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Do you believe it's physically possible to get a degree worth of knowledge online? I've been getting into psychology recently and I've been pirating a bunch a textbooks. I also recently found a site that just list a bunch of syllabus for different degrees (open syllabus project). That got me thinking, whats stopping me from teaching myself psychology, medicine, engineering, or anything from home with pirated courses? People always preach 'you have the internet now. you can do anything!', so why couldn't a pseudo-degree. The biggest problems I've found is that I could easily fall into dunning-krueger or just get stuck on topics I like and avoiding important 'boring stuff'. What do you think lainons?

>dunning-krueger Exercises from the book are an objective way of judging your progress. Maybe you can find old exams on the internet too?

The knowledge is definitely all available, that's the beauty of the internet. But for the most part, it will ceiling of your education. Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting: >So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that.

>Do you believe it's physically possible to get a degree worth of knowledge online? Yes for anything IT/CS/math related because they can be done at home. Doesn't guarantee getting hired due to credentialism though.

If you market it well enough you can get validity from it. As with everything knowledge is what you do with it, so before even starting either have a plan on what to do next or get ready to feel bad because you will eventually forget

>Do you believe it's physically possible to get a degree worth of knowledge online? I do. Education and schooling are very different activities. >I've been getting into psychology recently and I've been pirating a bunch a textbooks. Psychology not based around brain physics is sophistry. Most of what I know I've probably learned from reading somewhere, being present to see something, or experiencing things firsthand. You must be lucky to get a good teacher and I feel I've had few. You don't need the Internet for this, though. Physical books are inexpensive and readily available to read and learn from at your leisure.

>Do you believe it's physically possible to get a degree worth of knowledge online? Yes, it absolutely is. The sheer amount of information available on the web and the internet as a whole nowadays makes this definitely doable. In fact, that is what reminds me that most of the people crying about the "good old days" of the internet are for a good part (but not completely) blinded by nostalgia. You simply didn't have as many resources back then. While there are obviously exceptions, such as medicine, where you need access to specialized structures in order to practice, nearly everything you can learn in college nowadays CAN be learned outside of college. The tools, the information and the resources are all out there for you to use. Now, the question is, are you disciplined enough to study hours a day, every day, in order to actually obtain this knowledge? You'll find that many, if not most people just aren't. And those are those who benefit from university education the most. "Smart, but unmotivated" people, despite what many contrarians keep spouting, really do exist, and college can give them the motivation and structure they need in order to thrive. On the other hand, the biggest advantage of self-study as opposed to university education is much lower stress: you can go at your own pace, without worrying about surprise quizzes, ineffective lectures, and so on. But still, you'll need to work hard. There is no way around it. Obviously, you'll need some way to verify that you're actually learning "correct" information and truly understand it, and that's what practical problems and exercises are for. Of course, talking with other knowledgeable people, whether online or in real life, whether they have a degree in what you're studying or not, definitely helps. That's how you avoid the dreaded "Dunning-Kruger" effect, an observation so obvious, sterile and useless that it won the Ig Nobel Prize: https://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2000 You can safely ignore everyone mentioning that silly "discovery" from now on. You're right that the risk of avoiding "boring, but useful" stuff is there, but you'll mostly notice that if you start failing to understand more advanced topics that actually build upon that more basic "boring" stuff. And of course, let's not overlook the fact that the main value of a university degree, especially nowadays, is extrinsic, not intrinsic: the advantage is not actually LEARNING stuff, it's the fact that it opens doors in the professional and academic world that would be closed otherwise, all else being equal. There are things you just can't do without an appropriate degree, such as becoming a physician or a lawyer. However, if actual knowledge is what you're after, and you are disciplined and motivated enough to put in the work required to obtain it on your own, you'll definitely succeed. While credentialism is definitely real, "extracurricular" knowledge is not without its extrinsic uses: a guy with a math degree who is well informed about current economic models, electronics or basic biology is going to be an attractive hire for some specific jobs compared to a math graduate who only knows math, but also, for example, a biology graduate who only knows biology. Good luck, lainon.

>>13425 Definetly so. Here is a guide full of legally free resources recommended by a noble prize winning phyicist. Https://goodtheorist.science More: https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-learn-physics

>>13433 >Hired Certs matter more. >>13425 Cal Newport springs to mind, first because he gives practical advice that would help you accomplish your goal. Piotr Wozniak's article on genius is also relevant. Cal Newport also springs to mind because he suggests that you shouldn't work for free, particularly past high school. In college, you're effectively paid to learn, even though the payment is a loan. Whatever your beliefs, in the current system, the market rewards you with money if you provide value to other humans or promise to. Learning for the sake of it is immature and ultimately selfish. So, given that life is short and time is money, why do you want to gain a pseudo-degree rather than some form of credence? If you can't afford to go to college, offline or online, then maybe gaining degree level knowledge shouldn't be your priority, even if you work on it part-time.

I firmly believe it is possible. But youo don't get knowledge merely from reading books. You ought to find all ways to apply your knowledge, practice, etc. Now I do think that whole there are some benefits to this kind of self learning, there are major drawbacks, depending on your background. At the core of them is the requisite that you must make it your whole life for the years you'll spend studying. The drawbacks I've found are: >Nobody to check your homework In many cases you won't be able to know, from a third party, wether your work is correct or up to some standard. You wil, always have your own limited experience as the measure scale, and while you can strive to polish your work, you'll always have a bias for your own work and the effort put in, so you will overlook many weak points in your essays, proofs, research, etc. >No guidance on the excercises Sometimes you won't be sure of what step to take in an excercise, and you'll be stuck in it for too long because you won't be able to ask for a hint. Unless you want to flood stack exchange an then you'll likely only get full answers. You can also look at the solutions manual, in any case, it does help peeking at the solution but when you don't want to or it isn't available you'll be stuck forever, or skip it and perhaps miss something good. In any case the effort spent is the real progress, but you'll feel stuck anyhow and slug through a text with a stack of 20 ahead of you, each with 20+ excercises per chapter. Online study groups may be a good way to get around these problems, Idk how hard to find would one be. >You have a life If you have to work, do chores at home, live with your partner (or parents), etc, there will be a source of distractions that you can't remove by turning off your router. And things to do that'll leave you with no more then a few hours to study before bed. > Lack of accountability Professors and parents are a good way to prevent you from procrastinating for too long, and to keep you on track on a definite progression of subjects without jumping around or ahead. Having to read chapters 1-10 in a week is more definite than having the book and reading it at your leisure, unsure of when if ever will you finish and how many excercises are enough to go to the next chapter. And of course, you have to be 100% sure this is what you want to study and know why and in the process build up something to show, such as a gitlab account with projects, an archive with essays, translations, or whatever your intended work is.

>>13425 JI think the hardest part would be to know what you're missing, the "unknown unknowns". The best way to get a complete degree's worth of knowledge would be to follow an actual study plan for a course, I think. Of course, if you're doing it to get a job, you need the connections and pedigree a degree will give you as much as the actual knowledge. If you're not, why not just study what you're interested in anyways?