Why a deep understanding matters
September 12th, 2024
You spend 12 years in school. Then maybe another 4 in university. But at the end of all that, most people still can't think for themselves. They can repeat information. They can pass tests. They can follow instructions. But ask them to explain why something is true, or how it actually works, or where it came from, and they're lost.
That's not an accident. The education system wasn't designed to teach you how to think. It was designed to teach you how to follow instructions. And it's very good at it.
Think about how you were taught anything in school. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Memorise it. 1066, Battle of Hastings. Write it down. F=ma. Use it in the test. You're given facts and told to remember them. But you're never told why they matter. You're never shown how they connect to anything else. You're never encouraged to question them.
Everything is surface level. If you ask "why?" too many times, you're seen as difficult, not curious. The system rewards compliance, not critical thinking. Sit still. Don't disrupt. Memorise this. Repeat it on the test. Move on. Forget it next week. That's the pattern. And it repeats for years.
You're never taught to question anything. The curriculum is correct. The textbook has all the answers. The teacher knows best. You learn to be a good student, which really means learning to be obedient. Follow instructions. Absorb information. Regurgitate it when asked.
This isn't education. It's conditioningThe process of training or influencing someone to behave in a certain way through repeated exposure and reinforcement. In psychology, classical conditioning (Pavlov's dogs) and operant conditioning (Skinner's rewards/punishments) show how behaviour can be shaped without conscious understanding. In this context: teaching students to obey authority, follow routines, and accept information without question, rather than teaching them to think independently..
Where this system came from:
Modern schooling wasn't designed to create independent thinkers. It was designed to create workers. The model we use today was developed in PrussiaFrom Old Prussian "Prūsa" meaning "near the waters." The name comes from the Baltic Sea and numerous rivers that defined the region's geography. Prussia was a powerful German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, known for its highly disciplined military and efficient bureaucracy. Located in what is now northern Germany and Poland, it became the driving force behind German unification in 1871. The Prussian education system was designed to produce obedient citizens and efficient workers. It emphasised punctuality, standardisation, and following orders without question. This model spread across Europe and America because it was cheap, scalable, and perfectly suited for training factory workers during the Industrial Revolution. in the 1700s. Prussia needed soldiers and factory workers who would show up on time, follow orders, and do what they were told without asking questions.
So they built a system to produce exactly that: compulsory education, standardised curriculum, age-based grades, timed lessons, bells to signal transitions. Sound familiar?
This spread across Europe and then to America during the Industrial Revolution. Factory owners loved it. You could take children, put them through 12 years of conditioning, and they'd come out perfectly suited for factory lifeThe industrial working conditions of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Workers endured 12 to 16 hour shifts performing repetitive assembly line tasks. Factory bells enforced strict schedules. There was no autonomy, no creativity, no thinking required. You arrived precisely on time, performed the same physical task thousands of times per day, followed orders without question, and never challenged management. The education system prepared children for this lifestyle. Bells between classes taught punctuality. Sitting still for hours taught factory discipline. Memorising and repeating information taught obedience. Questioning the teacher was discouraged because questioning the factory manager would get you fired.. Show up at the same time every day. Do the same task repeatedly. Follow instructions. Don't question. Don't think too much. Just work.
It worked because factories needed workers who could follow instructions, not workers who could think criticallyThe ability to analyse information objectively, question assumptions, identify logical fallacies, and form independent judgements based on evidence rather than authority. For example, instead of accepting "this diet is healthy because a celebrity said so," critical thinking asks: What's the evidence? Who funded the study? What are the potential biases? What do opposing experts say? Instead of believing "housing prices always go up," critical thinking examines historical crashes like 2008, supply and demand factors, interest rate impacts, and demographic trends. Critical thinking is dangerous to authority because it leads people to question power structures, challenge unjust systems, and make independent decisions. This is why schools don't teach it.. Thinking was the manager's job. Your job was to do what you were told.
Before this, education was different. Apprenticeship-based. You learnt by doing, by watching a master, by asking questions, by making mistakes. Or if you were wealthy, you had tutorsPrivate teachers employed by wealthy families to educate their children one-on-one. In ancient Greece and Rome, wealthy families hired philosophers, rhetoricians, and scholars. For example, Aristotle was hired by King Philip II of Macedon to tutor his son Alexander (later "the Great"). During the Renaissance, noble European families employed humanist scholars to teach Latin, Greek, philosophy, mathematics, and rhetoric. This personalised education focused on deep understanding, critical thinking, and Socratic dialogue, unlike mass education which prioritises efficiency over depth. Tutors could adapt to the student's pace, interests, and learning style, a luxury impossible in factory-model schooling.. Socratic method
Named after Socrates (469–399 BC), the classical Greek philosopher who wandered Athens asking probing questions to expose contradictions in people's beliefs. The method: teaching through questions rather than lectures. The teacher asks a series of questions that guide the student to discover answers themselves, exposing gaps in their logic and helping them arrive at deeper understanding. For example, instead of saying "courage is good," Socrates would ask: "What is courage? Is it facing danger? But what if someone faces danger foolishly? Is that courage? So courage must involve wisdom too? Then what is wisdom?" This forces the student to think, not just memorise. It's slow, requires individualised attention, and doesn't scale, which is why mass education abandoned it.. Deep discussion. Philosophy. The goal wasn't to memorise information. It was to learn how to think.
Aristotle
Aristotle (384–322 BC). Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath, student of Plato, teacher of Alexander the Great. Founded the Lyceum in Athens and wrote on physics, biology, ethics, politics, logic, and metaphysics. Unlike Plato (who focused on abstract ideals), Aristotle emphasised empirical observation and systematic classification. His works shaped Western thought for over 2,000 years. As a tutor, he taught Alexander not just facts, but how to think strategically, understand human nature, analyse rhetoric, and make ethical decisions. These were the skills that helped Alexander conquer most of the known world by age 30. didn't teach Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (356–323 BC). King of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, one of history's greatest military commanders. By age 30, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to Egypt to India, never losing a battle. His tutor from age 13 to 16 was Aristotle, who taught him philosophy, medicine, logic, and rhetoric. Alexander carried a copy of Homer's Iliad (annotated by Aristotle) throughout his campaigns. He died at 32, likely from fever or poisoning. His education under Aristotle emphasised critical thinking and strategic analysis, not rote memorisation. These were the skills essential for military conquest and empire-building. by making him memorise dates. He taught him to think strategically, to understand human nature, to see patterns. But that kind of education doesn't scale. You can't train millions of factory workers using the Socratic methodThere are five main reasons. First, time. The Socratic method requires hours of one-on-one dialogue per student, impossible with 30 students per teacher. Second, cost. Hiring enough teachers for individualised education would be prohibitively expensive for mass schooling. Third, standardisation. Socratic dialogue is unpredictable. Each student reaches different conclusions at different speeds, making it impossible to standardise curriculum or test uniformly. Fourth, authority. Encouraging students to question everything undermines the obedience factories needed. Fifth, goal mismatch. Factories needed workers who followed instructions, not thinkers who challenged them. The Prussian system solved this by sacrificing depth for efficiency: one teacher, many students, standardised lessons, timed tests.. So we built the Prussian system instead. Cheap, efficient, standardised. Perfect for producing workers. Terrible for producing thinkers.
Why this matters now:
The world changed. We don't need factory workers anymore. Factories are automated. Repetitive tasks are done by machines. The economy rewardsModern wealth is created through entirely different mechanisms than factory labour. How people get rich now: building platforms and networks (creating systems that scale without proportional labour like software, social media, marketplaces). Capturing attention (influencers, content creators, personal brands, monetising an audience). Solving novel problems (startups, innovation, creating products for new markets). Financial engineering (investing, trading, compound returns over decades). Specialised expertise (deep knowledge in high-value fields like AI, biotech, law, medicine). All require creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability, not obedience. The factory model trained you to trade time for money. The modern economy rewards systems, leverage, and intellectual property. That's why deep understanding matters: surface-level knowledge gets you a job, deep understanding lets you build wealth. creativity, problem-solving, adaptability, critical thinking. All the things school actively discourages.
But the system hasn't changed. We're still using a 200-year-old model designed for a world that doesn't exist anymore. And then we wonder why so many people feel lost, unfulfilled, stuck in jobs they hate, living lives they don't understand.
They were never taught to think deeply. They were taught to follow instructions. And now, in a world where the instructions are unclear and changing constantly, they don't know what to do.
If you don't understand something at a root level, you can't truly believe in it. You're just parroting someone else's opinion. And the moment things get hard, the moment the crowd shifts, you'll abandon it. Because it was never really yours.
Think about prayer. You can perform salah five times a day, going through every motion perfectly, reciting every word correctly. But if you don't understand what you're saying, if you don't grasp the meaning behind the movements, it becomes empty ritual. Your body is there, but your heart isn't. The words pass through your mouth without touching your soul. This is why understanding Arabic, comprehending the verses you recite, and contemplating the purpose of each action transforms prayer from mechanical routine into profound spiritual connection. Without understanding, you're just standing and bowing and prostrating. With understanding, every movement becomes intentional, every word resonates, and the prayer becomes a conversation rather than a performance. The difference between the two is the difference between going through motions and genuinely connecting.
Think about investing. If you buy Bitcoin because some YouTuber told you to, you'll sell the moment it drops 20%. Because you don't actually understand what you're holding. But if you've spent 100 hours reading about monetary policyGovernment and central bank actions that control the money supply and interest rates to influence economic activity. Key tools: Interest rates (raising them makes borrowing expensive and slows economy, lowering them makes borrowing cheap and stimulates economy). Quantitative easing (central banks printing money to buy assets, increasing money supply). Reserve requirements (how much cash banks must hold vs. lend). Why it matters: When governments print excessive money (2020 to 2021: trillions in stimulus), currency value decreases (inflation). This drives people to scarce assets like Bitcoin. Understanding monetary policy helps you predict when fiat currency will weaken and when hard assets will rise., scarcityLimited supply of a resource, making it valuable. Economic principle: When demand exceeds supply, price increases. Examples: Gold is scarce (limited supply in earth's crust), making it valuable for 5,000 years. Bitcoin has a hard cap of 21 million coins, no more can ever be created, unlike fiat currency which governments print infinitely. Land in desirable locations is scarce (Manhattan, London), driving prices up. Your time is scarce (24 hours per day), making it your most valuable asset. Scarcity creates value because humans want what's rare. Abundance creates worthlessness (see: Venezuelan currency, Weimar Germany). Understanding scarcity helps you identify what will hold value long-term., decentralisationDistribution of power, control, or information away from a central authority. Centralised systems: Banks control your money (can freeze accounts), governments control currency (can print more), social media platforms control your content (can ban you). One entity has power. Decentralised systems: Bitcoin, no single entity controls it, runs on thousands of computers worldwide, no one can freeze your wallet or print more coins. Power is distributed. Why it matters: Centralised systems are efficient but vulnerable (single point of failure, corruption, censorship). Decentralised systems are resilient but slower. History shows centralised power eventually becomes corrupted (see: every empire, every fiat currency). Decentralisation removes the need to trust authorities, you trust mathematics and code instead., and the history of moneyMoney evolved through stages. Barter (direct exchange of goods, inefficient). Commodity money (shells, salt, cattle, portable but not durable). Precious metals (gold and silver, scarce, divisible, durable, dominated for 5,000 years). Paper currency (IOUs backed by gold, convenient but required trust). Fiat currency (1971: Nixon removed gold backing, now backed only by government promise). Digital currency (Bitcoin, 2009, mathematically scarce, decentralised). Pattern: Money becomes more abstract and efficient, but loses tangibility. Every fiat currency in history eventually inflates to zero. Read more →, you'll hold through volatility. Because you believe. And belief comes from understanding.
Or health. If you follow a diet because an influencer said to, you'll quit when it gets hard. But if you understand nutrition at a root level (how insulin works
When you eat carbohydrates, they break down into glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream. High blood sugar is dangerous, so your pancreas releases insulin, a hormone that acts like a key, unlocking cells to absorb glucose for energy or storage. The problem: Eating too many refined carbs (bread, pasta, sugar) causes repeated insulin spikes. Over time, cells become resistant to insulin (like a lock that's been forced too many times), requiring more insulin to do the same job. This leads to Type 2 diabetes. Why it matters for weight: High insulin blocks fat burning. Your body can't burn fat while insulin is elevated. This is why low-carb diets work, they keep insulin low, allowing fat burning., how protein synthesis happens
Your muscles are made of protein. When you eat protein (meat, eggs, fish), it breaks down into amino acids. These amino acids travel to your muscle cells, where ribosomes read your DNA and assemble amino acids into new proteins (muscle tissue). The signal: Resistance training creates micro-tears in muscle fibres. Your body responds by synthesising new, stronger proteins to repair the damage. This is muscle growth. Why timing matters: Protein synthesis peaks 24 to 48 hours after training. Eating 20 to 40g protein within a few hours post-workout maximises this window. Why it matters: Without adequate protein (1.6 to 2.2g per kg bodyweight), your body can't build or maintain muscle, regardless of how hard you train., how your body responds to different foods
Carbohydrates: Fast energy, spike insulin, stored as glycogen (muscle fuel) or fat if excess. Refined carbs (white bread, sugar) cause rapid blood sugar swings, energy crash, hunger returns quickly. Complex carbs (oats, sweet potato) release slowly, stable energy. Protein: Builds and repairs tissue, requires more energy to digest (thermogenic), keeps you full longer, minimal insulin response. Fats: Slow-burning energy, essential for hormones, no insulin spike, highest calorie density (9 cal per g vs 4 cal per g for protein and carbs). Fibre: Slows digestion, stabilises blood sugar, feeds gut bacteria. Why it matters: Your body isn't a simple calorie calculator. Hormonal responses (insulin, leptin, ghrelin) determine hunger, fat storage, and energy levels. 2,000 calories of donuts does not equal 2,000 calories of steak and vegetables.), you'll stick with it. You're not following rules. You're applying principles you understand.
This applies to everything. Your career. Your relationships. Your values. If you don't understand why you're doing something, you won't stick with it. And worse, you'll be easily manipulated.
The same principle applies to teaching. When a child misbehaves, the instinct is to simply say "Don't do that" or "Because I said so." But this teaches obedience, not understanding. The child learns to avoid punishment, not to comprehend why the behaviour is wrong. Instead, explain the underlying reason. If a child hits another child, don't just say "We don't hit." Explain: "When you hit someone, it hurts them. You wouldn't want someone to hurt you, right? We treat others the way we want to be treated." Now the child understands the principle of empathy, which they can apply to countless other situations. If they understand why kindness matters, they'll choose it themselves. If they're just told to be kind without understanding why, they'll only be kind when you're watching. Understanding creates internal motivation. Rules without understanding create compliance that vanishes the moment authority disappears.
How to actually learn deeply:
Ask why. Not once. Five times. Keep digging until you hit bedrock
The solid rock layer beneath all soil and loose sediment. The foundation that cannot be dug through. In geology, it's the unbreakable base layer. Metaphorically, it means the fundamental truth or first principle that cannot be broken down any further. When you ask "why" repeatedly, you eventually hit bedrock: the point where the answer is "that's just how it is" or "we don't know yet." For example: Why does an apple fall? Gravity. Why does gravity exist? Mass warps spacetime. Why does mass warp spacetime? We don't know. That's bedrock. Most people stop after one "why" and think they understand. True understanding requires digging until you hit this fundamental layer.. Most people stop at the first answer. "Why does this work?" "Because the book said so." That's not understanding. That's memorisation.
Ask where things came from. Who created it? What problem were they trying to solve? What were the constraints? This gives you context. And context is everything.
Try to explain it to someone else. If you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it. Teaching forces you to fill in the gaps in your knowledge.
Question everything. Don't accept information just because it's in a textbook or because an authority figure said it. Ask: is this actually true? How do we know? What's the evidence? What would disprove this?
Connect it to other things you know. Nothing exists in isolationWhy everything is connected: Knowledge forms a web, not a list. Every concept links to others through cause and effect, shared principles, or historical context. How connections form: Causal links (understanding inflation in economics requires understanding human psychology like fear and greed, history like Weimar Germany and Zimbabwe, and political incentives where governments prefer printing money to raising taxes). Analogies (neural networks in AI mirror how neurons work in neuroscience, natural selection in biology mirrors market competition in economics). First principles (scarcity underpins economics, biology through competition for resources, relationships through attention and time, and investing). Historical patterns (every empire that debased its currency collapsed, Rome, Spain, Britain. This connects history, economics, and modern monetary policy). Why people make connections: The brain stores information through association. Isolated facts are forgotten. Connected information becomes schemas, mental models you can apply across domains. Experts aren't smarter, they've built more connections.. If you're learning about economics, connect it to history, psychology, game theory. The more connections you make, the deeper your understanding becomes.
When you understand something deeply, everything changes. You stop being a follower. You develop conviction. And conviction is what separates people who succeed from people who give up.
Everyone starts excited. But excitement fades. What remains is belief. And belief only comes from understanding. When you've done the work, when you've gone down to the root level, when you've questioned everything and built your knowledge from first principles, you develop unshakeable conviction.
That's what lets you hold your position when everyone else is panicking. That's what lets you stick to your principles when the crowd is doing something else. That's what lets you build something real instead of just chasing trends.
Most people never do this because it's hard. It's easierWhy shortcuts are tempting: Instant gratification (your brain is wired to prefer immediate rewards like dopamine from finishing a YouTube video now, over delayed rewards like understanding from 10 hours of reading later). Cognitive effort (deep reading requires sustained attention, active thinking, and working memory, mentally exhausting. Watching a video is passive consumption, no effort required). Illusion of understanding (summaries make you feel like you've learnt without doing the work. You nod along, think "that makes sense," but can't apply it because you never processed it deeply). Social proof (if a million people watched a 10-minute video, it feels validated. Reading a 300-page academic paper feels lonely and unnecessary). Modern attention spans (decades of short-form content like TikTok, Instagram, Twitter have conditioned brains for quick hits, making sustained focus painful). The trap: Shortcuts give you surface knowledge, enough to sound informed in conversation, but not enough to make decisions, spot errors, or create anything original. to read a summary than the original text. It's easier to watch a 10-minute YouTube video than to spend 10 hours reading research papers. It's easier to accept what you're told than to question everything and rebuild your understanding from scratch.
That's why most people stay stuck at the surface level. They want the shortcut. They want the answer without the work. They want to believe without understanding. But it doesn't work that way.
Surface-level knowledge gives you surface-level results. Deep understanding gives you deep conviction. And deep conviction is what changes your life.
School taught you to be a good worker. But you don't need to be a worker anymore. The factory jobs are gone. The world rewards thinkers now, not followers. People who can question assumptions, solve novel problems, and build from first principles.
But you were never taught to do that. So you have to teach yourself. You have to unlearn the conditioning. Stop accepting information at face value. Stop memorising without understanding. Stop following without questioning.
Dig deeper. Ask why. Understand the roots. Build real knowledge, not just surface facts.
Because belief without understanding is just blind faith. And blind faith breaks the moment things get hard.