I've been thinking about the "Accelerated Learning" thing for some time already, and it's really about what I might actually do if I were to somehow have the fortune of being able to raise my own child. Of course, it's not just those areas that I'd focus on (and I haven't been blogging much about any more recent thoughts which there are actually several). It's also about what kind of characteristic I might want for a future child.
I'd definitely try to teach that person a few languages since birth, preferably tonal languages since people who are not exposed to tonal languages since young lose a certain innate the ability and hence must work extremely hard later on to pick up tonal languages (like Mandarin. Ever wondered why most westerners can't get the tone correct?)
Then I started thinking about other stuff like Anime, and music (classical), and what kind of exposure would bring what kind of benefits. Even computer games! I've benefited quite a bit from playing the right sort of game. Fun but also educational. No, it's not like those "Jumpstart" series which are kinda boring after a while, and definitely feel very school-like. No, I'm referring to RTS, like Warcraft III, Sim games, like SimCity, SimTower, etc. and indie puzzle games (for older folks) like SpaceChem. These aren't educational in the way that they directly impart knowledge or practice on math, history, science, etc. These games teach you logic, teach you to think; teach you the practicalities (if your building has only offices, your elevators will always be busy only in the morning and evening).
And I started remembering all those times where I was prohibited from playing these games because of the "you'll spoil your eyes" and stuff at the computer. Well, I probably wouldn't restrict that. In fact I'd probably do the opposite. "Playing an RPG with your friends huh? What class? Go out-level your friends. Go lead the party. Go on that raid... no, now! Yes, I know you're not prepared - learn to cope."
That might be interesting...
But then here's the catch... Am I not thinking about all of this in the way that I do because it is the things that I didn't, and couldn't? Because these were "flaws" as the way I see them, and I'd wanted to change them all along. I'd give almost anything to help. I'd teach the person anything (s)he'd want to know, or show how that knowledge might be obtained otherwise. Why? Because if I can build a me at a much younger age, then there'd be more time to grow, to become so much more.
Isn't that why most parents (there are always to weird ones) give everything they can to their children to help them? But only in the way that they see fit? We're raised on the regrets of our parents. We're raised to be better than them. To do the things they couldn't do. To succeed where they have failed. Because, somehow, one way or another, there's a part of us that will be appeased if we know that we have managed to "right our wrongs" through the next person whom we've raised. You see that in stories sometimes... someone takes in the young of the person whom he'd just killed (willingly, or unwillingly), and raises them as a kind of atonement. We live through them...