Rethinking Learning: Learning With AI Should Feel Like a Scuba Dive. Instead We're Snorkeling.
UNPACK: Learning through surface-dive cycles. Like scuba. you don't plunge straight down. You descend, explore, surface to connect, dive somewhere new.
TLDR; We measure learning wrong. Tracking completion rates instead of comprehension depth. UNPACK counts how many surface-dive cycles you make with a concept, building deeper understanding each time. While platforms push linear progress, real mastery happens when you circle back, each dive revealing new connections.
We’ve turned learning into speed-running Wikipedia.
YouTube at 2x. Stack Overflow copy-paste. ChatGPT summaries. Collecting information like Pokemon cards but can’t explain how anything works.
I’ve been obsessed with learning how others learn new technology for the past 20 years of my software engineering experience. The productive ones? Built→broke→researched→rebuilt→broke differently→researched. Six cycles, each deeper. The struggling ones? Three online courses, linear completion. Never left shallow water.
This is UNPACK: surface-dive cycles. Like scuba. you don’t plunge straight down. Descend, explore, surface to breathe, dive somewhere new.
Level 1: Read CAP theorem. Check. Next. Level 5: Read CAP→explore “partition”→surface to rethink databases→dive into consensus→surface to redesign architecture→dive into outage stories
Same topic. Completely different mastery.
The best students look slowest month one
Most platforms optimize for completion. Racing through content like competitive eating.
But some get it:
Obsidian users link→return→reconnect
Cursor/Windsurf devs refactor the same code deeper
ChatGPT (prompted right) becomes a diving partner
Three shifts:
Break linear addiction—return from new angles
Count cycles, not topics covered
Ask AI “What am I missing?” not “Explain this”
We have history’s most powerful learning tools. Using them for the shallowest learning ever.
Where UNPACK Fails
UNPACK works best for procedural/technical skills where depth matters. Different metrics needed for: - Creative work → Originality Index (novel combinations produced) - Collaborative skills → Network Effects Score (value created with others) - Emergency response → Time-to-Correct-Action - Pure memorization → Actually, streaks might work here - Intuition building → Pattern Recognition Rate over time
Your 3-Step Action Plan:
Identify one concept you “learned” recently
Return to it today with fresh questions. Ask: “What breaks if I’m wrong?”
Track your cycles, not your coverage. The second dive always reveals what the first one missed.
What will you circle back to?
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