The Backwards Brain Bicycle - Smarter Every Day 133

Cars used to have [LINK] for direction control. About forgetting how to steer, take a look at that video [VIDEO] discussion here [LINK]

Two points: 1. The opportunity costs for switching away are high. I suspect this comes into play in many areas -- say, emigrants to a new country who never develop a high functioning level of language skill (something I'll add applies just as much to English speakers abroad as those moving to English-speaking countries, if not more). And yes, there absolutely are exceptions, often many. You're highly effective in using one language. You operate functionally at the level of a young child in another. Cross training to the new language is a massive investment of effort. Adult minds lose plasticity present in children, so the task is inherently harder. Plus you've got to do everything else necessary to keep going. It's a Red Queen's race. Shifting tracks requires a very real sacrifice both in increased effort and reduced reward . It can be short-term satisficing to continue stretching out the lucrative current skill so long as possible. Situational awareness of that dead end may not dawn until late in the game as well. 2. Some skills are synergetic -- knowing one thing makes learning another easier. And yes, I see this all the time, particularly in metaphorical spaces. Thinking is I strongly suspect very much a matter of analogs , and collecting and applying appropriate analogs helps. But ingrained knowledge is ... quite different. Changing handedness, or quitting habitual behavior (drugs, smoking, alcohol, gambling) is exceptionally difficult. YouTube's "Smarter Every Day" has a

One of my friends one day forwarded me the YouTube link to Backwards Brain Bicycle by Dustin ( [VIDEO] ) and I was so amazed by how our brains cling to the meanings of relative phenomena we've learnt in the past and how it characterizes our behavior as humans. For example, that's why we find it so hard to give up a certain habit. Our response, a replication of the concept in the form of a simple game. Let us know what you think.

I agree - surely adults can learn these tennis strokes, even if they are harder to pick up. There is an absolutely fascinating video about plasticity of learning between adults and children that I'd highly recommend watching [1]. A man built a "backwards bicycle", where the handlebars steer the bike in the opposite direction to what you would expect. It was almost impossible for him to ride the bike more than a few feet at a time before falling off. Finally, after 8 months of consistent practice, he could ride it relatively well. When he put his 6-year-old son on the bike (who'd been riding a normal bicycle for 3 years), he had it mastered just 2 weeks later . [1] [VIDEO]

See also: [VIDEO] YouTube channel Smarter Every Day tries to ride a bike that has been hacked to reverse which way the wheel goes when the handlebars are turned, which also reveals how much bike riding skill is implicit. (I also experience the "clicking" he refers to around 6:10 when I switch between QWERTY and Dvorak layouts. It takes about 15-30 seconds to switch, even after all the years I've been doing this, and I can "feel" it slide into place. This despite the fact that I use Swype (or whatever it is spelled as) on my phone all the time, which means I stay very familiar with the QWERTY layout every day... but somehow that qualifies as a different "thing", because I always get that instantly.)

Do you remember the list of other skills? I think it's kind of like teaching someone how to ride a bike. No amount of theory and coaching will help until the connections form in their brain. Smarter everyday has an interesting video[1] on this phenomenon where he showed that it takes considerable effort to learn to ride a "backward" bike and once you do, you will forget how to ride a normal one and need to relearn it. [1] [VIDEO]

This reminds me of the backwards brain bicycle a bit [1]. I get that the argument they’re making here is one of physics - but failing to ride a counterintuitive bike isn’t something that can just be ‘done’ without a lot of practice! [1] [VIDEO]

That's only half the story, what happens when a sighted person takes off their blindfold after leaning how to use the device? I picture some come of synesthesia, but it's hard to say. The most interesting thing would be if their eyes stopped being integrated for a while. [VIDEO]

> Could we teach our brain to "think in 4D" and interpret these cues differently? To a certain extent probably, maybe if you spent hours and hours and hours in a VR simulation with 4D objects you'd starting getting a feel for it. I doubt you'd ever get as good as with 3D objects since we've been exposed to these literally every waking moment since we're born.* Good lord! Has anyone tried? This reminds me of the backwards bicycle video on youtube ( [VIDEO] ). I... really want to try what you're suggesting.

I wonder if he could walk normally (forward) again after his backward trip. Perhaps this is related: [LINK] And perhaps this Smarter-Every-Day video: [VIDEO]

Reminded me of this Smarter Every Day video, which is definitely worth a watch: [VIDEO] (The Backwards Brain Bicycle)

From the excellent smartereverday youtube channel [VIDEO] Strongly recommend to watch the above video.He does an experiment on how long it takes to get comfortable by changing the handle bars.

I wonder how similar that is to the effect of the "backwards bike" shown in "Smarter every day": [VIDEO] It seems like there's a very deep idea of how a bike should work and instead of learning the new behaviour bit by bit the new idea just "clicks" at some point. I've heard people with up/down flipped goggles also say it's quite sudden change. I'm curious if it's similar for reconnected nerves?

Thanks for pointing this out. It should be said, however, that Kuhn did cite Polanyi pretty extensively. Related: Destin, at the Smarter Every Day YouTube channel, has been kind of sliding into the same distinction Polanyi outlined, between "tacit knowledge" and explicit knowledge. Destin would label those "understanding" and "knowledge", respectively, but he has a lot of neat demonstrations of this distinction, e.g. riding a backwards bicycle[0], or hovering a helicopter[1]. [0] [VIDEO] [1] [LINK]

Sadly it's wrong. My gripe with it is that it presents countersteering as necessary , while it's just a technique to more quickly initiate a turn. Basically by steering right while leaning left, then snapping the handlebars to the left, you can change your centre of gravity relative to the bike's faster than you can just by leaning left. When leaning your body left you also naturally push the handle bars right which produces a countersteer as well even if you didn't mean to. However, you can easily observe a bicycle steering without first initiating a countersteer. The easiest is if you just push it and let it coast by itself. It will naturally start leaning one way and continue turning that way until it falls on the ground without any countersteering. Another way is, if its geometry permits, to ride it without holding on to the handlebars - you can see you're steering left and right by shifting your weight on only the seat without any countersteering. Or you can consciously avoid doing a countersteer and make turns that way - noticeably less quickly than if you do countersteer, but quite possible. Another proof would be the fact that monowheels work and can be steered. You cannot countersteer a monowheel, yet it steers just fine. Look also at Destin's backwards bicycle experiment - [VIDEO] . I really don't think you can countersteer that thing anyway, yet it steers just fine. I think if Veritasium had given people more time (days? weeks?) to adjust to the bike, they would le

> Look also at Destin's backwards bicycle experiment - [VIDEO] . I really don't think you can countersteer that thing anyway, yet it steers just fine. Why wouldn't you be able to countersteer it as any other bike (except in this case by using the opposite handlebar motion compared to a regular bike)?

Slightly related: there’s a YouTube video [1] of a guy teaching himself how to ride a bicycle “in reverse”, i.e. you turn left, and it goes right. It takes some practice but in the end it just “clicks”. So now he’s balancing and moving completely opposite to perception. So you’re right about the little man. I struggle to see why some arbitrary axis transform is “too hard”. [1] [VIDEO]

I've used Linux as my primary OS for > 20 years. My current job supports Mac and Windows and I accepted it with the understanding that I'd have to use windows, but couldn't get used to it, so switched to a Mac. Maybe I could have gotten used to this, but switching between the Mac UI and Linux at home always felt like switching between a normal bike and one with reversed steering (see e.g. [VIDEO] ). Luckily Linux is unofficially supported at work so I've switched back to that now.

Reminds me of those couple of guys who made a bicycle with backwards controls. They learned how to use it, which then rendered then unable to use normal bicycles lol. [VIDEO]

Reminds me of this YouTube video (below) on how difficult it is (nearly impossible) to re-learn how to ride a bicycle when you have the handles are reversed (i.e. pulling left handle bar towards you, the wheel goes to the right) [VIDEO]