Game in the Brain

High Speed Audio.
I first began listening to videos at x2 the speed When I first got my Audible App at the start of 2015. Now I listen this way all the time, especially in my Chinese class lectures. When  I did some research it was an old hack a lot of people used to  do way back.

As far back as 2011 I saw our QA in our call center use this technique to go through as many calls as possible. Back then they didn’t have pitch modulation so it all sounded like chipmunks. When I did research I found articles about it as early as 2009. But I’m sure some more senior Hacker’s have been doing it forever. If you have money to burn for a good audio player and technique enough to


In the VLC app just click on the music file when its already selected and playing and you see a running symbol.

 VLC is the other tool I use to play my The Great Courses Series which I bought straight from the TGC company. You need to buy directly from them if you want the PDF materials. It doesnt come with the Audible Audio only.

In Audible.
It is one of the options you find. Since I multi-task I only go 1.5x faster. Thats how I got through SO MANY The Great Courses lectures. (I buy them when they are on sale for 7usd in the Amazon store).

Unlike VLC i dont need to remember where I stopped. Very convenient.

It exists In the Samsung Music Player in android 4.4.4 before I flashed it lolz.


Speech Tempo, is at about 100-150 words per minute. Google’s Talk Back and apps that depend on it have a 200 word per minute speed. I usually increase to up to 300wpm. In Audible the average is 200 words per minute and

Note that Extra Credit and Crash Courses already speak pretty fast and I can push it up to x2 but I’d have to concentrate. Its a what I call an “engaged” activity where both System 1 and System 2 are working (typically the amount and kind of focus I use in Games).

In Chinese I use it to speed up the lecture so that I can capture the sound of speaking at NORMAL speed in chinese. Lectures are slowed down.

Visual vs Language Hack. 
I used to listen to music when I draw. I determined I have a Language brain vs Music Brain since I can work while listening to Japanese Pop or Rock while working on Language related tasks and I can only draw or work out as well.

Language AND music takes more mental resources and limits what I can do. Music in a language I dont know is doesnt take up any language processes and I have more resources free. Music with English or Tagalog is noticebly more distracting to me.

Lately because of my back Injury since Jan 4 I can only do walks and not do serious runs or jogs. So I switch from J-pop to audio lectures or language exercises.

Final Summary: System 1 learning and System 2


So Its me and one other guy, Nick, who do this in my circles. Audiobooks listeners are rare in my circles, rarer that Bibliophiles. I guess because long ago I’ve learned to admit to myself that Reading is harder for me than those of my friends who I grew up with.

I’ve i’ve note mentioned this before, I grew up with Biblio-phile friends and I’m the friend that struggled with reading. Everyone would finish the latest Shanarra book or R.A. Salvatore Drizzit book. I would be the guy struggling to finish or understand what my friends are talking about. It would take me 30 hours to read a 730page novel in high school like Sword of Shannara and at my fastest 25 hours for 1100paperback of a Feast of Crows. My friends would finish it a a few days, and my brother a few hours.

My wife and everyone around me reads, I can’t give anyone audiobooks when they go on sale for 7usd lolz. Interestingly no one wants to try, and my wife who tried zone off when she does.

The other benefits of it is that I can concentrate better. When I see incomming traffic that requires system 2 or a greater degree of listening I turn it off. I’m more aware of the level of attention and awareness.

I first got into it for multi-tasking. Now the skill of listening fast allows me to have a better grasp over the material. Its so quick and my brain fills in the context so much better. I know I’m only listening to some key words and my brain just makes inferences.

Later on I discovered what was my problem in reading and how to bump up something like a 100-150 wpm of reading to up to 250 wpm to a bit faster. Thats for another story.

System 1 and 2 is a reference to Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow .

Next is Watching in x2 Speed. even subtitled anime