I bet if people had more words for talking about what they are interested in some really interesting enduring interests would emerge. Some interests have clearer paths to connect dots than others.
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This interest in study as opposed to shallow curiosity or drive-by interest is I think a big part of why cozyweb cultures have emerged and are stealing attention from public social media. The for eg is literally a set of study groups (explicitly labeled as such)
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Group study is a slightly different beast. Study has mostly been a solitary activity for me in the past and in fact a way to seek solitude. It’s been fun learning to engineer group study and keep it deeper than idle forum chitchat.
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I think group study is best done in a peer learning way. Teachers generally hurt, not help. But the idea of a tutor though..l good fit for study. Tutors help you study, teachers do something closer to providing air cover and efficient strategic knowledge bombing.
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Closest I came to “tutor” was advising a bunch of undergrad theses at Cornell as a postdoc. It’s different from grad-level advising and classroom teaching. US grad TA-ing is also not like real tutoring, even though the sessions are called tutorials.
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It helps if you can experience a good peer group studying interaction, so you can get a sense of what is possible. I would say I am currently actively in maybe 5 of these groups, the longest-running (for me) since 2015, the most recent I joined a few weeks ago.
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All have at least some professional academics, cause that's my social graph. Some are more public, one is probably decently selective. I'm personally game to learn all kinds of things with all kinds of people. Interestingly, I don't think all academics belong to such groups.
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In the YC study group it’s almost entirely slightly older adults (30s and beyond) with a mix of advanced degrees, including a few PhDs, but no academics. Pure amateur studiousness.
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I actually think academia time briefly killed the joy of study for me. Way too much publish-perish pressure.
I can do it again now partly because nothing 8s at stake until I decide I want it to be
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100% I picked it up again post-tenure right about the time I was thinking very seriously of quitting the profession. I really loved learning as a kid and no one had to make me do it. Maybe it's a little "love of the game" feeling.

