A few years ago, I was interviewing an expert physics teacher for my previous startup. And to any question I would ask, he would rattle off formulas like a machine gun.
But I was not getting a sense that he really understood things. So I asked him, “Can you explain the underlying idea of gravitational potential?”
Instead of explaining the concept, he again gave a formula but omitted the negative sign.
So I asked, “Since the potential at infinity is zero and every system approaches zero potential, the force of gravity between two objects will make them move apart to infinity. Correct?”
He said, “Yes.”
So by getting a formula sign wrong, he converted an attractive force into a repulsive one!
That is what happens when we don’t develop intuition.
Truly learning only happens when we start building intuition — when we can explain things using minimal jargon and technical details.
Even in subjects like quantum physics, where day-to-day intuition doesn’t work, you gradually develop mental models that almost feel intuitive.
And as you keep deepening your intuition, things become so second nature, that you can get to the answer without much conscious effort. At that point, you have achieved ‘unconscious competence.’
And unconscious competence equals mastery.
– Rajan