless your urologist recommends otherwise, you should avoid drinking water and other liquids 2-3 hours before going to sleep Alcohol Alcohol is a major enemy of a creative individual! In excess it is highly toxic to the brain! Even small doses can reduce the quality and the total length your REM sleep. Alcohol also suppresses deep sleep, produces sleep fragmentation, and relaxes the upper airway muscles, which worsens snoring and severity of obstructive sleep apnea. Apart from its negative impact on sleep, alcohol reduces your intellectual performance, and should be avoided at times of highly creative effort! On the other hand, lots of research indicates that small doses of alcohol may benefit your health. Actually, a drink a day may be the simplest known method of preventing arteriosclerosis, heart attack and cerebrovascular disease. There are reports that moderate beer drinking may reduce the incidence of Alzheimer's. Some physicians recommend daily alcohol in very small quantities (not more than a drink per day). To a highly creative individual, alcohol poses then a health-vs-brain dilemma. Certainly it should be avoided 3-5 hours before sleep and should be avoided 3-5 hours before intellectual work. This would leave place only for very moderate drinking at siesta time (assuming that this is the time you take a break from intellectual effort to take a nap or rest). If you drink yourself to sleep (e.g. after a stressful day), you should remember that alcohol is quickly metabolized, and will produce an acetaldehyde rebound effect that will greatly increase chances of waking up during the night. This effect keeps alcoholics up at nights, deprives them from REM sleep, and may actually be responsible for delirium tremens (and perhaps even Korsakhof psychosis). Assuming that a nap taken at siesta time does not play any significant physiological function, and only serves you as a springboard to higher evening alertness, a small drink before a nap may actually appear beneficial by producing the rebound effect at the time when you get up from the nap.
Caffeine Caffeine is the number one drug used against sleepiness! 90% of Americans use it in some form. It can be found in coffee and coke, as well as in smaller quantities in chocolate and tea. It is addictive and acts via similar channels as amphetamines and cocaine. As it has a profound effect on the central nervous system by blocking adenosine receptors, caffeine is widely used to tackle drowsiness. However, majority of people little realize that it works well in your struggle with the adenosine-related homeostatic component of sleepiness, while it is quite inefficient in overcoming circadian sleepiness! Moreover, used against the latter, it can actually be quite unhealthy! If you abuse caffeine or use it at the time when your body clock tells you bedtime, you will only experience the symptoms that gave caffeine all that bad rap. These include: heart arrhythmia, irritability, overwhelming tiredness, depression, and a typical coffee abuser's "sickness in the stomach". No wonder the popular myth says that coffee is bad for health and can contribute to a heart disease. The research on the health effects of caffeine does not seem to confirm its harmfulness. The link between coffee and heart disorders is weak, may depend on an individual's genetic ability to metabolize caffeine, and may be attributed to caffeine abuse in the form of excess doses or wrongly timed doses. Recent research has even found that 3-5 cups of coffee per day may maximize your lifespan (the same research was criticized for failing to notice that coffee is more popular in wellto-do households that favor longevity). You can assume that caffeine is harmless in smaller quantities 200-400 mg/day (equivalent of 2-4 cups of coffee). Note that 50% of Americans take more than that. For caffeine to be harmless, it must be taken at the right time! As an arousal drug, caffeine may induce insomnia. This is why it should never be taken later than 6-7 hours before sleep. Caffeine half-life is about 6 hours for a healthy individual, but can vary substantially from person to person! Taken too late, caffeine will suppress REM sleep with detriment to memory consolidation. At the same time, when taken regularly early in the day, it may actually produce mild withdrawal effects and promote sleep! The only time when coffee can be recommended is upon awakening! Never drink coffee to overcome circadian sleepiness! You can use coffee to accelerate your transition from sleep to full mental alertness. Current knowledge about caffeine supports the recommendation for a cup of coffee in the morning in otherwise healthy individuals. As black coffee can be irritant to the stomach lining, coffee should rather be drank with milk or with cream. In regular nappers, the circadian rhythm should yet permit drinking coffee immediately upon waking up from an afternoon nap. For this, the following conditions should be met: 1. nap is taken at its natural timing (not later!) 2. the gap between nap time and night sleep is at least 7 hours long 3. there are no signs of sleep onset insomnia Drinking coffee at times other than immediately upon awakening should be highly discouraged! Caffeine cannot serve as a weapon against sleep deprivation. Only a sufficient amount of night sleep can play that role. Caffeine should also not be used against the circadian sleep component. As argued throughout this article, circadian rhythm should best be left alone to run its course! Caffeine tends to drive many people into a vicious circle: you drink it, you get a boost in adrenaline, you feel more energetic, you get a boost in dopamine, you feel better, you feel you can stay up late, you sleep less, you are more sleepy on the next day, so you need more caffeine, due to down-regulation you get less boost per cup, you increase the dosage, etc. etc. Coffee drinkers may occasionally experience migraine-like headaches. These are caused by an increased activity of adenosine receptors on days when the supply of caffeine is less. This results in the dilation of blood vessels in the brain. Vasodilation or activation of purine receptors on sensory neurons produce the headaches. Half a normal dose of caffeine should help. Conclusion: if you want to go straight on coffee, do not go cold turkey. Allow of 3-4 days for your body to gradually fight off the addiction. A rational approach to caffeine is: use it as a circadian enhancer! Small dose in the morning will shoot your alertness slope up and the regular intake will produce mild addiction that should help you fall asleep in the evening through mild withdrawal effect. This approach should be neutral to your health and positive to your alertness. Never use caffeine to cover up for insufficient sleep! See also: How caffeine works (at howstuffworks.com) Behind the Buzz (caffeine at student.com) All you want to know about caffeine Caffeine FAQ Sexuality Sex before sleep is highly recommended! Sex works as a powerful hypnotic. If you practice sex without procreative intentions, positive influence of sex on sleep may be your number one excuse for sticking faithfully to your conjugal duties. Here is also a recommendation to stick with a single partner. Longevity studies show that healthy stable monogamous sex life is one of powerful life expectancy determinants. On the other hand, sex with your new great love is likely to disrupt sleep. Apart from a healthy dose of endorphins, it will also raise your catecholamines that may fragment sleep cycles. For the same reasons, promiscuous sex may also fail to play the expected hypnotic role. Cigarettes
If you are a smoker, quit reading this article and jump to: QuitNet.org (do not miss: QuitNet Guide!). Do you know that only 4% of users of SuperMemo are smokers (source)? Additionally, users who smoke spend much less time on learning with SuperMemo (an average of about 10 minutes per day as compared with the usual average of around 30 minutes). This is more related to the hormonal balance in the brain of a smoker than to smoking itself. Smokers simply do not have patience for SuperMemo and are less likely to be in-depth learners. Yet there are strong indications that those who quit smoking show improvement in their perseverance in repetitions! Yet one more reason to take a quitting step! If you still cannot live without nicotine, Nicorette chewing gum may be the simplest over-the-counter way to tackle the addiction without the carcinogenic action of cigarettes. Still Nicorette may even be more addictive than cigarettes, and the short half-time of nicotine may result in overnight craving that disrupts sleep! (see: QuitNet.org) Exercise Aerobic exercise is a blessing for sleep. It may increase your demand for sleep even more than learning. The only downside of sports may come if these are overly exhaustive. Dehydration, stress, exhaustion, injuries and the like may reduce the quality of sleep. You must also remember to exercise no later than 30-60 minutes before siesta time and 3-4 hours before the night sleep. Exercise temporarily increases the level of catecholamines which makes you more alert and may keep you up at bedtime, esp. if you go to sleep early in reference to your circadian low. Later on, though, it will make your metabolism and body temperature drop below the baseline. This will promote sleep. Exercise may be used as a strong zeitgeber. If you find it difficult to fall asleep in the evening, try early morning exercise in bright light (esp. sunshine). In ASPS, exercise in the evening may bring some relief too. Exercise is known to enhance deep sleep and promote the nocturnal release of growth hormone, which has been found to stimulate memory consolidation via its impact on protein synthesis. Exercise is likely to help you relieve snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (not only by promoting weight loss). 20 minutes of physical effort per day is considered a healthy minimum for everyone who wants to keep fit, sleep well, and show good long-term learning results. Myths and facts 1. Myth: Since we feel rested after sleep, sleep must be for resting. Ask anyone, even a student of medicine: What is the role of sleep? Nearly everyone will tell you: Sleep is for rest. Fact: Sleep is for optimizing the structure of memories. If it was for rest or energy saving, we would cover the saving by consuming just one apple per night. To effectively encode memories, mammals, birds and even reptiles need to turn off the thinking and do some housekeeping in their brains. This is vital for survival. This is why the evolution produced a defense mechanisms against skipping sleep. If we do not get sleep, we feel miserable. We are not actually as wasted as we feel, the damage can be quickly repaired by getting a good night sleep. It is our brain dishing punishment for not sticking to the rules of intelligent life-form: let the memory do restructuring in its programmed time 2. Myth: Sleep before midnight is more valuable. Fact: Sleep is most valuable if it comes at the time planned by your own body clock mechanisms. If you are not sleepy before midnight, forcing yourself can actually ruin your night if you wake up early 3. Myth: Sleeping pills can help you sleep better. Fact: Sleeping pills can help you sleep, but this sleep is of far less quality than naturally induced sleep. Sleeping pills can be useful in circumstances where sleep is medically vital and cannot be achieved by other means. Otherwise, avoid sleeping pills whenever possible 4. Myth: Avoid naps. Fact: Naps may indeed worsen insomnia in people suffering from DSPS, esp. if taken too late in the day. Otherwise, naps are highly beneficial to intellectual performance. It is possible to take naps early in the day without affecting one's sleeping rhythm. Those naps must fall before or inside the so-called dead zone where a nap does not produce a phase response (i.e. shift in the circadian rhythm) 5. Myth: A nap is a sign of weakness. Fact: Nap is not a sign of weakness, ill-health, laziness or lack of vigor. It is a philogenetic remnant of a biphasic sleeping rhythm. Not all people experience a significant mid-day slump in mental performance. It may be well masked by activity, stress, contact with people, sport, etc. However, if you experience a slump around the 5th to 8th hour of your day, taking a nap can dramatically boost your performance in the second half of the day 6. Myth: People are of morning or evening type. Fact: This is more of a misnomer than a myth. Evening type people can easily be made wake up with the sun by means of chronotherapy. What people really differ in is the period of their body clock and its sensitivity to zeitgebers (e.g. light, activity, stress, etc.). People with an unusually long natural day and low sensitivity to resetting stimuli will tend to work late and wake up late. Hence the tendency to call them "evening type". Those people do not actually prefer evening, they simply prefer longer working days 7. Myth: People who sleep less live longer. In 2002, Dr Kripke compared the length of sleep with longevity (1982 data from a cancer risk survey). He figured out that those who sleep 6-7 hours live longer than those who sleep 8 hours and more. No wonder that a message started spreading that those who sleep less live longer. Fact: The best longevity prognosis is ensured by sleeping in compliance with one's natural body rhythm. Those who stick to their own good rhythm often sleep less because their sleep is better structured (and thus more refreshing). "Naturally sleeping" people live longer. Those who sleep against their body call, often need to clock more hours and still do not feel refreshed. Moreover, disease is often correlated with increased demand for sleep. Infectious diseases are renowned for a dramatic change in sleep patterns. When in coma, you are not likely to be adding years to your life. Correlation is not causation 8. Myth: Alarm clock can help regulate sleep rhythm. Fact: Alarm clock can help you push your sleeping rhythm into your desired framework, but it will rarely help you accomplish a healthy sleeping rhythm. The only tried-and-true way to accomplish a healthy sleep and a healthy sleep rhythm is to go to sleep only then when you are really sleepy, and wake up naturally without external intervention 9. Myth: Night shifts are unhealthy. Fact: People working in night shifts are often forced out of work by various ailments such as a heart condition. However, it is not night shifts that are harmful. It is the constant switching of the sleep rhythm from day to night and vice versa. It would be far healthier to let night shift people develop their own regular rhythm in which they would stay awake throughout the night. It is not night wakefulness that is harmful. It is the way we force our body do things it does not want to do
10. Myth: Being late for school is bad. Fact: Kids who persistently cannot wake up for school should he left alone. Their fresh mind and health are far more important. Parents who regularly punish their kids for being late for school should immediately consult a sleep expert as well as seek help in attenuating the psychological effects of the trauma resulting from the never ending cycle of stress, sleepiness and punishment 11. Myth: Being late for school is a sign of laziness. Fact: If a young person suffers from DSPS, it may have perpetual problems with getting up for school in time. Those kids are often actually brighter than average and are by no means lazy. However, their optimum circadian time for intellectual work comes after the school or even late into the evening. At school they are drowsy and slow and simply waste their time. If chronotherapy does not help, parents should consider later school hours or even home-schooling 12. Myth: We can sleep 3 hours per day. Many people enviously read about Tesla's or Edison's sleeping habits and hope they could train themselves to sleep only 3 hours per day having far more time for other activities. Fact: This might work if you plan to party all the time. And if your health is not a consideration. And if your intellectual capacity is not at stake. You can sleep 3 hours and survive. However, if your aspirations go beyond that, you should rather sleep exactly as much as your body wants. That is an intelligent man's optimum. With your improved health and intellectual performance, your lifetime gains will be immense 13. Myth: We can adapt to polyphasic sleep. Looking at the life of sailors, many people believe they can adopt polyphasic sleep and save many hours per day. In polyphasic sleep you take only 4-5 short naps during the day totaling less than 4 hours. There are many "systems" differing in the arrangement of naps. There are also many young people ready to suffer the pains to see it work. Although a vast majority will drop out, a small circle of the most stubborn ones who survive a few months and will perpetuate the myth with a detriment to public health. Fact: We are basically biphasic and all attempts to change the inbuilt rhythm will result in loss of health, time, and mental capacity. A simple rule is: when sleepy, go to sleep; while asleep, continue uninterrupted. See: The myth of polyphasic sleep 14. Myth: Going to bed at the same time is good for you. Fact: Many sleep experts recommend going to sleep at the same time every day. Regular rhythm is indeed a form of chronotherapy recommended in many circadian rhythm problems. However, people will severe DSPS may simply find it impossible to go to sleep at the same time everyday. Such forced attempts will only result in a self-feeding cycle of stress and insomnia. In such cases, the struggle with one's own rhythm is simply unhealthy. Unfortunately, people suffering from DSPS are often forced into a "natural" rhythm by their professional and family obligations 15. Myth: Silence and darkness are vital for sleep. This may be the number one advice for insomniacs: use your sleeping room for sleep only, keep it dark and quiet. Fact: Silence and darkness may indeed make it easier to fall asleep. They may also help maintain sleep when it is superficial. However, they are not vital. The most important factor that makes us sleep well, assuming good health, is the natural circadian rhythm. People who go to sleep along their natural rhythm can often sleep well in bright sunshine. They can also show remarkable tolerance to a variety of noises (e.g. loud TV, family chatter, outside the window noise, etc.). If you suffer from insomnia, focus on understanding your natural sleep rhythm. Peaceful sleeping place is secondary. Insomniacs running their daily ritual of perfect darkness, quiet, stresslessness and ship-counting are like a stranded driver hoping for fair winds instead of looking for the nearest gas station 16. Myth: People who sleep less live longer. Not so long ago, Dr Kripke compared the length of sleep with longevity. He figured out that those who sleep 6-7 hours live longer than those who sleep 8 hours and more. No wonder that a message started spreading that those who sleep less live longer. Fact: The best longevity prognosis is ensured by sleeping in compliance with one's natural body rhythm. Those who stick to their own good rhythm often sleep less as their sleep is better structured and more refreshing. No wonder they live longer. Those who sleep against their nature, often need to clock more hours and still do not feel refreshed. Moreover, disease if often correlated with increased demand for sleep. When in coma, you are not likely to be adding years to your life 17. Myth: The body will always crave excess sleep as it craves excess food. Some people draw a parallel between our tendency to overeat with sleep. They believe that if we let the body dictate the amount of sleep, it will always ask for more than needed. As a result, they prefer to cut sleep short with alarm clock to "optimize" the amount of sleep they get. Fact: Unlike storage of fat, there seems to be little evolutionary benefit to extra sleep. Probably, our typical 6-8 hours of sleep are just enough to do all "neural housekeeping". People with sleep deficit may indeed tend to sleep obscenely long. However, once they catch up and get into the rhythm, the length of their sleep is actually likely to decrease 18. Myth: Magnesium, folates, and other supplements can help you sleep better. Fact: Nutrients needed for good health are also good for sleep. However, supplementation is not likely to play a significant role in resolving your sleep problems. Vitamins may help if you are in deficit, but a vast majority of sleep disorders in the society come from the lack of respect or understanding of the circadian rhythm. If you are having problems with sleep, stick to the rules presented in this article. As for food, stick to a standard healthy diet. That should suffice 19. Myth: It is best to wake up with the sun. Fact: You should wake up at the time when your body decides it got enough of sleep. If this happens to be midday, a curtain over the window will prevent you from being woken up by the sun. At the same time sun may help you reset your body clock and help you wake up earlier. People who wake up naturally with the sun are indeed among the healthiest creatures on the planet. However, if you do not wake up naturally before 4 am, trying to do so with the help of alarm clock will only add misery to your life 20. Myth: Sleeping little makes you more competitive. Many people are so busy with their lives that they sleep only 3-4 hours per night. Moreover, they believe that sleeping little makes them more competitive. Many try to train themselves for minimum sleep. Donald Trump, in his newest book, tells you: "If you want to be a billionaire, sleep as little as possible". Fact: It is true that many geniuses slept little. Many business sharks slept even less. However, the only good formula for maximum long-term competitiveness is via maximum health and maximum creativity. If Trump sleeps 3 hours per night and enjoys his work, he is likely to run it on alertness hormones (ACTH, cortisol, adrenaline, etc.). His sleep is probably structured very well and he may extract more neural benefit per hour of sleep than an average 8-hours-per-night sleeper. Yet that should not make you try to beat yourself to action with an alarm clock. You will get shortest and maximum quality sleep only then when you perfectly hit your circadian low-time, i.e. when your body tells you "now it is time to sleep". Sleep in wrong hours, or sleep interrupted with an alarm clock is bound to undermine your intellectual performance and creativity. Occasionally, you may think that a loss on intellectual side will be counterbalanced with the gain on the action side (e.g. clinching this vital deal). Remember though, that you also need to factor in the long-term health consequences. Unless, of course, you think a heart attack at 45 is a good price to pay for becoming a billionaire 21. Myth: You cannot change the inherent period length of your body clock. Fact: With various chronotherapeutic tricks it is possible to change the period of the clock slightly. It can be reset or advanced harmlessly by means of melatonin, bright light, exercise, meal timing, etc. It can also be reset in a less healthy way: with an alarm clock. However, significant lifestyle changes may be needed to resolve severe cases of DSPS or ASPS. The therapy may be stressful, and the slightest deviation from the therapeutic regimen may result in the relapse to an undesirable rhythm. Those who employ free-running sleep may take the easiest way out of the period length problem: stick to the period that is the natural outcome of your current lifestyle
Summary Sleep is important for learning! Sleep deprivation results in intellectual deprivation! Sleep as much as you feel you need (why?) Avoid alarm clocks (why?) Forget about trying to fall asleep at pre-planned time! Let your body decide! (why?) Forget about trying to fall asleep quickly! If your body decides it is the right time, it will come naturally! (why?) Do not try to make yourself sleepy! It is enough you stay awake and keep on working/learning long enough! (why?) It is much better to eliminate the source of stress rather than to try to forget stressful situations right before the bedtime! Learn the details of your sleep timing (how many hours you sleep, how many hours before you need to take a nap or go to sleep again, etc.). Use this knowledge to optimize your schedule (why?) Adjust the timing of intellectual work to your circadian cycle (see Fig. 5) Stick with good people! The bad lot will often ruin your slumber Be careful with caffeine. Drink coffee only upon awakening (or after a nap if you take one) Do not go beyond a single drink of alcohol per day. Drink it at siesta time Quit smoking! Use siesta time for a nap if you find it helpful If you cannot fall asleep in 30 minutes, get up! You are not yet ready for sleep! (why?) If you experience racing thoughts at the time when your body calls for sleep, the best method is: get up and use ... SuperMemo for 30 minutes! Few other activities can be equally taxing to your tired brain (do not expect this to work before your circadian timing though) If you sleep it out and still not feel refreshed, be sure you do not sleep against your circadian rhythm. Try free running sleep. Remember that you may need 1-2 weeks to synchronize all bodily functions before this starts working! If you cannot get refreshing sleep even in free-running conditions after at least a month of trying, consult a sleep specialist (see: Sleep Disorders). Remember, however, that a bad night is a factor of life. Few can avoid it. Do not get alarmed even if it happens weekly
Fig.5. Optimizing the timing of brainwork with respect to the circadian cycle. This exemplary graph was generated with the help of SleepChart on the basis of 3-year-long daily measurements of a free-running sleep rhythm. The horizontal axis expresses the number of hours from awakening (note that the free running rhythm period is often longer than 24 hours). Homeostatic sleepiness can roughly be expressed as the ability to initiate sleep. Percent of initiated sleep blocks is painted as a thick blue line (right-side calibrations of the vertical axis). Circadian sleepiness can roughly be expressed as the ability to maintain sleep. Average length of initiated sleep blocks in painted as a thick red line (left-side calibrations of the vertical axis). Adenosine-related homeostatic sleep propensity increases in proportion to mental effort and can be partially cleared by caffeine, stress, etc.. Circadian component correlates (1) negatively with temperature, ACTH, cortisol, and catecholamines, and (2) positively with melatonin and NREM propensity. Optimum timing of brainwork requires both low homeostatic and circadian sleepiness. There are two quality alertness blocks during the day: first after the awakening and second after the siesta. Both are marked yellow in the graph. For best learning and best creative results use these yellow blocks. Caffeine can only be used to enhance alertness early in this optimum window (brown color). Later use will affect sleep (caffeine half-life is about six hours). Optimum timing of exercise is not marked as it may vary depending on the optimum timing of zeitgebers (e.g. early morning for DSPS people and evening for ASPS people). Gray dots are actual sleep block measurements with timing on the horizontal, and the length on the vertical axis. Important! This data refer solely to free running sleep. If you use an alarm clock to regulate your sleep timing, this measurements may not apply! In addition, timing and the amplitude of changes differ between individuals.
References
Akerstedt, T., Torsvall, L., & Gillberg, M. (1989) Shift Work and Napping. In D. F. Dinges & R. J. Broughton (Eds.), Sleep and alertness: Chronobiological, behavioural and medical aspects of napping New York: Raven Press Aschoff, Jurgen (1994) "Naps as Integral Parts of the Wake Time Within the Human Sleep-Wake Cycle." Journal of Biological Rhythms; 9: 145-155 Buzski G (1989) A twostage model of memory trace formation: a role for "noisy" brain states. Neuroscience 31: 551570 Carskadon, M.A. (1995), Early school schedules modify adolescent sleepiness, Sleep research, 24, 92 Crick F, Mitchison G. (1983) The function of dream sleep. Nature 304: 111-114 Crick F, Mitchison G. (1995) REM sleep and neural nets. Behavioral Brain Research 69: 147-155 DeKoninck J., Lorrain D., Christ G., Proulx G., Coulombe D. (1989) Intensive language learning and increases in rapid eye movement sleep: evidence of a performance factor. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 8: 43-47. Dinges, D.F. (1989) Napping Patterns and Effects in Human Adults. In Sleep and Alertness: Chronobiological, Behavioral, and Medical Aspects of Napping, eds., D.F. Dinges and R.J. Broughton. New York: Raven Press, Ltd., pp. 171-204 Smith C. (1993) REM sleep and learning: Some recent findings. In: A. Moffitt, M. Kramer and R. Hoffmann (Eds) The Functions of Dreaming. SUNY Press, New York: 341-361 Touitou, Y. and E. Haus (1992) Biological Rhythms and Aging. In Biological Rhythms in Clinical and Laboratory Medicine, eds., Y. Touitou and E. Haus. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 188-207
Footnotes 1. one of the visitors to this site reported having a string of sleepless nights that lasted five weeks and ended in hospitalization as a result of going cold turkey on Paxil - a popular antidepressant 2. there are reputable researchers who find it difficult to reconcile learning with unconscious states. See Dr Robert Vertes 2000:"there appears to be little evidence to support a role for memory consolidation in sleep" and "A review of REM deprivation studies shows these reports to be equally divided in showing that REMD does, or does not, disrupt learning". See also: Prof. Jerome M. Siegel website 3. some sources claim that it is only an illusion that bladder pressure wakes us up in adulthood. In reality, only upon waking we start perceiving the pressure (which seems as the pressure had to be the reason for waking up) Links A culture of sleep bulimia Sleep-dependent memory consolidation by Robert Stickgold (Nature, Oct 2005) Optimization of shift-work scheduling The Medical Basis of Stress, Depression, Anxiety, Sleep Problems, and Drug Use Sleep and Dreaming by Jerome M. Siegel (opponent of the role of sleep in learning) The REM sleep memory consolidation hypothesis by Jerome M. Siegel (opponent of the role of sleep in learning) Sleep Disorders at About.com Sleepnet.com Sleep Medicine links How much do animals sleep? See also: SleepChart: Formula for healthy sleep
Poor sleep = poor learning FAQ: Good sleep for good learning Polyphasic sleep: myths and facts Roots of creativity and genius

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Devouring knowledge: step by step guide

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Devouring knowledge: step by step guide

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Devouring knowledge: step by step guide

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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Formula for Human Genius and Creativity

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