The Essence of Learning: Active vs. Passive Approaches and Their Impacts

Preface

Everything has pros and cons; any benefit inevitably brings an equivalent drawback.

Do you firmly believe that relentless study will always improve your cognition and thinking ability? Is that really true?

Learning brings not only knowledge, experience, and increased awareness, but also negative effects such as loss of creativity and rigid thinking. These downsides can be as significant as the benefits, which may explain why many people become mediocre as they grow older.

The brain works like a person eating food: digestion consumes energy, and only a balanced, moderate intake nourishes the body. Overeating or an unbalanced diet harms health. Brain development is like a marathon; it requires steady, long‑term growth rather than a short sprint. Running too fast exhausts energy, running too hard damages muscles. Different stages need different rhythms, and there are many ways to run, just as there are many ways to think.

Why does this happen? Most people learn from the outside in; external inputs occupy the brain space that should belong to one’s own thoughts, causing a loss of personal thinking.

From the inside out: Imagine a game “draw and guess”. The leader doesn’t give the word directly but provides hints, allowing the guesser to form the answer themselves. Similarly, a teacher can guide a student with prompts instead of giving the solution outright.

Since the rise of ChatGPT, many worry about job replacement; I worry more about the replacement of thinking . If we let AI do the thinking for us, our ability to think will gradually decline, and we may become slaves to tools.

Like absorbing external internal energy in martial arts: the more you absorb, the less pure it becomes, and it can damage the foundation. Knowledge that isn’t self‑cultivated remains foreign and never reaches its peak.

Like wielding a powerful artifact: the stronger the artifact, the greater the consumption for the user, and losing it can leave the user weaker.

Like a programmer who only knows a framework’s prescribed way of coding; without the framework, they cannot write code.

Learning is essential, like eating, but we must learn healthily.

1. What is the essence of learning?

1.1. What is learning?

Aristotle described humans as “rational animals”, indicating that rationality is innate; learning is a natural ability.

The essence of learning is to make a person more rational, growing from the inside out.

No one teaches us how to love others; we learn it naturally. No one teaches us how to face pain; we learn it naturally. No one teaches us how to tackle problems; we learn it naturally. No one teaches us how to be creative; we learn it naturally.

Learning = Knowledge + Thinking

Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge through direct experience of the world and forming personal cognition. Active learning is driven by observation and insight; passive learning is the opposite.

1.2. Active learning

Active learning is simple, direct, and heartfelt. Knowledge obtained by observing the world is immediate and easy to integrate into one’s own thoughts, enhancing cognition.

Knowledge is not created; it already exists. When we observe, we naturally grasp it. The goal of learning is not merely knowledge, but forming personal thoughts based on that knowledge.

Thoughts have an origin: direct feedback from reality. Abstract concepts without that origin feel disjointed and can damage the integrity of one’s own thinking.

How can we obtain intuitive knowledge, and how do we acquire higher‑level knowledge?

Higher‑level knowledge builds on lower‑level foundations. In theory, we could derive it from basic knowledge, but individual ability varies; not everyone can infer B from A.

High‑level knowledge = Intuitive knowledge + Personal thinking

Should we directly study high‑level knowledge?

Even complex knowledge should be understood through personal reflection; the underlying knowledge is already there, awaiting thoughtful synthesis.

Deep thinking leads to thorough understanding; shallow thinking yields superficial grasp.

A person who deeply understands the principle behind gravity differs greatly from one who only knows gravity exists.

Learning programming follows the same pattern: if we only absorb languages, paradigms, frameworks without internal reasoning, we become unable to adapt to new tools.

1.3. Passive learning

Passive learning is receiving pre‑processed, possibly erroneous concepts directly into the brain without understanding why they are so.

When we learn poetry as children, we recognize each character but cannot grasp the meaning because we lack the contextual experience.

These abstract concepts differ from intuitive knowledge; without the grounding process, they feel foreign and can fragment one’s thought system.

In the film “3 Idiots”, the protagonist studies intensely, gains knowledge, but loses the ability to think, leading to comedic failures—illustrating the loss of imagination and innovation.

If we only memorize, what separates us from machines?

“Give a man a fish…” – teaching the method (fishing) is better than giving the result (fish). Likewise, we should seek the reasoning behind ideas, not just the ideas themselves.

2. What are the downsides of learning?

Learning can have harmful effects when done incorrectly, or even when done correctly, due to the constraints it imposes.

Often our learning methods are wrong.

What we think is correct may later prove wrong.

The boundary between right and wrong is not always clear.

If there is no clear boundary, the judgment criterion is unreliable.

Assuming correct learning means we can digest specific knowledge and apply it, the framework imposes pressure—a “bad” impact. For example, learning Confucian thought leaves its shadow on our thinking.

2.1. Failing to see the essence of knowledge

Knowledge is simple and intuitive; we can obtain it through direct perception. Concepts like love, friendship, or family are understood by experience, not by description.

A person who has never felt parental love cannot understand it. A person who has never loved others cannot grasp love. A person who has never thought cannot know what thinking is. A person who has never experienced a breakthrough cannot know that feeling. A person who has never been in water cannot learn to swim.

Knowledge can be divided into intuitive and abstract. Intuitive knowledge poses no learning problem; abstract knowledge requires caution because it can clutter the mind.

Excessive abstract learning can cause mental chaos, making it hard to distinguish simple concepts.

During university I read dozens of books a month. My knowledge grew, but my comprehension plateaued, as if a “weight” of knowledge pressed down on my mind, limiting space for personal thought.

Thermodynamics’ entropy law states that system complexity inevitably increases over time. Over‑learning accelerates mental disorder; we need ordered, continuous, complete knowledge to keep the brain’s system manageable.

2.2. Losing the ability to think

If we no longer need to think, the ability fades.

Did you think about what attracted you to read this article? Did you think about why learning has downsides? Did you consider how to avoid them? Could this article be wrong?

The brain is lazy: it prefers retrieving memorized solutions over solving problems, conserving energy.

Just as a CPU that always reads from memory does not compute, a brain that relies on stored answers becomes rigid.

Limited brain space means excessive external ideas crowd out personal thought, like stones filling a bottle, leaving gaps.

Inner‑out thinking is like water, filling the whole bottle.

When personal thought space is occupied, the emergence of new ideas is suppressed, leading to diminished thinking ability.

2.3. Thinking becomes rigid

Thinking is the derivation from intuitive knowledge to higher‑level knowledge. Active learning builds multiple derivation paths; passive learning provides only one, leading to fixed mental routes (thinking set‑points).

Just as a river shapes its channel before it solidifies, once the channel solidifies it dictates the river’s shape.

People entrenched in a belief find it hard to change unless a sudden insight occurs.

3. How to learn correctly?

Learning inevitably brings some downsides, but that does not justify stopping. Time keeps moving; we must adopt a healthy learning method suited to ourselves.

We do not pursue perfection because perfection itself is an imperfection.

3.1. Choose knowledge sources wisely

Not all knowledge or books are worth studying.

Only by actually engaging can we judge value; sometimes we waste time on worthless material.

3.1.1. Learn classic, time‑tested works

Works that survive across eras have likely withstood scrutiny and are worth learning. Classics tend to be intuitive and broadly understandable.

3.1.2. Study across disciplines

Over‑specialization hinders personal thought and creativity. Learning both scientific knowledge and cultural arts, as advocated by Qian Xuesen, fosters innovation.

At birth our brain is a circle; with age it expands. Unprocessed external knowledge can turn it into a triangle, limiting breadth.

3.1.3. Look at the background

Every book has authors, publishers, and context; examining these helps assess its worth.

3.1.4. Examine the outline

A clear outline reflects the underlying thought structure; if the outline is incoherent, the book is likely unsuitable.

3.1.5. Trust your gut feeling

Feeling stems from subconscious computation; while not scientific, it aligns with human cognition and can be reliable.

3.2. Pursue learning that reaches the essence

Everything has an origin; finding it reveals the essence.

Understanding composition, source, and underlying logic deepens comprehension.

3.2.1. Examine composition

Breaking down a thing and re‑assembling it shows deep understanding—why programmers study framework source code.

3.2.2. Examine source

Knowing the evolutionary background of humans helps grasp what “human” truly means.

3.2.3. Examine underlying logic

Underlying logic explains multiple phenomena; extracting variables and forming equations reveals it.

Why do we explain a topic by first giving background? Because balanced information enables effective communication.

Why do programmers encounter bugs?

All code can have bugs. Bugs arise from logical flaws or API misuse/instability.

Logical errors: mismatched business logic or overlooked edge cases.

API errors: incorrect usage or framework updates breaking APIs.

Addressing these layers yields generic solutions: improve business understanding, enhance test coverage, promote better API design, ensure backward compatibility.

3.3. Return to the source of learning

First learn, then forget, then relearn.

In early R&D work I chased cutting‑edge tech, despising simple methods. Later I realized simplifying complex problems is the real challenge.

First make it complex, then make it simple; learn the pattern, forget the pattern.

3.4. Creative learning

Learning is a means; building a knowledge system and thinking ability is the goal.

Humans can hold about seven concepts simultaneously; structuring knowledge (e.g., pyramid principle) helps link concepts and improve memory.

Learning through creation

Creation links two concepts to produce something new; it is a powerful inside‑out learning method.

Concrete thinking

Thinking leads to writing, which leads to reading, which leads to learning, which leads back to thinking.

Abstract thoughts become concrete when expressed, reinforcing learning.

4. Final thoughts

We inevitably age, but wisdom can grow with age. I hope that as we grow older we become wiser, imaginative, and insightful rather than foolish.

Note: This article reflects personal views on learning methods and thinking; it may not be accurate and does not represent Gaode’s official stance. Feedback is welcome.

Recommended reading:

Gaode Map Low‑Code Practice

Are We Over‑Worshipping Modern Front‑End Frameworks?

Learning Architecture Design from Business Development

From GFS to GPT: Two Decades of AI Infra Evolution

Follow "Gaode Technology" for more insights.