Brilliant: An academic’s addiction

I admit I’ve never completely understood cryptocurrency.

On a high level, I know what they are and what they are used for, but as someone who likes to teach and my metric of gauging understanding a subject is in my ability to teach it; I can’t explain cryptocurrency to you.

Not until tonight, after taking the cryptocurrency module in Brilliant

Alright! So, think of cryptocurrency like this:

Imagine you have a special kind of money, but instead of being coins or paper, it's all online. This money isn’t kept in a piggy bank or in a wallet like the one in your pocket. It lives on computers and can be sent to other people over the internet.

Each piece of this online money is super safe because of something called “encryption,” which is a fancy way of saying it’s locked up tight with a special code. Only the person who owns it has the key to unlock it. So, it’s like you have a magic, invisible coin that only you can spend because only you know the secret to use it!

This money is called “cryptocurrency” because it’s all about those special codes and computers. And people like it because they can use it to buy things online without needing a bank, kind of like trading with magic coins!

And no, this is not a post about cryptocurrency (I was merely being a knowledge show-off).

Now this image above (showing off my 195 day streak in Brilliant) - is what this post is about.

As at time of publish, I am on a 201-day streak on Brilliant, for context that is 6 months and 21 days.

I thought of waiting for the 200th day streak to make this screenshot, but I quite like the odd numbers better… 195, 197, 199, 201, 203.

Brilliant

If you do not know what brilliant software is but have read up to this point out of mere curiosity, you are the kind of person who will enjoy using Brilliant.

Brilliant is a mobile application that offers interactive, hands-on courses in math, science, and computer science, designed to make complex topics engaging and understandable. Instead of lectures, it uses puzzles, problems, and real-life scenarios to help you learn by doing. It's ideal for anyone who enjoys STEM, wants to learn / build skills in STEM topics through active practice, from beginners to advanced learners.

I have personally fallen in love with math and chemistry again using brilliant. I realised I do not enjoy physics as much I thought, although I love to learn how toilet flushers work, and computers are totally my thing. I have also thoroughly enjoyed learning about space(Kurzgesagt), quantum mechanics and computing.

I am dreading the day I go through all the courses on Brilliant but who am I kidding, this is science, there’s nothing like going through it all. Also, it is fun, engaging and gamified. I love keeping streaks and I love to learn new things and brilliant is the perfect study model to keep me exercised.

It is a genius app, and if you couldn’t tell by my streaks. I am obsessed.

This is also not a sponsored post but I know this is any STEM lover ultimate gift and I hope to be the one to present it to you.

What’s next?

A lifetime streak maybe? I didn’t intend to get this far with learning daily on brilliant (and keeping my streaks) but now that I have gained this addiction, I am curious to see how far I will go.

I’m also still on a free plan and yes I’d gladly pay a subscription fee to learn even more about each subjects so if you need an idea on what to gift me - Brilliant!

If you are yet to download it and this sounds like something that interests you, you’ll find it on the play store or app store. If you are a fellow crack like me and have been using brilliant, what has your experience been like?