Summary: Zoning out is difficult to avoid and common, zoning out without admitting it hurts your comprehension, therefore you should admit that you zoned out and ask people to repeat things.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve “zoned out” before. You’ve probably even zoned out when you’re trying to learn something interesting. In fact, I’d bet that you’ve zoned out when listening to someone you respect teaching you something interesting, and that you didn’t admit it, and that this left you with a gap in understanding that you may or may not have filled in later.[1] Perhaps I’m falling for the typical minds fallacy, but I don’t think I am. This happens to me very often,[2] and I think it happens to others, and I think that any community focused on rationality or scholarship or understanding ought to account for this. I doubt we’ll be able to prevent people [...]

The original text contained 4 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

---

First published:

Source:

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.