You Can Learn Anything On The Internet

[The White Coat Investor]

I just learned to do some cool stuff with videos on the internet. I was telling my daughter that you can learn how to do just about anything on the internet. To prove it, here's a nice online tutorial to a cholecystectomy.

https://www.laparoscopyhospital.com/lap%20chole.htm

I don't know what we did before the internet.

[canadianoutlaw]

don't think the passive investing/index fund revolution would be possible without the internet bringing access to the masses

[Zaphod]

I think its great, I just spent some time this evening trying to get my nephew started learning to code. I've learned so many different things online. I mean for home stuff its crazy.

[The White Coat Investor]

Car stuff too. You can watch the entire repair then decide if it is something you're willing to do yourself or not.

[jhwkr542]

If I ever have to have my gallbladder out, I hope my surgeon's not looking at this video right before.

Reminds me of the scene from Spies Like Us:  "The first step in an operation of this particular type is....(reads book)...to shave the patient."

[sealsmith217]

I got a christmas gift from one of the nurses that read "Please do not confuse your GOOGLE search with my Medical Degree". It made me smile but I have encountered many patients in the ED who have done their research ahead of time and have self-diagnosed their condition. Some of them are actually right!!

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

Car stuff too.

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We replaced the carburetor on my snowblower last year, using a YouTube video as our guide. The carb was $20 shipped via eBay.

[VagabondMD]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

Car stuff too. You can watch the entire repair then decide if it is something you’re willing to do yourself or not.

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Completely agree. Being genetically and culturally predisposed (upper middle class Jewish) to not looking under the hood, it has been quite liberating to make minor repairs and replacements and refill fluids.

[EJ at Dads Dollars and Debts]

I just fixed my Mr. Coffee Coffee machine with the internet and a furnace last year. Of note, if the Zombi Accopalypse ever happens I suspect the internet will be down. Then we will all be doing lap choly's on the fly. On the plus side, as doctor's we have very tangible (but not takable) skills that will make us desirable to join a group....just saying...not that I am watching too much Walking Dead.

[Hatton]

I recently bought a steam carpet cleaner to clean oriental rugs myself.  I watched several videos on it too.  It is such a hassle to call a company to pick up the rugs and then return them. The machine actually costs less than cleaning one rug.  I did 4 rugs last weekend and was quite proud of myself

[Zaphod]

Also great for the pool, eliminated the pool guy for me. Its actually quite amazing, and still is in its early phase and will undoubtedly lead to some pretty amazing things. Just look at amazon/ecommerce, theyre huge, but barely cracked 10% of all shopping this year, so double digit growth for years is still in the cards and has accelerated recently. Its pretty wild.

[TheGipper]

I'll go one step further and say anyone can become a near expert on almost any topic (investing, photography, travel, etc....) by finding the right forums and blogs.

Forums in particular with the constant reinforcement of up to date info, addressing the most common and relevant questions, from a variety of sources have revolutionalized do-it-yourself learning. Now FAR SURPASS in depth and speed what we can learn in even high quality recent books and journals.

[adventure]

jhwkr542 wrote:

If I ever have to have my gallbladder out, I hope my surgeon’s not looking at this video right before.

Reminds me of the scene from Spies Like Us:  “The first step in an operation of this particular type is….(reads book)…to shave the patient.”

Click to expand...

Fine if you have a real hospital in America a few minutes away... but that video could help a lot of people in the third world. (the carburetor video will help too!)

[Zaphod]

Khan academy, coding stuff, its amazing.

[artemis]

Cool, now I can study neurosurgery in my spare time!  :P

It really is amazing, though, just how much you can actually learn (especially with Youtube videos).  The internet really has changed the world, and we were there to see the change!  Ironically I just watched a Werner Herzog movie on this very topic last night:  "Lo and Behold."  It's a pretty decent flick covering the rise of the internet and the vast changes it's already made and will continue to make in people's lives.