so hard that it feels like it isn't worth it.

Let's fix that.

(soft music)

Hello and thank you to our Patreon supporters

for making this video possible.

Because we have a Patreon now, whoo!

Anyway, I hate learning,

so, I'm ending the channel.

No, but can you imagine, the views!

Anyway, I bring it up because,

I guess it's kind of ironic.

If you watch our videos,

you might assume that the three of us

have this wholesome, unconditionally loving

relationship with learning.

Like we were born with this unusually strong desire

to figure stuff out,

but I don't think that's true.

(bell ringing)

Hello.

- Hello.

- Okay, I have a question for you guys.

Do you like learning?

- Yes.

- Yes, but-

- Next question (chuckles)

- Continuing on that but, hmm.

Do you actually like learning though?

- Okay, so basically,

I think I like the idea

of being someone who likes learning,

but like, actually sitting and learning,

like there are a lot of like, asterisks on it.

- I like being knowledgeable.

I like being able to like have a conversation

and be knowledgeable about topics.

But to get to the point of being knowledgeable,

(scoffs) that's pain!

- Yeah, I do find that sometimes,

a lot of the joys of learning are like locked behind,

like basically paperwork.

I don't know how else to say it.

I find it really difficult to get excited

about learning things when you're taught facts

and information in isolation.

- Yeah, you want to apply it to the real world, you know?

- Yeah, it's like a toast and butter.

You've gotta put the facts on the toast of the world.

You know what I mean?

You were making so much sense.

- And then I made more sense, right?

- It's kinda like the three of us exist

in this weird space

where we like the idea of learning.

We like having learned something,

but we don't like that, unfortunately,

necessary bit in the middle.

So today in this video,

we are going to figure out why learning is so hard

and hopefully, how to make it easier.

This is gonna be a big one.

- The research for this question

didn't take a few days or weeks,

it took over a year,

learning about learning through application.

We challenged ourselves to pursue little things,

weird things, and things so big

that we were kind of doomed to fail.

- [Taha] We documented the process

and examined every step of the way.

- [Melissa] Where do I start without a syllabus to guide me?

- [Sabrina] When do I find the time to read a 300 page book

about olive oil?

- [Taha] Why keep going

when I just want to play "Minecraft?"

- [Melissa] We found all these little obstacles

that have nothing to do

with the thing we were trying to learn.

- [Sabrina] And everything to do with a faulty approach

to learning itself.

- [Taha] One that we wanna fix.

- So, what did we find?

Now, I should say that this isn't gonna be

the be all end all all of education issues.

Race, class, culture can impact your approach,

your access, your experience in learning.

Because as you know,

(glass clattering)

we live in a society.

However, these are the problems

that we found ourselves struggling with the most.

So here's why learning can be so hard.

- First, we need to understand how thinking works.

A simple model of the mind has three parts.

The collection of all the knowledge

you've built up in your life,

the sights, sounds in situation around you,

and the working memory.

This is where elements from long-term memory

and the environment are combined to better understand

and interact with the world.

In other words, thinking.

Thoughts from this process

that transfer to long-term memory for future use

can be considered learning.

While this process seems straightforward,

it can fall apart in three major ways.

Let's assume you're trying to figure out

where grass comes from.

If your long-term memory

doesn't have enough related knowledge,

your ability to learn weakens.

This is because your energy is spent on the basics,

like determining whether a fact is relevant

or googling the definition of a new word.

You're building the paths connecting your environment

in long-term memory to your working memory.

Unfortunately, this slows progress

on the thing you actually care about.

Making exploring unfamiliar territory frustrating

instead of exciting.

Common techniques to ease those frustrations

are visual demonstrations, jokes, and personal stories.

They can create a better,

more memorable atmosphere for learning,

but they can also serve as distractions.

Ones that shift focus away from the core goal.

Forming a tempting exit

for people who may already want a way out.

But suppose you have the background knowledge

and determination you need,

applying that knowledge can still be a challenge.

In school, your teachers were your educational GPS.

Narrowing the scope of the problem

and controlling the pace of new information.

Outside of that structure,

it's easy to be overwhelmed by your own curiosity,

seemingly trapped between an academic maze

that costs $200 to enter

or hoping someone has made a simple video

answering your question.

So, that's the problem, or at least part of it.

It was honestly kind of weird

seeing the frustrations that we felt for so long

laid out so neatly on the pages in black and white.

If the problem was so obvious, so well-documented,

why isn't more being done about it?

- [Both] So we're doing something about it.

- Melissa. - [Melissa] Oh!

- So, secretly, we have actually been

doing something about it,

this whole year, basically.

We've been trying to solve these problems

through our videos and making you lab rats.

- Welcome, lab rats.

Okay, so problem number one.

As I mentioned before,

the amount of long-term memory

or general knowledge you have

can limit the amount that you can learn.

So this is your brain on limited long-term memory.

This is your brain on "Answer In Progress."

Did I change slides?

Yeah, I did, big.

- Many wrinkles.

- And the reason why this is your brain

on "Answer In Progress"

is because we take an interdisciplinary approach.

We're talking about all of these things

so that we can help you build up

a kind of broader range of knowledge

just by watching these videos.

We aren't building out a niche,

which some people would say is a bad strategy

for growing out a YouTube channel,

but who cares about that?

I care about that.

Please share this channel.

- For the low price of one share,

you can save three kids from getting real jobs.

- [Melissa] Double thumbs up.

- But the second problem is that,

when you're learning,

you become the frustrated stock image man from Google.

"Oh no, learning is so hard."

Sometimes learning can be really trying

because it's just a series of information

that you have to memorize,

and that can just be very boring.

And so, we're trying to solve this problem.

So how do we do that?

We do that by Immaculate Vibes.

Wow!

(Sabrina laughing)

The process of discovery can be exciting in itself.

As seen here from a documentary film

called "Phineas and Ferb"

going from "Hmm mildly interested" to "WOW!"

That is somebody enjoying learning.

Basically, what I'm saying is that,

learning theory in isolation can be dry

No longer wow.

However, interesting applications of that theory,

can become wow!

For example:

machine learning ethics,

may be pretty dry.

Deciding who to hit with a train,

very interesting.

- [Melissa] Learning alone can be... lonely.

- Learning alone can be lonely, nice.

- The dramatic pause!

- In our videos, we try to take you along

this chaotic journey of learning.

And boy... it's chaotic.

But we try our best to follow some sort of scientific method.

We start with an observation!

Olive oil fraud.

Then we ask a question.

What is olive oil fraud?

- And can we do it?

- We do some research.

And this is where it gets interesting or sad,

depending on if you're you or us.

Uh...

(all laughing)

- And even if we fail,

we still learn something along the way,

- Because really, it's the process of discovery where the real learning happens!

So, that's how we are trying to solve this.

This presentation, I envisioned it

as a way to clarify what we're doing.

I'm not entirely confident we got there,

but I hope you understood.

So here's the dream.

Step one, we make a neighborhood of nerds

who love learning, who love discovery.

Step two, we just keep doing that, I guess.

And step three, profit.

- Nice.

- [Sabrina] But like, actually-

- Wait, what did this slide do in this presentation?

- What, who put the screenshot our Patreon page,

patreon.com/answerinprogress?

What was that?

Patreon.com/answerinprogress? What was that?

Patreon.com/answerinprogress?

(all laughing)

- You're such a bad actor it's outrageous.

- The dumbest thing I have ever done.

(all laughing)

- [Melissa] Do you think people got it? I think people get it.

- This YouTube channel has had an identity crisis,

like every two years,

but I'm kinda hoping that this is the one that sticks.

Because learning to love,

learning really embracing that

has been a problem I've cared about my whole life.

I've got one of those quirky brains.

Like you need to trick into functioning,

but that's just me,

Melissa and Taha have their own reasons

for why they're doing this.

Why we're doing this.

For me, one of the things that I think

"Answer In Progress" is about,

and one of the reasons why I really care about it is that,