Just another reason to hate WSJ if you ask me. They have absolutely no morals, they don't do serious journalism at all.
I am really fascinated by the concept of learning a new thing each month. That sounds like a cool thing to do. But the whole hype they built up, that's a fraud. They said these challenges were "ridiculously difficult" to quote Max himself. Now that's not technically true.
The memorization technique is a technique you can learn to memorize a deck of cards, anyone can do it in a month. But instead of being inspirational and show that anyone could do it, they tried to make it out like this guy was some kind of genius.
Solving a Rubik's cube is hard, first time I tried I had to sit all night before I got it. But then I discovered there's actually a pattern you can learn to "solve it", you just have to read the notations on how to solve it. Anyone who solves it in 20 seconds really have just memorized a pattern, they do not solve it at all. If you sit for 2-4 hours every night repeating the pattern until it goes into your muscle memory you'll be able to solve it in less than 20 seconds too in a month, believe me.
Now I couldn't build a self-driving car, hold a speech about tech in my second language or make a chess algorithm in a month. But then again I don't work with technology for a living. He does. Not saying these things aren't impressive and inspirational, but I am criticizing the way he package it trying to hype it up.
He's just another American with big words. He took a good concept, of learning a new skill and applying dedication in your every day life, and turned it into a gimmickish publicity stunt. When he says these things are ridiculously difficult he's not being frank. And then when he fools WSJ and Magnus Carlsen to be in on it, he's a fraud. Nothing more than a fraud.
Challenges for 2018
January - Lose the weight I put on between Thanksgiving and New Year
February - Make a margarita so good that my bartender friend asks me the recipe
March - Learn how to put tire chains on
April - Get my cat to not jump on the kitchen counter anymore
May - Get my chess.com blitz rating up to 1500
June - Get my girlfriend in California to move in with me
July - Get a story published in the New Yorker
August - Secure my garbage bins from raccoons and bears
September - Identify every senior citizen discount in the area
October - Harvest an epic cannabis plant (legal in Oregon!)
November - Catch a 40 pound Chinook salmon
December - Solve a simple unsolved math problem like the Twin Prime Conjecture
Where do you live that you'd want to put snow chains on your car in March, but not January or February?