Elon Musk, Reddit AMA, 5 January 2015· English
A semantic tree A user asks how he learns so much so fast. The reply jokes that his head is full, in the words of a machine, then gives one bit of advice: view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree. Trunk and big branches first. Leaves last, or they have nothing to hang on to. Established public reply. A later sum that makes the English word KNOWLEDGE total 42 is a modern mapping. He did not claim it.
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Question. u/aerovistae. The tl;dr as posted. How do you learn so much so fast? Lots of people read books and talk to other smart people, but you’ve taken it to a whole new level.
Reply. u/ElonMuskOfficial. This plate. I do kinda feel like my head is full! My context switching penalty is high and my process isolation is not what it used to be. Frankly, though, I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying. One bit of advice: it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.
Evidence layer · 17 01 Source text 02 Transliteration 03 Morphology 04 Lexeme 05 Grammar 06 Semantic range 07 Immediate context 08 Other occurrences 09 Textual variants 10 Translations 11 Historical setting 12 Literary structure 13 Scholarly interpretations 14 Later reception 15 Numerical layer 16 Constellation 17 Next questions
01 Source text 02 Transliteration 03 Morphology 04 Lexeme 05 Grammar 06 Semantic range 07 Immediate context 08 Other occurrences 09 Textual variants 10 Translations 11 Historical setting 12 Literary structure 13 Scholarly interpretations 14 Later reception 15 Numerical layer 16 Constellation 17 Next questions