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The Backwards Brain Bicycle - Smarter Every Day 133

SmarterEveryDay · demo · Watch on YouTube

Everyday physics & science demosNeuroscience & the brainEducation & learning

What it is

Destin of Smarter Every Day learns to ride a bicycle whose steering is reversed, taking about eight months, and compares it with how his young son learned much faster. It illustrates knowledge versus understanding and brain plasticity in adults versus children.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN cites it widely in discussions of tacit knowledge, habit, unlearning and adult versus child learning.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 3 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2015, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “There is an absolutely fascinating video about plasticity of learning between adults and children that I'd highly recommend watching [1].”

    Backwards bicycle shows adults versus children learning plasticity.

    jw1224, 2017-03 · Strong recommendation · in “How to Learn New Things as an Adult”

  2. “Strongly recommend to watch the above video.”

    Experiment on how long it takes to adapt to reversed handlebars.

    victor106, 2018-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Why Don’t We Forget How to Ride a Bike?”

  3. “I was so amazed by how our brains cling to the meanings of relative phenomena we've learnt in the past”

    Shows how brains cling to learned meanings and habits.

    picmate, 2016-08 · Recommendation · in “My Response to the Backwards Brain Bicycle”

  4. “this Smarter Every Day video, which is definitely worth a watch”

    The Backwards Brain Bicycle experiment.

    jonas21, 2018-12 · Recommendation · in “Why Don’t We Forget How to Ride a Bike?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: backwards bicycle, tacit knowledge, neuroplasticity, motor learning, smarter every day

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