Tachydidaxy and Omniuploading

5744, Daffy, - Today, with much fanfare, Dr Gurumba Schmidd retires from public service, the last human teacher known to be actively practising in our system. Eir lack of replacement is blamed on the ever-growing distribution of omniuploads, which can transfer the best available comprehension from the most skillful minds in the business at any given toposophic level. Thus, the role of the instructor has degenerated to no more than a facilitator regulating the access of an untrained mind to the omniuploads needed and/or desired.

Tachydidaxy or Speed-teaching is the practice of rapid transfer of skills from one (or more) individual(s) to a different (set of) individuals(s).

Non-technological methods involving dedication and aptitude were largely superseded during the Interplanetary age by biofeedback polygraphs used in conjunction with other tachydidactic devices. These apparati could determine when an individual (often a child; later usually an infant) was actively learning, and stimulate the cortex to enhance this process. Images and sounds could be shown to the subject, with checks made to see if said information had been absorbed. By the twenty second century many infants could read and write by age two, particularly those destined for superbright status. Tachydidaxy by rapid sensory stimulation has since been largely superseded in many subjects by direct mnemonic overlays such as omniuploads (see below) but is still widely used in education on many worlds.

Gradually a tendency for conformity was noticed amongst subjects of tachydidaxy, and although seven year olds often gained degrees or doctorates, the electronic hothousing could inhibit their individuality. For this reason the practice has been modified over the subsequent millennia to allow a long period of childhood to occur with almost no directed learning at all. Once the two year old has learnt to read and write, e will usually decline omniuploading and tachydidaxy until e reaches late puberty or early adulthood. Since life expectancy is extended for most nearbaseline clades, the period of youth is also often extended by an arbitrary amount. Further tachydidaxy may not occur until the individual is several decades old on some worlds; by this time the individual has established an idiosyncratic personality which is generally little affected by the educational process.

In those polities where conformity is valued and expected, however, speed-learning and omni-uploading may occur at a very early age, which tends to suppress individualistic tendencies.

Omniupload - A device which allows for the full apprehension of one or more subject matter(s) with a single mnemonic overlay on the recipient's mind. An omniupload can transfer a donor's comprehensive understanding of a particular subject, or an associated skill set, or both. The memories and skills are obtained from a donor who has extensive knowledge, understanding or skill in a particular subject or range of subjects, or may be synthesised from the memories of a number of such individuals.

These mnemonic overlays are self-adapting to meld seamlessly with the recipient's mental concept map, unlike earlier uploads which were not. Unlike these prior versions, the modern omniupload does not have the problems of personality modification, nor of limited access to the data and processes overlaid due to poor conceptual map matching. This is the currently most mature form of upload technology for transfer of knowledge

(see also EG entries -Omniuploading, Concept Map)

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