# Learning Is Becoming an Automated Feature of Things by Kevin Kelly > “Learning, like many other attributes we thought only humans owned, turns out to be something we can program machines to do. Learning can be automated. While simple second-order learning (learning how to learn) was once rare and precious, it will now become routine and common. Just like tireless powerful motors, and speedy communications a century ago, learning will quickly become the norm in our built world. All kinds of simple things will learn. Automated synthetic learning won't make your oven as smart as you, but it will make better bread.” > **— Kevin Kelly**, *2016 Edge Annual Question, response passage* ## Sources and Context - **Original Edge response:** [Synthetic Learning — Kevin Kelly](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/26780) — a verbatim passage from Kevin Kelly's 2016 Annual Question response, expressing the author's position at the time. The linked response supplies its surrounding context. - **Local archival entry:** [[research/Edge 2016 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2016 Full Quotation Curation]] (EDGE2016-020). ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Modern Artificial Intelligence in the 1970s|Modern Artificial Intelligence in the 1970s]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration Will Not Be Human]] - **Article:** [[articles/The End of the Anthropocentric Era|The End of the Anthropocentric Era]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Machine Learning|Machine Learning]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Learning, like many other attributes we thought only humans owned, turns out to be something we can program machines to do. Learning can be automated. While simple second-order learning (learning how to learn) was once rare and precious, it will now become routine and common. Just like tireless powerful motors, and speedy communications a century ago, learning will quickly become the norm in our built world. All kinds of simple things will learn. Automated synthetic learning won't make your oven as smart as you, but it will make better bread.” — Kevin Kelly, 2016 Edge Annual Question https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-kevin-kelly-learning-becoming-automated-feature-things ```