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Sloww Sunday Newsletter 107 (May 29, 2022) — Connectivism, Science + Spirituality, Who Am I?, & More
Happy Sunday!
Here’s the latest from Sloww along with the most interesting things I discovered last week.
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🌀 Sloww Stuff
🆕 The Scientist’s Guide to Spirituality: “Thought as a System” by David Bohm (Book Summary)
This book is a slightly edited transcript from a series of seminars David Bohm gave in 1990 (he passed away in 1992, so this was some of his final thinking). The book should have the subtitle “The Scientist’s Guide to Spirituality”—it covers all the same things as a “spiritual book” yet never once mentions the word “spirituality.” Check it out if you want to get closer to the truth from a different angle.
Is this where science and spirituality finally converge? Bohm proposes that matter is a small ripple on space (science) and thought is a small ripple on consciousness (spirituality). This is a short read that could blow your mind.
🧠 Modern Knowledge
Connectivism: A Network Theory of Learning & Knowledge
Various Sources
Now that Mini Mind is launched, I’m back to focusing on the Synthesizer course (click here to be notified when it’s live). One big topic I came across while researching for the course is learning theories. Maybe you’ve heard of behaviorism, cognitivism, and/or constructivism—but what about connectivism?
Sources:
- Best Overview: Understanding Knowledge Network, Learning, & Connectivism (AlDahdouh, Osório, Caires | 2015)
- Where it Started: Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age (George Siemens | 2004)
- Where it Stands: Connectivism (Stephen Downes | 2022)
Highlights:
- What is learning? “Learning is the formation of connections in a network. Learning is a thing that networks do and consists of addition/subtraction of nodes/connections and/or changes in the properties of nodes/connections. The question of how learning occurs is the question of how connections are formed between entities in a network … Connective knowledge is emergent. Knowledge is a network phenomenon.” (Downes)
- What is connectivism? “Connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks.” (Downes) … “Connectivism is the integration of principles explored by chaos, network, complexity and self-organization theories … The connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing.” (Siemens)
- What is the takeaway? “The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to actuate known knowledge at the point of application. When knowledge, however, is needed, but not known, the ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements becomes a vital skill. As knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses.” (Siemens)
“Connectivism is focused on a wider understanding of learning and an understanding of learning that’s based not just on facts and information, but rather on a person’s capacity to live, work, and thrive within a wider interconnected community. I’ve said before, you look for the success of learning, not in task scores and grades or even graduations, you look for success in learning in social indices, like lower crime rates, better health, greater happiness among the people. These are, to me, the proper measurements, the proper indicators of learning, and the proper ways to evaluate a learning theory.” — Stephen Downes
☯️ Timeless Wisdom
Ramana Maharshi Documentary
112 mins | YouTube
This is a wonderful film about Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s life. If you want to go deeper, follow it up with this additional documentary.
Currently reading: “Be As You Are” by Ramana Maharshi
Pair with: The Ultimate Question: “Who am I? The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi” (Book Summary)
🤯 Mind Expanding
The Math & Mystery of Murmurations
4 mins | SciShow (YouTube)
Nature is nuts! The short video linked above shares how starling murmurations work. The meta-murmuration photo below has no retouching and was one of thousands captured by photographer Daniel Biber:
💭 Deep Thought
You are already that which you seek.
“A lady had a precious necklace round her neck. Once in her excitement she forgot it and thought that the necklace was lost. She became anxious and looked for it in her home but could not find it. She asked her friends and neighbours if they knew anything about the necklace. They did not. At last a kind friend of hers told her to feel the necklace round her neck. She found that it had all along been round her neck and she was happy. When others asked her later if she had found the necklace which was lost, she said, ‘Yes, I have found it.’ She still felt that she had recovered a lost jewel. Now did she lose it at all? It was all along round her neck … She was as happy as if she had recovered a lost jewel. Similarly with us, we imagine that we will realise that Self some time, whereas we are never anything but the Self.” — Ramana Maharshi (Be As You Are)
Pair with: The Parable of the Beggar: The Treasure You Seek is Within You (Short Story)
💬 Wise Words
If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
— E. B. White
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Have an alive week!
Kyle Kowalski
Founder, Sloww
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