I think there is long term culture clash between old and new ways of learning, in the "over a career" sense. The old way is the formal, with external motivatio

I think there is long term culture clash between old and new ways of learning, in the "over a career" sense. The old way is the formal, with external motivations and structures. Maybe there's a curriculum, like accountancy has. Maybe there's a coach, like in sports. One can spend a long time in the "infant stage," learning by mimicry. A young karateka spends years practicing motions in the air, with form carefully observed and corrected by a teacher. This lets learners access the knowledge of karate as a whole, without needing an intuitive understanding of why this elbow must point that way while performing kick two in exercise X. To jive with the author's bowling analogy... Imagine a child bowling with just a ball. No pins. No aley. A teacher corrects form: posture, the swing of the arm, the final position. Once the child starts bowling for real, all their habits will be good. The known deficiencies of poor form are avoided, and the risk of hitting an "expert beginner" dead end is low. This kind of formality is only possible when the domain is well known, and "correct form" is well understood. I suspect that these systems require generations to build. They also run the risk of devolving into ritual, superstition even. The informal, more autodidactic culture does risk an "expert beginner trap," a premature peaks in skill that requires formal (or intentional) training to defeat. OTOH, "expert beginner" is not just a trap. It's a useful goal, for a lot of situations. If you are going to fight the bully next week, karate is not a good answer. Those highly refined skills have little intrinsic short term roi.