Learning math is not about being able to calculate an integral. You'll probably never have to do that again. It's about solving problems, and that I can guarantee you, you'll encounter every 10 minutes of your life.
One of my math teachers said that, more or less. Unfortunately, that was later in the game, when I had almost lost interest in math, some time before graduating. Or maybe it was already in University? I still love math, to be honest, and was very happy to explore the rules of roots again with Ellie's daughter when she needed a tutor. Surprisingly, trying to understand something together is a very effective teaching method. But that's not important right now.
Math isn't the only thing that prepares us to solve problems, it's "problems" in general. Being allowed to have problems. Having one's own problems, which are not usurped quickly by parents or governments. The experience to hit obstacles, lose, get negativity, bruise, all that is deleted bit by bit.
How can humans learn to solve problems if they don't have any?
I'm one to defend that each human suffers within their own experience. I'm not, I try not to be, a judge of human suffering. And yet I must say that I sometimes wish people added a few more experiences to their pool. It might sound weird to those who are used to the pampering of today's society, but:
Suffering helps.
It helps everyone who is not fighting for survival, literal survival. Which is something that most people in developed countries can't even fathom. It's just not the same seeing it in video format instead of being there, and a whole different story consciously living next to it every day - not to speak about living it entirely.
It's bad.
And that's good. Suffering in Germany today is in 99% of the cases nothing close to suffering in the same region 100 years ago, and nothing close to suffering in Ecuador today. And one one side, that's awesome, and yet we've gone too far. The moment that the suffering goes above a level of survival, when it turns meta-physical, it's an experience. And those kind of experiences are taken away from us.
It's to protect.
The state protects the adults, the adults protect the children, so the children never learn. But suffering never goes away, it's an integral part of life. And instead of accepting that, embracing it, harvesting the huge potential that it contains, everyone tries to minimize it in ridiculous ways. They prohibit everything that could cause harm, and are then flabbergasted when the problems are found in number of likes and discontinued caffeine flavors (I will NOT call that coffee).
It's inevitable.
Suffering is caused by problems, and since most of us don't like to suffer, we seek solutions. Sometimes we find them, sometimes we don't and the "solution" is adapting. With each experience we gather, we get better at it. The more extreme our suffering was, the harder it was to find a solution, the more resilient we become. And what we thought was suffering before, will be shrugged off in the future, for we have lived worse.
The problem I see is that everything is delayed due to over-protection. If you bump your head at age 2 for the first time instead of age 1, it will delay stopping to bump your head. If you get your first negative review at University instead of first grade of high school, you'll have a hard time assimilating it to improve. And so on.
In my many conversations here I did notice that most people around me see that trend. And the parents I know quite actively try to not fall into it. That's a little bit of hope at the end, I guess.
I sometimes wonder if it has always been like that. That a certain part of society has these thoughts. And yet it lives on. That it never actually was better, but just different. Maybe the problems left to be solved aren't really that important, and there are enough problem solvers left.
Maybe we just induce our own suffering.
In response to "Do the maths" by @tarazkp.
What are your thoughts about this topic? Please feel free to engage in any original way, including dropping links to your posts on similar topics. I'm happy to read (and curate) any quality content that is not created by LLM/AI, as well as read your own experience and point of view, I love to learn!
Yep.
We are no longer learning the small lessons of life when we are young, to handle the big challenges of life as an adult. Instead, out childhood is getting extended well into adulthood to the point that we probably shouldn't start going through puberty until in our thirties now. Humanity is becoming more childish.
The problem solving skills learned in maths bad childhood in general, are no longer being learned, as we use tools to do the work for us. Those tools were created by people who could do the working, who did have the foundation. Now we aren't learning the foundations, because we are using competitive cognitive artefacts before we can build the personal skill.
And there is a compounding effect for not learning young, in the same way as not investing into retirement. The later we start, the further behind we fall.
Just that. It didn't replace the thinking part, just the heavy lifting to make the process more efficient. It was a tool which needed skill to be handled. More and more it seems like even in efficiency, there's a pendulum that is swinging towards an extreme and starting to hurt us rather than help us.
Math lead to financial and thats really important aye
!LOLZ !ALIVE
Everything is math :-D
think about it, that's true too.
all about our life is math
why i dont realize it sooner
!LOLZ
Very well said, I've also noticed it broadly but couldn't articulate it this well :)
I think we've been propped up by modern society to live a life of comfort/convenience. I don't know why many of these corporations are optimizing for efficiency in a way that everything is seamless and little to no friction, especially in the consumption department. That's not fun at all, there's beauty in the struggle/suffering, allows us also to tap into our own resolve, where genuine growth happens in the process. I hope the pendulum swings back at least into reducing the convenience lifestyle we generally have now.
You usually articulate a lot better than I 😅
And yes, the comfort and convenience is definitely part of it. Everything that could be a struggle causes fear in people, and an unjustified amount. Why taking risks when comfort is right here? The interesting thing is that taking risks from this level of comfort is easy - the bottom is cushioned if it doesn't work out.
Right! To get back up is relatively easy, much of the fear/losses are more like bruises in the grand scheme of things :)
Who the hell likes math?! How? Why? 😂😂😂 I hate it in school, still do 😂 I can do calculations on my phone… problem solved 😂 And other part… yes… solution means adapting! Without math 😂 P.S. Love the post!
Calculators are awesome! But even those need some kind of understanding of math to be operated. I've seen quite a few folks over the years that can't even calculate right with a cellphone because they never learned the basics nor the structures nor anything. That was unimaginable for me, but it's quite the reality, unfortunately. Gotta learn the basics before operating the tools, even a calulcator. It's the same with AI, as Taraz mentions. It's important that one would be able to do it by oneself, and only use these tools to gain speed.
Glad you enjoyed the post, despite the frightening title including math :-D