Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share What They'd Do If They Could Learn Anything In Half An Hour

People Share What They'd Do If They Could Learn Anything In Half An Hour
Soira Photography/Unsplash

When we think of things that can happen in half an hour, typically our minds go to things like "watching an episode of a TV show" or "having a pizza delivered"—in the 90s, it takes about an hour now, let's be honest—or maybe even "deep conditioning treatment."

You probably don't think about mastering a new skill.

But what if you could?


Reddit user Fair__Bear asked:

"If you could learn anything in half an hour, what would you learn?"


It's not exactly a wish like a genie—work is still required—but only for 30 minutes. Reddit certainly had a lot to say about what they'd learn if they only had to put in a half hour of effort.

And they swung BIG.

All Of It

"All of math."

- YUHANYI

"Good answer math can be applied in literally every aspect of life."

- Rude_Security7492

"All of math that we have discovered so far or ALL of math?"

"The second might kill you or something lol. That or you'll break out of the simulation."

- 2iDent17y

"All of the math we know is still incomplete though. The unknown, forbidden knowledge will probably get you kidnapped by the lizard people."

- srnthvs

Giphy

The Language Lovers

"Another language"

"French, or Spanish would be a good start, usually being fluent in those can carry you pretty far in today's world"

- no1needed2know

" Japanese, cause of how insanely difficult it is"

- AbyssalRedemption

"Yep this."

"Romanian for me. Nearly all of my closest friends are Romanian immigrants and I’d love to be able to converse with them in their native language."

- 5tr4nGe

"Agreed, my mother's side of the family speaks Spanish but not me, would love to learn."

"But I know myself and I won't learn the language without either having a girlfriend that mostly speaks Spanish or going/staying for a long period of time in a place where they only speak Spanish."

"Tried it before and because I lack motivation the interest to learn dies quickly."

- Drogonno

Learning To Learn

"I’d like to learn how to learn anything in half an hour."

- AlunWH

"How to download new skills into your brain like in the Matrix?"

- underwear11

"Unfortunately, many important things in life can’t be learnt! You’ll probably 'learn' about this soon enough when your wish is granted."

- iamappleapple1

"Ohhhhh big brain energy right here."

- Enano_reefer

Players Gonna Play

"I would learn how to play the piano."

- ImaginationLow252

"Learning an instrument is very different from mastering one."

"Learning the piano is fairly simple, I’d say you’ve learned the piano when you can play an easy Mozart sonata."

"However, master is very difficult, and will require decades of constant practice and work to master the piano. I’ve been playing for 11 years, and I still don’t consider myself a master."

- PitCrewBoi559

"Same."

"I've loved the piano from a very young age, and if I would be beyond thrilled if I could learn how to play it masterfully within just half an hour."

- justalittleparanoia

Be Done

"To learn the entire field of medicine so I can be DONE with med school."

- Sos13

"Same here, and I’m not even in med school, nor will I ever be."

- Smooth-Midnight

"Imagine learning things that are not yet discovered and having a fight with your professor about how eating 100 bananas a day cures cancer."

- lovelyladydo

"But why not just do ALL of medicine? Including the parts that are not yet researched?"

"Depending on how you act going forward, you could definitely get a medical doctor's degree, become a professor/researcher, become the greatest hero in history, live off research grants while doing effectively nothing and still giving more to society than most researchers, cure cancer or any other disease, become the greatest practicing doctor in existence, or any mix-and-match combination of the above."

- SoldRIP

Giphy

History's Mysteries

"The entire history of the world."

- SalamanderCrosswalk

"In the interpretation of which country? Or history as it originally existed?"

- Fair__Bear

"The actual, unaltered, factual history. How crazy and awesome it would be to be able to compare the actual event to our historical representation?"

"Find out that Jesus was actually like Life of Brian, Napoleon and/or Caesar were actually just figure heads that took credit, see what dinosaurs really looked like. That would be pretty cool."

- underwear11

"Learning how society keeps making the same mistakes over and over again will likely cause you to plummet into a deep depression"

- lovelyladydo

Jump To The End

"How to cure diabetes."

"I’m 18, and a T1 since I was 3, so I know how much it can suck. My dads also a type one, and I had a friend who passed away almost six years ago because of it."

"I’m starting university next year and my hope is to go through biomedical engineering and potentially work on a prosthetic pancreas, or some kind of device that cures diabetes completely, or at least helps make life with it easier."

"I’m more focused on trying to improve or make new devices to help diabetics deal with it instead of trying to cure it cause I think it’s a much more feasible goal."

"Would be nice to skip all the learning and jump to the end."

- Frobun11

You Can't Unsub

"The ability to read minds."

- flyinhawaiian02

"Doesn't it scare you that you'd find a lot of things you'd rather not know about?"

- Fair__Bear

"Yeah dude imagine not being able to log out/unsub etc. from the sh*ttiest sh*t post you ever seen and it was constantly like that."

- That-Interview-3096

Wasting Time

"How to not waste the next half hour on Reddit and go to bed."

- frog_o_mine

"Help its 3 am and I got shit to do at 6 am!"

- SnooChipmunks9342

"Delete the app."

- Bulky_Fox_7642

"I'm in this picture and i dont like it."

- EyangKodok

Giphy

Heal Thyself

"How to teach people to heal trauma."

"It would be great for me to be able to heal people’s trauma. Being able to spread that ability would be amazing."

- popejubal

"I feel this one."

"I am in school to be a therapist because I want to be able to do this even better after someone did it for me. It would be nice to skip all the years of schooling in one hour."

- Raelyvant

"Having dealt with a life upending event I spent an entire year and a half in what I'd call a manic episode. Someone with this gift would have been nothing less than a god to me."

"Only people who've been there know the struggle, I hope you get through yours!"

- paythefullprice

So now that you know what Reddit wants, it's your turn to learn.

So what would YOU choose to learn if you could master something in 30 minutes or less?

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Screenshots of Patrick Harvie and John Swinney
The National

Member Of Scotland's Parliament Brutally Calls Out Nation's Leader For Letter To Trump After Election

Patrick Harvie, a Member of Scottish Parliament who represents the Green Party, called out Scotland's First Minister John Swinney over a congratulatory letter he wrote to Donald Trump after Trump became the U.S. president-elect.

During a session of Parliament, Harvie called out Swinney directly over the deferential letter Swinney sent to Trump.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Explain Which Jobs Pay Surprisingly Well For Their Time And Effort

For a lot of people, work is just something that they have to do in order to pay the bills and to feel like a contributing member of society.

But there are some jobs out there that are genuinely enjoyable and pay well, and surprisingly, some of them pay well starting at the entry-level.

Keep ReadingShow less
JB Pritzker; Donald Trump
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Democratic Governor Warns Trump Not To 'Come For My People' In Impassioned Tweet

After Donald Trump was elected to a second term, Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a warning to him and his supporters against compromising the "freedom" and "dignity" of his citizens.

Trump has famously pledged to round up millions of immigrants for mass detention and deportation, and Democratic governors like Pritzker are not having it.

Keep ReadingShow less
Moo Deng; Donald Trump
LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP via Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Viral Baby Hippo Moo Deng Correctly Predicted Trump's Election Win—And The Internet Is Pissed

Beloved baby hippo Moo Deng lost points with fans after she accurately predicted Republican President-elect Donald Trump's White House victory over his rival, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on the eve of election day.

The adorable pygmy hippopotamus that won the hearts of the internet after being born at Thailand's Khao Kheow Open Zoo this summer was tasked to foretell the 2024 US election turnout by choosing between Trump and Harris.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel Live

Jimmy Kimmel Has An Emotional Warning For Trump Voters—And It Is Sadly On Point

Democrats experienced a major blow after twice-impeached former president and convicted felon Donald Trump became the President-elect as a result of the dramatic 2024 election.

As devastated and shocked voters who had expected Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris to become the first U.S. female President were left wondering how we got here, Jimmy Kimmel offered some insight with his usual mockery of Trump but not without issuing a sobering wake-up call for Trump supporters.

Keep ReadingShow less