Learning Capabilities in 2006

I was sick for a few days this week and decided to learn more about Biology. I wasn't all that interested while in school, but I wanted to understand viruses and their effect on my body.

I watched video lectures by Professor Eric Lander, Director of the Broad Institute at MIT and a principal leader of the Human Genome Project and Professor Robert A. Weinberg, winner of the 1997 National Medal of Science. The course was made available for free through MIT's OpenCourseWare. I kept an Internet window open alongside the Real Player window of the video lecture to lookup terms or images using Wikipedia, Google, Google Images, etc. I also kept an Instant Messaging window open to chat with my Dad who helped answer questions and keep the interest going.

Three days later, as I thought about genes, proteins, amino acids, and viruses, I realize that the capability to learn in this way did not exist five years ago.